Visionaries who change the world

Explorers, inventors, pioneers. Exceptional researchers pursuing bold questions at the frontiers of science and the humanities. From early-career scientists to distinguished scholars, we back these visionaries through our unique awards, grants, professorships and fellowships.

Meet our pioneering community

The power of fundamental research

Fundamental research is the ultimate expression of human curiosity, paving the way for every breakthrough that changes our world. Through our unique awards, grants, professorships and fellowships, we support the exceptional minds asking the questions that matter.

Discover our pioneering research

Insight grows when shared

Emerging from a specific fundamental question and years of careful research, insight has the power to transform understanding, methods and fields of inquiry. We illuminate the insights from the NOMIS community of researchers. Explore the Insight films, publications, news and stories born from this pioneering community.

Explore our insights and discoveries

NOMIS Foundation

“NOMIS is all about enabling outstanding talent to take on high-risk research.”
— Georg Heinrich “Heini” Thyssen, NOMIS Founder

About the NOMIS Foundation

NOMIS Fellowships

Some of the most transformative ideas in science originate from the fresh perspectives of early-career researchers. The NOMIS Fellowship Program supports exceptional postdoctoral researchers during a critical transitional phase in their careers. By providing sustained funding, we grant emerging leaders the freedom to pursue curiosity-driven research. While the fellowships are awarded and hosted directly by our world-class partner institutions, NOMIS Fellows become an integral part of our global, interdisciplinary network of pioneering researchers. We empower these emerging scientists to build bridges across academic boundaries, providing the resources and mentorship required to explore their boldest questions and spark new discoveries.

NOMIS Foundation Fellowships
Photo by Christian Ziegler

NOMIS–Salk Fellowship Program

How can we harness our immune system to fight cancer and neurodegeneration? How does the body’s microbiome impact health and inflammation? NOMIS–Salk Fellows explore fundamental, interdisciplinary questions like these to better understand health and immunity.

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NOMIS–ETH Fellowship Program

How did life on Earth begin? How did it develop and proliferate? Is there life on other planets? Collaborating across scientific disciplines, NOMIS–ETH Fellows address these profound mysteries, tackling the immense challenge of understanding life’s emergence and its place in the Universe.

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NOMIS–eikones Fellowship Program

How is our perception of the world determined by images? How do images act as models or paradigms in scientific and aesthetic contexts? How do they serve as instruments for making complex structures visible and accessible to interpretation? NOMIS–eikones Fellows explore these fundamental questions from an interdisciplinary perspective.

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NOMIS–ISTA Fellowship Program

In our incredibly complex world, discoveries often give rise to new questions — questions whose answers lie at the intersection of disciplines. To continue making discoveries, gaining insights and advancing human progress, we must approach these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective. NOMIS–ISTA Fellows pursue big questions at the intersection of disciplines, from biology to neuroscience, physics or math.

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NOMIS–STRI Fellowship Program

Tropical forests and reefs represent only a small portion of the Earth’s surface but contain most of the planet’s biodiversity. How do inhabitants of the tropics evolve and learn to coexist? What lessons does nature offer humans as we seek to build sustainable societies? These are some of the many fascinating questions NOMIS–STRI Fellows are exploring.

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NOMIS–Gladstone Fellowship Program

As populations around the world are living longer than ever before, the prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders has been rising at an unprecedented pace. Effective treatments for these conditions are lacking and urgently needed. To help solve these complex neuroscientific and biomedical problems, NOMIS–Gladstone Fellows are creatively combining leading-edge technologies with integrative approaches.

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NOMIS–SyNergy Fellowship Program

In an era of rapidly advancing biomedical science, many of the most important discoveries arise at the intersection of disciplines. Understanding the brain and its disorders requires integrating molecular biology, systems neuroscience, computational modeling, advanced imaging and clinical research.

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