INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships

This is an initiative started in 2016 by the NCCR MARVEL, and planned until 2025 where we offer 6-months fellowships to women students to conduct their Master's research thesis in a group participating in MARVEL. There were 8 fellowships available every year; each fellowship amounted to 12'000 CHF.

You can find here the list of the previous and current INSPIRE Potentials fellows together with some of their interviews

In a field of science where women are still strongly underrepresented, even at the student level, the INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships aimed to empower excellent female students to conduct their Master's research project in simulation and modelling in a laboratory belonging to the NCCR MARVEL. 

A major outcome of this initiative is the net increase of women PhD students in the MARVEL research groups.

With the end of MARVEL by the summer of 2026, these fellowships won't continue. Opportunities exist within other NCCRs, such as the INSPIRE Potentials SPIN Master’s fellowships or the young talents fellowship of NCCR Catalysis, and news fellowships may come out with the launch of the 6th series of NCCRs in spring 2026. Stay tuned.

At EPFL, the MX Master fellowship program proposes a continuation to the MARVEL INSPIRE Potentials fellowships. Other opportunities are the INSPIRE Quantum Master Award, also at EPFL, and the INSPIRE Potentials - Quantum Center Master Award, at ETH Zurich.

This initiative was initiated in close collaboration with the NCCR QSIT — Quantum Science and Technology, with a parallel offer in their field. Since 2021, the program there is continued by the Quantum Center, ETH Zürich and the NCCR SPIN