Programme updates in NRP 78

In April 2020, the Federal Council decided to mandate NRP 78 very quickly and at short notice as a response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. A two-year research period was considered sufficient at the time, but the pandemic went on to have a much greater impact than expected. In the course of the research programme, it became clear that, while some projects would be completed on time, many others needed to adapt or expand their research plan because of how the pandemic was developing. At the request of the SNSF, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) therefore decided to extend NRP 78 by six months. The extension of the research phase until June 2023 gives the project teams more time to finish their work. Subsequently, the programme products and the final report will be prepared with a view to concluding NRP 78 by the end of October 2023.

In response to the great public interest in the research results of NRP 78, a national media conference is already scheduled for 6 September 2022, where the results of the first completed projects as well as the latest insights from research work to date will be presented in the form of an interim review. Further results will be presented in March 2023 at an SNSF corona research conference and probably also at the conclusion of the research programme in October 2023.