Facts and figures
Budget
PSI's federal contribution of 2016 amounted to CHF 321.8 million. Revenues for research and teaching divided up as follows (in millions of Swiss Francs):Mio. CHF | % | |
Revenue for research, teaching & operation of the large research facilities | ||
from federal contribution | 298.8 | 68.3 % |
Tuition fees and other utilisation fees | 1.4 | 0.3 % |
Research contributions, mandates and scientific services | ||
– Industry-oriented research | 29.5 | 6.7 % |
– from SNSF, CTI and Special federal funding of applied research | 39.9 | 9.1 % |
– EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation | 12.8 | 2.9 % |
– Other project-oriented third-party funding | 18.2 | 4.2 % |
Donations and bequests | 0.5 | 0.1 % |
Other revenue | 36.6 | 8.4 % |
Operating revenue | 437.7 | 100.0 % |
Keyfigures for expenses and investments | ||
Personnel expenses* | 243.8 | |
Other operating expenses** | 87.3 | |
Investment in tangible fixed assets* | 70.5 |
* including SwissFEL
** without contribution to accommodation
Employment
PSI had roughly 2100 employees at the end of 2016. One quarter of this figure was accounted for by postdoctoral students, doctoral students and undergraduates. A total of 38% of the positions are held by scientists. 48.5% of the positions were occupied by technicians and engineers. With their varied competencies, they ensure that the Institute’s existing scientific facilities always work reliably and that new ones are built according to plan. They thus make a major contribution to the Institute’s scientific achievements. 8% of the positions were held by administrative staff. 27% of the employees are women, while 48% are non-Swiss citizens.Teaching and postgraduate support
In 2016, more than 320 postgraduate students were working on their doctoral research projects at PSI. More than 200 were employed on a regular basis by PSI. Most of these young researchers had previously undertaken undergraduate studies in physics, chemistry or engineering, mainly at ETH in Zurich or EPFL Lausanne, at the Universities of Zurich or Bern, or in other countries. However, PSI's researchers were not just engaged in the further education of students on-site at Villigen. More than 100 PSI scientists hold a lecturing post at a Swiss university or technical university. This involvement at universities is mostly unpaid, thus generating a double benefit for the universities, as they can offer their students access to state-of-the-art research at large facilities not available at any university. At the same time, the universities are also able to provide their teaching at a lower cost.User laboratory and international network
PSI makes significant contributions as a national user laboratory to researchers from both the universities and industry. About two thirds of the total budget go towards the operation, maintenance and ongoing development of the large research facilities, as well as the supervision and support of researchers from Swiss universities. The Institute supports annually more than 2500 scientists at its large facilities.The success of a user facility is reflected in the interest of the scientific community in performing experiments at that facility and in the number of publications generated which are based on experiments carried out at it.
In 2016, around 900 articles based on experiments at PSI's large research facilities are published in scientific journals. More than 5000 visits to PSI per year take place of scientists from around the world who come to perform experiments at one of the facilities. Most users of neutrons or synchrotron light come to PSI from Switzerland or member countries of the European Union. The Swiss scientists are evenly distributed between PSI itself and other centres. Most of the external researchers come from ETH Zurich, but regularly scientists come from EPF Lausanne, the Swiss universities and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Empa. In the case of muon experiments, an extraordinarily high percentage of users come from overseas. One reason for this is certainly the fact that PSI is the only institute in the world operating a facility for experiments with slow muons.
Statistics for the year 2016 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSI Facility | Swiss Light Source SLS | Spallation Neutron Source SINQ | Swiss Muon Source SμS | Laboratory for Particle Physics LTP | Total 2016 |
Number of user visits | 3134 | 391 | 275 | 663 | 4463 |
Number of experiments | 1037 | 189 | 225 | 5 | 1456 |