EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships support excellent postdoctoral researchers throughout Europe and the world for a period of up to two years. International mobility is a key requirement. The fellowship includes a salary or stipend, a relocation allowance and support for fellows with children. Awardees can attend an EMBO Laboratory Leadership course and become part of the global network of EMBO Fellows.
EMBO considers a first author refereed preprint equivalent to a first author publication as one of the eligibility and assessment criteria for the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme. Please carefully read our guidelines for the definitation of refereed preprint.
Benefits
EMBO provides grants for host institutions in EMBC Member States to issue employment contracts to EMBO Fellows. Fellows working in other countries than EMBC Member States will receive a stipend.
Please note
These changes affect applicants entering the first evaluation round in 2020 and onwards. Applicants evaluated earlier and current fellows will remain under the stipend-based EMBO Long-Term Fellowships scheme.
Fellowship duration
EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded for a period of two years although shorter durations can be requested. The minimum fellowship duration that can be requested is one year. Fellowships must be started within one calendar year from the relevant evaluation cut-off.
Eligibility
Main eligibility criteria :
• Applicants must hold a doctorate or equivalent at the start of the fellowship.
• Applicants who already hold a PhD at the time of application are eligible to apply only if they obtained it during the two years prior to the date the application is submitted.
• Applicants must have at least one first author publication (research paper) accepted in or published in an international peer reviewed journal at the time of application.A first author preprint (research paper) with public in-depth peer reviews is also sufficient for eligibility provided the reviews were verifiably obtained from an independent peer review service . Informal comments, highlights and reviews posted by individuals are excluded. Please see guidelines for further information.
• All applications must involve movement between countries (detailed information about mobility requirements is listed in the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships guidelines).
• Applications to go to the country in which the PhD was obtained will not be considered.
• Applications to return to a laboratory where the candidate has worked in the past for more than six months, either in one or in several visits will not be considered.
• Applications for an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship to be held in the laboratory, institute or department in which the candidate worked to obtain the PhD, or to work again with the candidate’s supervisor, no matter where the latter is located, will not be considered.
• Candidates who have already started working in the host laboratory can apply only if they have been working in the host laboratory for less than six months at the time the application is submitted.
• Candidates can only submit one application for one project at one host laboratory at each round of selection.
• Reapplication is permissible only once.
• Projects that are a direct continuation of the PhD work are not eligible.
Exceptions to the eligibility rules are made for applicants with extraordinary personal circumstances, such as parental leave, severe illness, or military service during the relevant period. Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis. No exceptions will be made for voluntary career breaks. The Fellowship Office can provide further information and must be contacted prior to submitting an application. Submitted applications that fall outside of the eligibility criteria will be deemed ineligible if they do not have prior approval from the Fellowship Office.
Application
• Applications and supporting documentation (two references, receiving institute acceptance) are only accepted via the online application system. Only fully completed applications will be considered.
• Carefully read the FAQs and the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships guidelines before applying.
• The date, according to Central European (summer) Time (CE(S)T), in which the candidates confirm that their application is complete, is the reference date for eligibility and evaluation.
• Applications for EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships are accepted throughout the year and enter one of two evaluation cycles depending on the time of submission.
• Spring evaluation: includes all eligible applications submitted by the fourth Friday of January, 14:00 Central European Time (CET). Results for this round will be announced around the mid of June.
• Autumn evaluation: includes all eligible applications submitted by the second Friday of July, 14:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Results for this round will be announced around the mid of December.
Selection
All applications are initially reviewed by the EMBO Fellowships Office for completeness and eligibility.
All eligible applications are then sent to the Fellowship Committee for pre-screening, and about twice the number of available fellowships are selected for an interview (~25% of applications). During the pre-screening, the committee reviews a condensed application form, which includes a summary of the applicant’s main scientific achievements along with the three most important publications, summary and biological significance of the proposed work, justification for choice of the host lab, as well as reference and acceptance letters.
For applicants who successfully passed the pre-screening, an interviewer with expertise in the area of the application will be selected from among the EMBO Members and EMBO Young Investigators. When it is not possible to arrange a personal or video interview, the candidate’s application is sent for written evaluation.
All applications are then evaluated by the Fellowship Committee based on :
• Previous scientific achievements of the applicant.
• Novelty and biological significance of proposed research. Applications to continue exploring a topic similar to the PhD project, usually receive lower priority for funding.
• Appropriateness of the host laboratory for the proposed research and training of the applicant.
• The Fellowship Committee then meets to take the final funding decisions. Typically, the outcome of the selection is known between 16 to 18 weeks after the evaluation deadline and is provided directly to the applicant via email shortly after the committee meeting.
Submission Window : Friday, 11 July 2025, 14:00 CEST)
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