Postdoctoral Fellowships

Applicants of any nationality can move to an EMBC member-state host. Hosts in Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan, and hosts in other countries, have additional nationality, PhD-country and departure-country requirements. Host-country residence limits also apply.

Applicants need a PhD or equivalent by the fellowship start; an already-awarded PhD normally must be no more than two years old at submission. Approved parental, military/service or exceptional personal circumstances can extend this, with prior Fellowship Office approval. A first or joint-first primary research paper accepted/published in a peer-reviewed journal, or a first-author preprint with qualifying independent public in-depth reviews, is required. The research must address a biological question within EMBO’s scope and must not directly continue the PhD project. International movement is mandatory. Any nationality may move to an EMBC member-state host. For Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan hosts, the applicant must move from, be a national of, and have obtained their PhD in an EMBC member state or one of those global partners. For hosts outside these groups, all three connections must be to an EMBC member state. The current EMBC list includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. Residence/work in the proposed host country must not exceed six months in the preceding 18 months. The website additionally requires someone already in the host laboratory to have lived in its country for less than six months at submission. Neither a PhD-awarding country nor a country where the PhD research was developed is eligible; both countries are excluded for a joint PhD. Returning to the PhD institute/department/supervisor, or a laboratory previously worked in for more than six months (including Master’s work), is excluded. Each candidate may submit one project/host application per round, and each host laboratory may support only one candidate per selection round. Reapplications cease for submissions after 22 January 2027, 14:00 CET; earlier resubmissions follow the current guidelines.

1. Use the EMBO online application system with the required references and receiving-institute acceptance. Check the complete current guidelines before submission. Applications are accepted throughout the year; the next evaluation cutoff is 22 January 2027, 14:00 CET.