EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship

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What is the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship?

EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) are awarded for a period of up to two years and support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world. International exchange is a key feature in the application process. For more details see EMBO PDF 2025 summary  .

Who can apply for the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship?

Postdocs up to two years after finishing their Ph.D. Must have at least one first (or joint first) author research paper accepted for publication or published in an international peer reviewed journal. (A first author preprint with public in-depth peer reviews is also sufficient for eligibility, provided that i) preprint is posted on a recognized community preprint server (e.g. ArXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, Zenodo), ii) the peer reviews are publicly available online, iii) peer reviews were verifiably obtained from an independent preprint peer review community service (e.g. “Peer Community In”, “eLife”, “Review Commons”), iv) the reviews provide in-depth expert analysis of the rigor and validity of the research and its contribution to the field.

Why to apply for the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship?

• IOCB group leaders: it is a prestigious opportunity to attract an excellent foreign postdoc to your research laboratory and to make your laboratory more visible.
• Postdocs/PhD students: it is a prestigious opportunity to have a postdoc position in an excellent foreign research laboratory in life sciences.
• Fellowships cover salary and other benefits (https://www.embo.org/funding/fellowships-grants-and-career-support/postdoctoral-fellowships/benefits/) for a period of up to 24 months.
• Fellows can participate for free in an online EMBO Laboratory Management Courses (Lab Leadership for Postdocs, Project Management for Scientists, Negotiation for Scientists or Self-Leadership for Scientists) and become part of the EMBO Fellows' Network.

When to apply for the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship?

The EMBO application system is open throughout the year, but there are two cut-off evaluation dates every year: second Friday of February (Spring Selection Round) and second Friday of July (Autumn Selection Round). The nearest deadlines are on Fri 14 Feb 2025 14:00 CET and Fri 11 Jul 2025 14:00 CEST.

Please inform the Project Office about your intention to apply.     Do not hesitate to contact us anytime for consulting, discussion or help.

How to apply for the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship?

1. Find and read programme guidelines:
   • EMBO PDF call
   • EMBO-PDF-2025 summary 
   • EMBO-PDF-2025 Guidelines (Nov 2024)  
   • EMBO-PDF Contract Rates (Spring 2024)  
   • EMBO-PDF Travel and Relocation Policy (Feb 2023)  
2. Establish your EMBO account and register your ORCID ID.
3. Negotiate a foreign supervisor for your fellowship.
4. Contact two referees (one referee must be your Ph.D. supervisor, neither referee can be from the receiving institute) and ask them for references and recommendations.
5. Contact the receiving institute supervisor and ask him/her for an Acceptance Letter and institutional support.
6. If the receiving institute is IOCB, request authorisation to submit the proposal via the internal electronic IOCB Project Proposal Approval System (PPAS). You must be either connected to the IOCB network or via the IOCB Virtual Private Network (VPN).
7. Activate the referees and the receiving institute supervisor in the EMBO online system as soon as possible, preferably by 4 weeks prior to the deadline. It is your responsibility to check that the referees and the receiving institute supervisor have received the request and have completed the form. The reference letters and acceptance letter from the receiving institute must use institutional email addresses and not private ones.
8. Complete your online application form at the EMBO online system. Figures and tables cannot be included in the application.
   • applicant;
   • contact details for two referees;
   • contact details for the receiving institute: supervisor, 3 key publications of the host laboratory, 200-word personal motivation;
   • o proposed work: a 250-word summary, a 1500-word synopsis of the proposed activity, references, keywords, subject areas, interviewer exclusions/suggestions, ethical information;
   • present position & home institute; incl. 500-word summary of work undertaken there, references;
   • Ph.D. award;
   • other funding sources, funding history, previous applications for EMBO fellowships, career breaks;
   • scientific CV: research experience, education, publications;
   • further eligibility details.
9. Finalise your application.
   • Online Application Form via the EMBO online system (applicant)
   • Two Letters of Reference (referees)
   • Acceptance Letter from the receiving institute (host institution / Project Office & IOCB supervisor)
10. Submit your application before the second Friday of February or before the second Friday of July. The nearest deadlines are on Fri 14 Feb 2025 14:00 CET and Fri 11 Jul 2025 14:00 CEST. Pre-screen results will be announced 5–6 weeks after the cut-off date.
11. Be prepared for an interview with an EMBO Member (the number of applicants invited is approximately double the number of available fellowships). Interviews are held between 7–15 weeks after the cut-off date (April/September). Interviews will be held remotely through a teleconferencing application. The applicant may be asked to give an online seminar as part of the interview procedure. You are responsible for communicating the date with your interviewer.

Alternatively, negotiate a foreign postdoc for your laboratory. He/she is responsible for going through the admission process described above, you will need to supply the Host institute acceptance form.

Final evaluation results will be announced to the applicants 15-17 weeks after the cut-off date (June/November) on the EMBO website.
Successful applicants in the Spring Selection Round of the year must start their fellowship between July 1^st of that year and February 15^th of the following year. Successful applicants in the Autumn Selection Round of the year must start their fellowships between January 1^st and August ^15th of the following year. Due to practical limitations, fellowships can only start on either the 1^st or the 15^th of each month.

EMBO contact: Karin Dumstrei (☎: +49 6221 8891 122) or Elsie Chan (☎: +49 6221 8891 409), fellowships@embo.org

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IOCB participation (1) in EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship:

• Susana Machado (2022-2024) – Zuzana Kečkéšová’s group