Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024/2025 are fully funded scholarships for international students. HFSP Fellowships will provide a living allowance as well as a research and travel allowance. Depending on their specific situation fellows may also qualify to receive a child allowance, a parental leave allowance, and a relocation allowance.
The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Applications for high-risk projects are particularly encouraged. The projects should be interdisciplinary in nature and should challenge existing paradigms by using novel approaches and techniques. Scientifically, they should address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field.
HFSP postdoctoral fellowships encourage early-career scientists to broaden their research skills by moving into new areas of study while working in a new country.
Two different fellowships are available:
Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) are for applicants with a PhD in a biological discipline, who will broaden their expertise by proposing a project in the life sciences which is significantly different from their previous PhD or postdoctoral work.
Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF) are for applicants with a PhD from outside the life sciences (e.g. in physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering or computer sciences).
Scholarship Summary
- Level of Study: Postdoctoral
- Institution(s): Human Frontier Science Program
- Study in: List of Host Countries is given below
- Opportunity Focus Areas: Life sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering or Computer sciences
- Deadline:
- Initiation of a Letter of Intent by 1 PM (Eastern Time US) by March 15, 2024
The registration portal will open in April. - Submission of a Letter of Intent by 1 PM (Eastern Time US) by May 11, 2024
- The fellowship applicant will be notified between mid-August and the end of August as to whether his/her Letter of Intent was selected or not for submitting a Full Proposal.
- Submission of Full Proposals for invited applicants by 1 PM (Eastern Time US) by September 28, 2024, via ProposalCentral.
- Initiation of a Letter of Intent by 1 PM (Eastern Time US) by March 15, 2024
Host Countries
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus (EU part), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
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Scholarship Coverage
Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowships will provide a living allowance as well as a research and travel allowance. Depending on their specific situation fellows may also qualify to receive a child allowance, a parental leave allowance, and a relocation allowance.
Eligibility Criteria for HFSP Fellowships
To qualify for Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowships, the candidate must fulfill all of the following requirements below:
- Required Language: English
- Eligible Countries: All world countries
- Applicants must propose to work in a country different from the one where they did their previous Ph.D. work or first post-doctoral studies. For those institutions that are not classified as national, i.e. international or extraterritorial institutions such as EMBL, ICPT or ICGEB, the country in which the laboratory is located will be considered the host country.
- A research doctorate (Ph.D.) or a doctoral-level degree comparable to a Ph.D. with equivalent experience in basic research (e.g. a research-based MD or medical Ph.D.) must be conferred by the start of the fellowship but is not required at the time of submission.
- Applicants must have at least one lead author, full-length research paper – either accepted for publication, in the press or published – in an international peer-reviewed journal or published on a preprint server.
- Only papers written in English are taken into account. Review articles and patents are not taken into account.
- Electronic copies of lead author publications must be uploaded while preparing the application. They cannot be uploaded after the applicant has submitted them.
How to Apply for Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowships
Please follow the following application instructions to apply for Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowships:
(1) Letter of Intent (to be submitted by May)
Applicants submit a ‘Letter of Intent (LOI) by clicking here which must contain the following information:
- Title of proposal
- Keywords of a proposed research plan
- A short summary of the proposed research plan (this summary can be used as the abstract of the full application if it is invited, see below)
- Personal information
- CV
- Field and title of PhD
- Information on the proposed host supervisor and host institution
- Disclosure on previous collaborations and publications with the host supervisor (if any confirmation that the host supervisor is aware of and supports the application
- Publication list (preliminary, with option to update)
(2) Letter of Intent will be peer reviewed and the results communicated as quickly as possible.
(3) Full Application (to be submitted by September 28)
Note that you will be contacted by HFSP if you are invited to progress to this second stage.
Full applications must contain the following:
- A summary of previous work (the same as the short summary of the LOI)
- An abstract of the proposed research project (the same as the short summary of the LOI)
- A detailed research plan of proposed project
- Information on why and how the proposed project is a significant change from previous work
- Information on why and how the proposed project is of a frontier nature
- Information on why the chosen host lab is a good fit
- Information on how the applicant will benefit from being in the host lab (e.g. unique infrastructure, mentoring, exposure to new techniques etc.)
- An updated publication list
- Recommendation letters from two referees
- A recommendation letter from the host supervisor, explaining how the proposed research plan is a new direction for the host lab and a significant change from the applicant’s prior work (either during PhD or postdoctoral training); the host supervisor should also explain how and why their lab is particularly suited to supporting the aims and missions of HFSP to enable the most talented young researchers to embark on a frontier research project that will shape their career trajectory; the host supervisor should also outline a mentorship plan for the applicant.
- PDF files of lead-author publications