Applications open for Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowships

JDRF envisions the 3-year award term as a period in which fellows will receive critical research training that will position them to work at the leading edge of their chosen field. An additional, optional 1-year transition award will further assist fellows to proceed to independent faculty or research appointments and will serve as a bridge between the fellowship and independent competitive research funding. During the fellowship phase, the applicant is required to work with a sponsor who can provide a training environment conducive to beginning a career in diabetes-relevant research.

Funding Information

• Budgets up to USD 95,000 per year for up to 3 years may be requested. The stipend request is based on years of relevant postdoctoral experience. Salary support for additional staff is not allowable.
• Awards will be made for a duration of up to 3 years, assuming satisfactory progress. The fellowship term is 12 months for each fellowship year. Fellows must devote at least 75% of their effort to the project outlined in the fellowship proposal.
• There are no indirect costs allowed for fellowships and JDRF will make no deductions for income tax, Social Security, etc. Funds in excess of the stipend, up to a total budget of USD 95,000 per year, can be used for travel to scientific meetings (up to USD 2,000/year), journal subscriptions, books, training courses, laboratory supplies, or equipment (in Year 1 only). The purchase of a personal computer is allowed (up to USD 2,000) only during Year 1 of the award. Health insurance costs are permissible. The award is renewable for up to two additional years pending submission and approval of a renewal proposal.

Transition Award

• To assist the awardee’s advancement to a faculty position, the advanced postdoctoral fellowship carries an optional transition year in which the awardee may request funding support in their first year as a faculty member of an academic institution.
• To apply for the transition year, awardees must provide a letter of institutional commitment and faculty appointment along with a satisfactory progress report and abbreviated research plan for the transitional year.
• The Transition Award can be requested in an amount up to USD 110,000 total costs for 1 year.
• Indirect costs (excluding equipment) cannot exceed 10 percent. The Transition Award can be requested at any time during the 3-year fellowship period after a faculty appointment has been obtained.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant
  • This fellowship is intended for applicants who have completed some postdoctoral training, show extraordinary promise and are preparing for a transition to an independent research position. Generally, the most recent doctoral degree (PhD, MD, DMD, DVM, or equivalent) will have been received no more than 6 years before the application is submitted.
  • JDRF is sensitive to personal and COVID-related matters that impact career trajectories. Applicants who have taken leave from their career (e.g. parenting of a child, childbirth, long-term care of a parent/spouse/child/dependent, personal health issues), or experienced a delay in their training due to COVID shutdowns and the cancellation of the JDRF FY21 training call that put them outside of the eligibility time frame for the award mechanism should feel free to reach out to JDRF staff ahead of their application submission. JDRF aims to be flexible and adjust these time frames if necessary and appropriate.
  • There are no citizenship requirements for this program. To assure continued excellence and diversity among applicants and awardees, JDRF welcomes proposals from all qualified individuals and encourages proposals from persons with disabilities women and members of minority groups underrepresented in the sciences.
• Sponsor
  • The applicant must be sponsored by an investigator who is affiliated full-time with an accredited institution and who agrees to supervise the applicant’s training. The sponsor does not necessarily need to have a background in diabetes, but the research project must be in a diabetes-related.
• Location
  • Fellowship research may be conducted at foreign and domestic, for-profit and nonprofit, and public and private organizations, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local governments, and eligible agencies of the federal government.

For more information, visit JDRF.