HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Objectives of the HFSP Fellowship Program

• The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) strives to strengthen open scientific inquiry by initiating international collaborative, interdisciplinary and cutting-edge basic research in the life sciences.
• Young scientists, driven by adventurous new ideas that may give our view on the world new perspectives, are selected by an expert committee on the basis of the excellence of their research proposal, so that they can test their hypotheses and experiment with new methods and approaches. HFSP is committed to supporting original, frontier-type research to advance current knowledge and opens new pathways for innovation.
• HFSP encourages talented young scientists to think broadly; to stretch their work beyond the scope of expertise gained through their PhD and to encounter a new research environment by moving to a new country and working in a different discipline or research area. HFSP enables this transition for carefully chosen highly talented postdocs with the most original and inspiring new research projects by allowing them to move to the best research institutions and laboratories in the world.
• The expectations on our postdoctoral fellows are high: incorporate novel investigative approaches at the frontiers of the life sciences and disrupt existing paradigms and established ways of thinking.
• HFSP fellowship awardees stand out through their utmost dedication, engagement and commitment to innovative science.

Types Of Fellowships

HFSP offers two types of postdoctoral fellowships, for 3 years.

• Long-Term Fellowships are for applicants with a PhD on a biological topic who want to embark on a novel and frontier project focussing on the life sciences.
• Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships are for applicants who hold a doctoral degree from a non-biological discipline (e.g. physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering or computer sciences) and who have not worked in the life sciences before.

Features of HFSP Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF)

Fellowships offer:

• a two-step application procedure with a fast review result for the initial Letter of Intent stage.
• funding for exploratory research at the frontiers of the life sciences without the need to present preliminary data.
• opportunities for establishing and expanding your professional network by connecting with experts from neighbouring disciplines to enable important discoveries in biology.
• exciting professional experiences by moving to a new country and working in a different research environment.
• free choice of the host institution that corresponds to your research interests and project requirements.
• advanced opportunities for career planning by having the possibility to use the final year of the HFSP support in a flexible manner to plan your next career step either by moving back to your home country or by moving to another country.

HFSP Does Not Fund

• Projects of a purely applied nature. For example:
  • projects of a primarily clinical and pharmaceutical nature; those projects are only considered if they allow new insights into fundamental biological mechanisms of a disease.
  • projects aimed at developing methods of diagnosis or treatment, including the search for potential drug targets or advanced trials of drugs under development.
  • applied research in engineering, biotechnology, or nanotechnology, that does not address a fundamental biological problem.
  • projects directly concerned with agricultural problems such as crop yield or breeding and environmental problems such as pollution, or forestry.
• Research aimed at developing novel methods or the study of analogs or models of biological activity unless these methods allow new biological questions to be answered in the context of the aim of the HFSP to fund fundamental research.
• Observational projects or systematic screening approaches.
• Large-scale data collection studies or large-scale studies on populations or ecosystems. However, studies of the mechanisms of species-species interactions or their co-evolution are eligible.
• Research in for-profit environments (but collaborations are allowed).

Eligibility Criteria

• HFSP encourages inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and welcomes applicants independent of gender, origin, cultural background, and age.
• There is one competition per year for HFSP postdoctoral fellowships.
• Only one HFSP postdoctoral fellowship Letter of Intent application is allowed in each competition year. However, unsuccessful candidates can apply in subsequent years, provided they still meet all eligibility criteria.
• An HFSP postdoctoral fellowship may only be held once.
• All applicants must propose a change in country and in research topic.
• The earliest possible activation date of the fellowship is April 1, 2025. Fellows must begin their fellowship between April 1, 2025 and January 1, 2026.
• Nationality
  • Applicants may be from any country and of any nationality.
    • A candidate who is a national of one of the HFSP member countries can apply to work in a research institution in any country.
    • A candidate who is not a national of one of the HFSPO member countries can apply to work only in a research institution in one of the member countries.
    • Candidates cannot apply for a fellowship to work in the country of which they are a national.
    • Candidates with dual nationalities may apply to work in a research institution in one of the countries for which they have a dual nationality provided they have never studied in this country and they fulfil one of the first two criteria about nationality listed above. In such cases applicants need to contact the Fellowship Office and claim an exemption.
    • HFSPO member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus (EU part only), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
• Candidates must propose to work in a country different to the one in which they did their PhD research or previous post-doctoral research, even if they are not a national of that country. They are not eligible to propose to move from one laboratory to another in the same country.
• For-profit research environments are not eligible host institutions.

For more information, visit HFSP.