The EMBO Long-Term Fellowships 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.
Main eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must hold a doctorate degree or equivalent at the start of the fellowship.
- Applicants who already hold a PhDdegree at the time of application are eligible to apply only if they passed their PhD exam in the two years prior to the date of application.
- Applicants must have at least one first author publication accepted in or published in an international peer reviewed journal at the time of application.
- All applications must involve movement between countries (detailed information about mobility requirements is listed in guidelines).
- Applications to go to the country in which the PhD was obtained will not be considered.
- Applications for a Long-Term Fellowship to be held in the laboratory, institute or department in which the candidate worked to obtain his or her PhD, or to work again with the candidate’s supervisor, no matter where the latter is located, will not be considered.
- Candidates can start working at the host laboratory before the application deadline, but the time spent should not exceed six months at the date of application.
- Candidates can only submit one application for one project at one host laboratory at each round of selection.
- Reapplication is permissible only once.
For detailed eligibility criteria applicants should read the Long-Term Fellowships guidelines.
PhD degree
Applicants must hold a PhD degree or equivalent at the start of the fellowship, at the latest. The PhD degree must have been obtained during the two years prior to the date the application is complete. Exceptions to this rule are made for applicants with prolonged career breaks due to parental leave and mandatory military/civil service in which case the time of the career break will not be counted. Additional exceptions might be made on a case-by-case basis for extraordinary personal circumstances, such as severe illness. The Fellowship Office can provide further information and must be contacted prior to submitting a claim for an exception. Candidates with a medical degree (M.D.) are eligible to apply for an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship provided they hold a PhD (MD-PhD programme) or have appropriate research experience that is comparable to a PhD. Please contact the EMBO Fellowship office prior to submission.
Publications
Applicants must have at least one first (or joint first) author research paper accepted for publication or published in an international peer reviewed journal at the time the application is complete.
EMBO will not consider:
• Papers submitted or in preparation not yet accessible to the community,
• Review articles and patent applications,
• Abstracts of presentations at conferences,
• Publication updates after application.
EMBO will consider papers published on preprint servers (arXiv, BioRxiv, PeerJ., etc), but a first-author publication in an international peer-reviewed journal is still a requirement.
Do NOT indicate the journal impact factor. EMBO is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, http://www.ascb.org/dora/), which recommends “not to use journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an individual scientist’s contributions, or in hiring, promotion, or funding decisions”.
Publication updates after the application is complete are not allowed without re-opening the application (see APPLICATION PROCESS).
BENEFITS:
Duration of support
Fellowships may be awarded for a period of up to 24 months but the Fellowship Committee may also award a shorter period than requested.
Please note: The minimum fellowship duration that can be requested is 12 months.
Fellowships must be started within one calendar year from the relevant evaluation deadline.
Stipend
The stipend is a subsistence allowance and is intended to cover the cost of living in the host country. The stipend rate depends on the country being visited and might be subject to taxation. We cannot advise on respective national tax regulations and we recommend fellows to contact the relevant authorities in the host country.
Dependent child allowance
EMBO Fellows are entitled to receive an additional allowance for dependent children under the age of 18. The value of the allowance depends on the country being visited.
Childcare allowance
For children under the age of six, fellows can claim support for incurred child-care costs up to the amount of €2.500 per year and per child. The corresponding amount is prorated according to the fraction of the year in which child-care expenses occurred.
Travel allowance
The travel allowance is intended to cover travel costs up to the amount of €5.000 for the fellow and his/her family to and from the receiving institute. The travel allowance further includes half a month’s stipend to contribute to relocation costs.
Please read the Long-Term Fellowships Guidelines for further details.
Parental leave
Fellows whose children were born during their fellowship are entitled to 3 months paid parental leave. Fellows who take parental leave during the fellowship may request an extension of their fellowship for a period of up to 3 months. This extension has to be requested by the host supervisor at the end of the fellowship. Parental leave has to begin within 6 months of the birth of a child. Fellows should inform the Fellowship Office of their intention to take parental leave.
Part-time work
For childcare reasons it is possible to work part-time during the fellowship.
Please note: The maximum fellowship duration (full-time plus part-time) must not exceed 36 months.
Private Pension Scheme
Participation in the scheme is open to all EMBO Long-Term Fellows. The scheme is administered by MLP and Barmenia manages the pension funds. The plan offers a benefit package that optimally suits the needs of highly mobile scientists.
During the fellowship period EMBO functions as the policyholder and the fellows’ contributions are directly deducted from the stipend. EMBO matches the fellows’ contributions up to €100 per month. After the fellowship ends the policy is transferred to the fellow.
In case a fellow voluntarily contributes to another pension scheme, EMBO will also match the fellows’ contributions up to €100 per month paid at the end of each year, provided that the following conditions are met:
- The scheme is a proper pension scheme and not any other type of financial product (life insurance, investment account, etc.).
- The scheme is transferable to another country, at minimum within Europe.
EMBO Fellows’ Meeting
At the end of the fellowship, fellows are invited to the Fellows’ Meeting. This annual event brings fellows together in a friendly atmosphere to present their research, share experiences, and establish new collaborations and contacts. It is also an opportunity to meet the EMBO staff and give feedback and suggestions on the programme.
Laboratory Management Courses
EMBO Long-Term Fellows are offered to attend a Laboratory Management Course for postdocs in Heidelberg free of charge at the end of their fellowship. Please note that due to budget restrictions waivers are available only to a limited number of EMBO Long-Term Fellows, both previous and current. Places are granted on a strict first come, first served policy. Waiver is available only within five years of being awarded the fellowship and only if the fellowship is held for at least six months.
Please read the Long-Term Fellowships guidelines for further details.
APPLICATION :
Applications and supporting documentation (two references, receiving institute acceptance) are only accepted via the online application system.
Please read the FAQs and the Long-Term Fellowships guidelines before applying. Please also see the preview of the online application form.
There are NO APPLICATION DEADLINES for EMBO Long-Term Fellowships.
No application can be completed without all the information required, including the two reference letters and the acceptance letter from the receiving institute.
The date (according to Central European (Summer) Time (CET)) in which the candidates confirm that their application is complete is the reference date for eligibility and evaluation.
There are TWO ANNUAL EVALUATION DEADLINES for EMBO Long-Term Fellowships:
Second Friday of February, 2 PM Central European Time: First evaluation deadline. Complete applications up to this deadline will enter the evaluation process. Results for this round will be announced at the end of May or beginning of June.
Second Friday of August, 2 PM Central European Summer Time: Second evaluation deadline. Complete applications up to this deadline will enter the evaluation process. Results for this round will be announced at the end of November or beginning of December.
***Please note***: Registration for an EMBO online application account is not sufficient to enter the corresponding evaluation round. An application is only regarded as complete once all the required information is submitted AND the candidate confirms completion. Applications completed after 14:00 CET on the day of the deadline will enter the next evaluation round. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.
SELECTION :
All applications are examined at the EMBO Fellowships Office to ensure that they are complete and eligible.
All eligible applications are then sent to the Fellowship Committee for pre-screening and twice the number of available fellowships is selected for an interview. During the pre-screening, the Committee reviews a condensed application form, which includes a summary of the applicant’s main scientific achievements along with the three most important publications, summary and biological significance of the proposed work, justification for choice of the host lab, as well as reference and acceptance letters.
For applicants who successfully passed the pre-screening, an interviewer, who is an expert in the area of the application, will be selected from among the EMBO Members and EMBO Young Investigators. When it is not possible to arrange a personal or video interview, the candidate’s application is sent for written evaluation.
All applications are then evaluated by the EMBO Fellowship Committee based on:
- Previous scientific achievements of the applicant
- Novelty and biological significance of proposed research
- Appropriateness of the host laboratory for the proposed research and training of the applicant.
The Fellowship Committee then meets to take the final funding decisions. Typically the outcome of the selection is known between 14-16 weeks after the evaluation deadline and is provided on the EMBO website shortly after the committee meeting.
Please read the Long-Term Fellowships guidelines for further details.
Note the following when submitting your EMBO Long-Term Fellowship application:
Interviews normally take place within 6-10 weeks of the evaluation deadline. The interview may take place outside the applicant’s country of residence; therefore, applicants must have a valid passport. Candidates may be requested to give a seminar as part of the interview procedure. The interview should take place at the interviewer’s convenience and the applicant is responsible for contacting the interviewer.
Interview travel expenses will be reimbursed by EMBO. A claim form will be issued and together with receipts has to be returned to the EMBO Fellowship office.
Candidates are expected to travel by second-class rail for journeys of up to 8 hours. Otherwise or in case this is less expensive, travel by economy class air will be refunded. Subsistence and accommodation expenses are refunded up to the EMBO standard daily rate.
RESEARCH INTEGRITY :
EMBO expects responsible conduct of research from its awardees. All the research activities carried out with the support of an EMBO Fellowship shall be in compliance with fundamental ethical and research integrity principles. In line with our commitment with these initiatives, we require all our Fellows to complete an online course on research integrity.
Application Deadline – Friday, 10 February 2017, at 2 pm CET
