EMBO Long-Term Fellowships

EMBO Long-Term Fellowships for exchanges between EMBC Member States are co-funded by the European Commission FP7.

About

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. All fellowships must involve movement between countries and one of those countries must be an EMBC Member State.

*This may be up to three years if the receiving institute is in Singapore.

Eligibility

Applicants must hold a doctorate degree or equivalent before the start of the fellowship but not necessarily at the time of application.
Applicants must have at least one first author publication in press or published in an international peer reviewed journal at the time of application.
Candidates can only submit applications for one project at one host laboratory at each round of selection.
Applications are only considered from candidates who passed their PhD exam not more than two years ago at the relevant closing date for application. Exceptions are made for applicants with career breaks due to military service or childcare.
Candidates who have had a career break for at least one year for child-care reasons may be given special consideration when applying to stay within the same country. Exceptions will only be made on a case by case basis.

All applications must involve movement between countries. The receiving institute or the applicant’s nationality must be from one of the EMBC Member States.

Please note: non-Member States nationals with a PhD from a Member State will not be eligible for a fellowship in a non-Member State.

Reapplication is only permissible once.

Applications for Long-Term Fellowships to be held in the laboratory, institute or department in which the candidate obtained his or her PhD, or to work again with the candidate's PhD supervisor, no matter where the latter is located, are not considered.

Application

Applications and supporting documentation are only accepted via the online application system. (Opens 6 weeks before the application deadline, from 1 January for the 15 February deadline and from 1 July for the 15 August deadline.)

Please read the Helpful notes for applicants and the LTF-Guidelines for applicants before applying online and see the preview of the online application form.

Deadlines are twice a year 15 February and 15 August.

Selection

The application is examined at the EMBO Fellowship office to ensure that it is complete and eligible. All eligible applications are then sent to the Fellowship Committee for pre-screening and approximately 40-50% of all applications are selected for an interview.

An interviewer, who is expert in the area of the application, will be selected from among the EMBO Members and EMBO Young Investigators (see separate note on interviews). 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 considered by the Fellowship Committee.

The Fellowship Committee members will score applications according the following criteria:

Previous scientific achievements of the applicant

Novelty and biological significance of proposed research

Appropriateness of the host laboratory for the proposed research and for the training of the applicant.

The Fellowship Committee then meets to take the final funding decisions. Typically the outcome of the selection is known approximately 14-16 weeks after the closing date and is provided on the EMBO website immediately after the committee meeting. The fellowships can be started without any further significant delay.

Note the following when submitting your EMBO Long-Term Fellowship application.

Interviews normally take place within 6-8 weeks of the closing date for applications. 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.
Interview expenses will be reimbursed by EMBO. A claim form will be issued.
Please return, together with receipts, to the EMBO Fellowship office in Heidelberg.

Candidates are expected to travel by second class rail for journey of up to 12 hours. Otherwise travel by economy class air will be refunded. Subsistence expenses are refunded up to the EMBO standard daily rate.

Benefits

Duration of support

The fellowship may be awarded for a period of up to 24 months, if the receiving institute is in Singapore this may be up to 36 months, depending on a positive interim request from the supervisor. The Fellowship Committee may also award a shorter period than requested.

It is possible to apply if the applicant has started already but only if the time already spent at the receiving institute does not exceed 7 months at the relevant closing date for application.

Please note that for fellows going to a non member state the time already spent at the receiving institute will have to be deducted from the 24 months.

Fellowships must be started within one calendar year from the relevant closing date for applications.

Travel costs and stipend

Stipend and travel costs for the fellow and his/her family are provided.
If the applicant is already at the receiving institute at the time of application, travel costs are not paid. The stipend rates depend on the country being visited, marital status, number of children under 18 years of age and other sources of income.
In the event of early termination of the fellowship, any payments made after the date of termination will have to be repaid as will the return portion of the travel money. When the fellowship is accepted for a very brief period, the entire travel allowance will have to be returned.

Parental leave

Fellows are entitled to 3 months parental leave during their fellowship. Fellows who take parental leave during the fellowship are eligible to request an extension of their fellowship for a period of up to 3 months.

Part-time work

For childcare reasons it is possible to work part-time during the fellowship. However the maximum time (full-time plus part-time) spent at the receiving institute shall not exceed 36 months at the same laboratory.

Childcare cost support

All fellows receive a dependent allowance for children under the age of 18 in their household.

Fellows with children under the age of six years are entitled to additional funds in support of child-care costs.

Fellows' network

All recipients of a EMBO Long-Term Fellowship are part of the EMBO Fellows' network and can register to EMBO fellowsNet , a web-based resource to highlight their profile and publication records, communicate with other EMBO Fellows, and stay connected with the EMBO community.