Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSPO)

About the opportunity

The Human Frontier Science Program (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. The program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences, emphasizing interdisciplinary projects that challenge existing paradigms using novel approaches. Two types of fellowships are offered: Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) for applicants with a PhD on a biological topic, and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF) for applicants holding a doctoral degree from a non-biological discipline (e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, or computer sciences) with little to no prior experience in the life sciences.

Funding and benefits

• Living Allowance
• Research & Travel Allowance
• Child Allowance (depending on specific situation)
• Parental Leave Allowance (depending on specific situation)
• Relocation allowance (depending on specific situation)

Who can apply?

• Applicants may be from any country and of any nationality, but must propose a change in country and cannot apply to work in the country of their nationality (unless specific dual nationality and residency criteria are met).
• Candidates who are nationals of an HFSPO Member Country can apply to work in any country they are not a national of; non-member country nationals can only apply to work in an HFSPO Member Country.
• Must not have studied or worked in the proposed host country for more than 12 months consecutively or non-consecutively by the activation date.
• Must not propose to take up the fellowship in the country where they obtained their PhD.
• Must not have spent more than 12 months working with the proposed host supervisor by the fellowship activation date, and host supervisors can only endorse one application per competition year.
• Must hold a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree (conferred within 3 years prior to the full proposal deadline, with exemptions available for specific post-PhD career interruptions like parental leave or illness).
• Must have at least one full-length original research publication in English as a lead author (single, first, or joint-first author), or meet specific preprint repository criteria at the Letter of Intent stage.

Required documents

• Letter of Intent (submitted via ProposalCentral)
• Full Proposal (if invited, submitted via ProposalCentral)
• CV including details of any post-PhD career interruptions
• Lead-author peer-reviewed publication or preprint manuscript details
• Host supervisor and host institution sign-off documents/agreements

When to apply

• ProposalCentral application portal opened on March 12, 2026.
• Initiation of a Letter of Intent had to be completed before May 5, 2026, at 9:00 am Eastern US Time.
• Submission of a Letter of Intent was due by May 12, 2026, at 9:00 am Eastern US Time.
• Letter of Intent outcome notification between mid-August and end of August 2026.
• Submission of Full Proposals for invited applicants was due by September 24, 2026, at 9:00 am Eastern US Time.
• Final outcome announcement expected towards the end of March 2027.
• Fellowship activation window for successful applicants: between April 1, 2027, and January 1, 2028.

How to apply

• Register and initiate an application via the online submission platform ProposalCentral.
• Submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) before the designated deadline.
• If selected from the LOI stage, prepare and submit a Full Proposal upon invitation.
• Ensure host supervisors and host institution officials complete their respective portal instructions and administrative sign-offs.

Additional information

• The fellowship is awarded for 3 years (36 months) and cannot be renewed.
• Appointments must be 100% full-time equivalent (FTE).
• Fellows cannot concurrently hold another paid employment position or paid fellowship from another organization.
• HFSPO Member Countries include multiple nations across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.