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Published: 24 Feb 2024 411 views
The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Applications for high-risk projects are particularly encouraged. The projects should be interdisciplinary in nature and should challenge existing paradigms by using novel approaches and techniques. Scientifically, they should address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field.
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.
Two different fellowships are available:
Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) 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 (CDF) 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.
The Human Frontier Science Program is a program of funding for frontier research in the life sciences. It is implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) with its office in Strasbourg. Here you can find all you need to know about the HFSPO. Our Shared Values Supporting scientific excellence at the frontier of life science has been the overarching mission of HFSPO since its very first days. HFSPO takes pride in its distinct culture which contributes to scientific excellence, through high-risk high-gain research that is paradigm shifting, interdis... continue reading
| Application Deadline | 14 May 2024 |
| Value | CAD $72,228 |
| Country to study | |
| Type | Fellowship |
| Sponsor | Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) |
| Gender | Men and Women |
The HFSP fellowships are for 3 years, with no possibility for renewal. 2025 fellows may interrupt HFSP support after the first year, for up to one year, while continuing their postdoctoral research funded through other sources (deferral period).
Fellows are granted a living allowance as well as a research and travel allowance. Depending on their specific situation fellows may also qualify to receive a child allowance, a parental leave allowance and a relocation allowance.
Allowances differ depending on the host country. The complete overview of HFSP fellowship allowances are stated in the 2025 application guidelines.
HFSP fellows cannot concurrently hold an HFSP Fellowship and another paid employment position (i.e., a position supported by a salary) or another paid fellowship from another organization. However, the HFSP Fellowship can be supplemented from other sources (e.g., from a host supervisor’s grant or from institutional funds). HFSP fellows may apply for and hold additional research grants themselves, provided those funds will not be used as a salary for the fellows and are to assist their conduct of the Fellowship research project as presented in the fellow’s successful application. HFSP fellows must devote themselves entirely to their research project in the host institution and may not engage in any other paid activity without prior agreement of HFSPO.
The PhD must have been conferred when the fellowship is activated.
HFSP fellows can either use the third fellowship year to continue to work in the host laboratory, to return to their or their spouse's/partner's home country, or to move to another HFSP member country.
Important eligibility criteria:
1) Nationality
2) Doctoral degree
3) Research publications
Submission of a fellowship application at the Full Proposal stage however is only possible with a published research article according to points (2) to (4) above. HFSP only accepts full-length original research publications in English that were peer reviewed and for which the applicant must either be the single author, first author or joint first author. In a joint first author paper the applicant does not need to be listed in the first position, but the equal contribution of the authors must be clearly stated in all cases.
In some cases the standard publication practice makes first authorship impossible (e.g. alphabetical listing of authors); these circumstances must be explained in the the application.
All Letters of Intent are checked for compliance with formal eligibility criteria by HFSP in accord with the criteria above. In addition, LOIs are screened by the three scientific directors of HFSP and members of the Fellowship Review Committee for alignment with the objectives of HFSP and its Fellowship schemes (e.g. basic, interdisciplinary research).
Ineligible LOIs or those with research proposals that do not align with the scientific scope of HFSP will not be sent for review and the applicants will be informed accordingly.
Eligible LOIs will then be peer-reviewed by the HFSP Fellowship Review Committee. See HERE the members of the current Fellowship Review Committee.
Please contact the Fellowship Office prior to submitting your application with any questions regarding eligibility or on the alignment of the proposed research with the scientific scope of the HFSP Fellowship program. You may also consult the FAQ section.
Scientific review
Review of Letters of Intent
Eligible LOIs will initially be assessed by two Fellowship Review Committee members. This will establish a first ranking that will result in a first cut-off. HFSP then invites the top LOIs to submit a Full Proposal. Approximately the top 15-20% of eligible LOIs will be invited.
LOI applicants will be notified between mid-August and end of August as to whether their Letter of Intent was selected or not to submit a Full Proposal.
Review of Full Proposals
The Full Proposals will be confirmed for eligibility. Eligible applications will then be sent to the same Review Committee members who reviewed the Letter of Intent. The Review Committee members will rate each of the applications assigned to them again.
The Fellowship Review Committee then meets in late January or early February. At the meeting, each full proposal will be discussed, and each of the original reviewers defends or revises their rating before all Review Committee members provide their own scores for each application. An average score for each proposal is then calculated, to generate a ranked list of proposals recommended for funding.
For details on the review process and the assessment criteria and scoring guidelines please refer to the document called ‘2025 HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowships: Information on review process and assessment criteria’, which can be found here.
Applicants are notified of the outcome of their applications once internal HFSP formalities are complete (usually towards the end of March).
Deadlines:
Before applying please read carefully the application guidelines which list the eligibility criteria. Should you have any question as to your eligibility, please contact the fellowship office.
The HFSP application portal in ProposalCentral will open on 14 March 2024 for Letters of Intent.
Information on how to submit a Letter of Intent can be found here.
There is only one competition per year for HFSP Fellowships. Applications for the 2025 HFSP Long-Term and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (to start in 2025) will follow a two-step submission process via the online submission platform ProposalCentral. Firstly, applicants will be asked to submit a Letter of Intent from which the review committee will select the best proposals. In a second step, successful applicants will be invited to submit a Full Proposal.
The link to the registration portal of each program will be available in the corresponding application guidelines.
The application guidelines for the 2025 cycle are available.
For more details visit: HFSP website.