Background and aims

The FEBS Fellowships programme began in 1979, and became a highly competitive and respected programme for early-stage researchers thanks to rigorous selection methods and the packages offered. Most of its schemes over the years have supported graduate students and early-career researchers in the molecular life sciences in the FEBS area to move to and carry out a period of research in a lab in a different FEBS country, thus broadening their experience and training, giving access to additional research techniques and expertise, and facilitating international collaboration.

FEBS Fellowship types

FEBS currently offers Short-Term Fellowships, Summer Fellowships and Ukrainian Short-Term Fellowships to scientists in the FEBS area.

• Short-Term Fellowships are for scientists who have obtained their PhD degree within the past six years, and PhD students who have at least one published paper as a main author in an international scientific journal. Apply any time.
• Summer Fellowships are for PhD students and Master’s students. Apply by 1 April each year (the call normally opens in February).
• Ukrainian Short-Term Fellowships are for active molecular life scientists from Ukraine who have a PhD. Apply any time.

All these FEBS Fellowships are stipends from FEBS for researchers studying or working in a FEBS country and wishing to move to a different country in the FEBS area for the duration of the Fellowship. Candidates for Short-Term Fellowships also need to be a member of one of the FEBS Constituent Societies. The research stay is arranged by the applicant in collaboration with the host lab.

NB: Two older schemes – FEBS Long-Term Fellowships and Collaborative Developmental Scholarships – are closed to new applications.

General FEBS Fellowships application information

• For general information about FEBS Fellowships please refer to the General Guidelines for Fellowships.
• For details on each Fellowship type, follow the links in the ‘In this section’ box of this page for specific guidelines.
• For access to the calls currently open on the online application system, go to fellowships.febs.org
• For information on FEBS Constituent Societies, go to the FEBS Societies section of the website.

The FEBS Fellowships programme is overseen by the FEBS Excellence Awards and Fellowships Committee.

If you have an outstanding query on FEBS Fellowships after consulting the guidelines, please contact the FEBS Excellence Awards and Fellowships Committee Office via [email protected] or the Contact section of this website. (Please note this office does not deal with travel grants for FEBS-supported conferences and courses.)

PROBio-Africa Fellowships

PROBio-Africa Fellowships are a new Fellowship type that started in 2023, funded jointly by FEBS and IUBMB in a cooperation between these organizations and the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FASBMB). They are for PhD students and early-career researchers in African countries and affiliated with FASBMB (via their corresponding national societies), to support short stays (1–6 months) in a research lab in a FEBS country. For details, follow the link to PROBio-Africa Fellowships.