PhD fellowships to outstanding junior scientists worldwide who wish to pursue an ambitious PhD project in basic biomedical research in an internationally leading laboratory. The fellowship supports only experimental projects in basic biomedical research, including in silico projects.

It does not support applied research, studies on the course of diseases or the treatment of symptoms or clinical studies, botanical and prokaryotic investigations, unless they are of general biological importance, or education.

Fellowships may not be used during the course and rotation phase of PhD programmes, but only for the duration of the PhD project.

Monthly stipend (2,000 € + a country dependant premium), additional monthly benefits (child/spouse allowance) plus seminars, travel allowances, individual and personal support, and a worldwide network of fellows and alumni

Duration: 2 years. It may be extended once for up to one year

European citizens working in Europe or overseas and to non-European citizens pursuing their PhD projects in Europe.
The PhD projects must be experimental, in the field of basic biomedical research, and aimed at elucidating basic biological phenomena of human life and acquiring new scientific knowledge.

At the deadline;

• Your first university entrance qualification (secondary or high school leaving certificate, A-levels, or entrance/access test for first university studies after finishing school) must not have been completed more than 8 years, i.e. 96 months ago.
• Natural scientists should have been awarded their last university degree before embarking on their PhD (BSc, diploma, MSc, or equivalent). If you have not yet finished your MSc studies and/or have not received your MSc degree certificate by the deadline, you can submit it up to four months after the deadline.
• Physicians, veterinary surgeons, and pharmacists should have passed their state examinations.

Candidates from the same laboratory; If two candidates from the same laboratory apply for a PhD fellowship at the same time, only one of them may receive a fellowship. We, therefore, recommend that they apply at different deadlines.

Timing of application:
You should apply when you are about to start, or have just started, your PhD project, no preliminary results are expected. If you have begun your project more than six months prior to the deadline, you are no longer eligible to apply.
Definition of the start of a PhD project:

• If you continue to work in your MSc/BSc thesis research group: the date at which you obtained your highest degree (e.g. BSc, MSc, diploma, DEA, licenciatura, laurea) before embarking on your PhD.
• If you change the research group: the month of arrival at the laboratory in which you pursue your PhD project, irrespective of the project you started to work on.
• If your PhD programme requires initial lab rotations and your last lab rotation is in your PhD lab: the end of your lab rotation period.

You may not receive a regular personal income from an employer while being funded by a BIF fellowship. However, one working contract of up to five hours a week yielding a marginal income may be acceptable.

Documents for application

1. Title and summary of PhD project (max. 1,400 characters including spaces)
2. Project proposal: detailed presentation of PhD project containing the formulation of the problem, current status of research, applicant's own groundwork, objectives, experimental strategy including methods of investigation (at least 4-5 pages for strategy and methods), references (including all authors and full titles of cited papers), work schedule indicating anticipated duration of entire project, and individual steps.
3. Reasons for wishing to work with the proposed group
4. Summary of final experimental thesis (e.g. bachelor, diploma, master thesis) preceding the PhD project; if none was performed, please provide the reason(s) in the field "Additional information" in the online application and provide a summary of your most important laboratory internship.
5. List of applicant's publications (if applicable)
6. Scans of certificates of all academic qualifications (including grades) and certificates of professional education prior to university (if applicable); in chronological order, newest on top. If the language of certificates is other than English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Turkish, please provide a translation.
7. Scans of high school diploma/secondary school leaving certificate including grades (e.g. Abitur, Baccalaureate, A-Levels) and, additionally, where applicable, university entrance test (e.g. SAT/ACT, PAU, YGS/LYS, Joint Entrance Examination, etc.). If the language of certificates is other than English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Turkish, please provide a translation.
8. Letter(s) of recommendation emailed to us directly from the supervisors.

Letters of recommendation 

Letters are required from

• The supervisor of the PhD thesis
• The supervisor of the MSc or equivalent thesis (e.g. BSc, diploma), if different from PhD supervisor
• If no final experimental thesis was performed, from the supervisor of the most important laboratory internship.

Deadlines

There are three deadlines each year: 1 February, 1 June, 1 October.

In case of interest, please contact with internacional@fsjd.org