The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) supports innovative basic research that applies novel and interdisciplinary approaches to understand fundamental biological problems and includes scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries.
Through its 3-year postdoctoral fellowships, HFSPO supports talented postdocs to change scientific paradigms by proposing a frontier-extending research project. The fellowships are held in a different laboratory, in a new country. Fellows are expected to ensure that new perspectives are brought to the frontiers of the life sciences and therefore the program encourages postdocs from outside biology to bring their skills to bear on a fundamental biological problem.
HFSPO provides two types of fellowships: Long-Term Fellowships are for applicants with a Ph.D. on a biological topic who want to embark on a novel and frontier project focusing on the life sciences. Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships 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.
In both programs, emphasis is placed on whether the research proposal is truly at the frontier of the life sciences and is potentially transformative in nature. Given the requirement to change the research direction, no preliminary results are expected when applicants propose their research ideas.
There is one competition per year for HFSP fellowships and it follows a two-step application procedure: First, a short Letter of Intent is submitted, which will be peer-reviewed by an HFSP review committee. The best Letters of Intent are then invited to submit a full proposal, which will again be peer-reviewed.
The online application platform (https://proposalcentral.com) will be open from March 15, 2023. The submission deadline for the Letter of Intent is May 11, 2023. Before applying, please read carefully the HFSP website as well as the application guidelines which list the eligibility criteria. Should you have any question as to your eligibility, please contact the fellowship office at fellow@hfsp.org