Guidelines for FEBS Long-Term Fellowships

To be read in conjunction with the General Guidelines for Fellowships and the Frequently Asked Questions about FEBS Long-Term Fellowships.

For Long-Term Fellowships, please register with the online application system at fellowships.febs.org. For the 1 October 2018 call, the system is expected to open for registrations on 1 July 2018. For further information, see point 7 below.

1. FEBS Long-Term Fellowships are intended to support long-term visits for the purpose of scientific collaboration or advanced training. They are originally granted for one year and may be renewed for a further year up to a maximum of three years. Applicants must have a PhD.
2. Candidates should normally be scientists who have obtained their PhD degree within the past three years. However, duly justified career breaks such as compulsory national service and parental leave may be considered. 
3. Long-Term Fellowships are not usually granted to scientists who have been recipients of a FEBS Short-Term Fellowship or FEBS Collaborative Developmental Scholarship during the preceding 12 months if the host laboratory is to be the same.
4. Normally, in each call no more than one candidate per given head of research group in a host laboratory will be granted a fellowship.
5. The amount of the Fellowship will depend on the cost of living in the country visited and, unless the applicant is already working at the host institute at the closing date of the call, will include travel expenses for the Fellow and his/her dependants. Such travel costs will provide for a second-class rail fare or an economy flight between the place of residence and the host laboratory. Assistance for children may also be provided (for 1 child +14% and for 2 or more +28% on annual stipend). The annual stipends can be downloaded on the right of this page. The host institution may provide additional top-up funds in cases where the stipend granted is below the minimum income for a postdoctoral researcher defined by law in the host country or for other reasons acceptable to FEBS.
6. Long-term Fellowships are awarded once a year. Applications should be submitted before October 1st of the corresponding year. 
7. The web-based application process for Long-Term Fellowships requires the following information and documents (in English):
   
   a. General application details and information on academic/research activities of the applicant, which will be entered online.
   
   b. A research proposal. An outline of the proposed investigation should be set out under the following headings and be no more than six A4-sized pages of single-spaced text (minimum top and bottom margins required are 2 cm and 2.5 cm, respectively). It will need to be uploaded in pdf format (maximum file size 1 MB). Headings:
   i. title;
   ii. purpose, including the immediate and longer-term aims;
   iii. background relating the proposed research to the present body of knowledge;
   iv. plan, including details of the experiments to be carried out;
   v. state-of-the-art and place in the international context
   vi. motivation for choosing the laboratory and host institute to be visited, including how it fits longer-term career goals
   vii. list of five recent papers of the host laboratory relevant to the proposed project;
   viii. list of the five most significant papers of the host laboratory from the last ten years.
   In addition, a timetable (portrait orientation) of the experimental work to be carried out is to be set out on an extra page (not included in the six-page maximum).
   
   c. Host acceptance. A confirmation of acceptance is required from the appointed head of the host institute or department, countersigned by the head of the research group(s) in which the applicant will be working, to confirm that the applicant will be accepted to work in the institute, that its facilities will be available to him/her to pursue the research proposed and that it will not ask FEBS or the applicant for any additional research grant, bench fees, or overheads, and indicating any dates the applicant has already spent at the institute. This should be provided on the official host acceptance form that can be downloaded from the application system, and should be scanned and uploded with the other applications documents.
   
   d. A FEBS Constituent Society membership letter. A dated letter from the appropriate FEBS Constituent Society confirming that the applicant is a member and indicating the date on which the applicant joined the Society should be scanned and uploaded with the other application documents.
   
   e. A referee’s letter of support. A letter of support for the application is required from an experienced scientist who knows the applicant and does not work at the host institute. This letter should be written on headed paper of the referee’s laboratory. Referees will be provided with a link for direct upload of their letter. Candidates are advised to notify their respective referees well ahead of time. The link will be active until the deadline of the respective call.
    
8. Applications will be assessed by the Fellowships Committee and the decisions will be communicated to the applicants no later than December 31st of the same year.
9. The Fellowship should be taken up within six months of its award. Any delay will require the authorization of the Chairperson of the FEBS Fellowships Committee.
10. At the end of each six months of the Fellowship, Fellows must prepare a short report highlighting progress of their work and, within three months of completion of the Fellowship, they must prepare a short report detailing the work done while in receipt of the Fellowship. These reports are to be sent electronically to the Chairperson of the FEBS Fellowships Committee. The FEBS Fellowship should be acknowledged in any work published relating to the project funded and a reprint of each article should be sent electronically to the Chairperson of the Fellowships Committee.
11. By acceptance of a FEBS Fellowship, senior or recently completed FEBS Long-Term Fellows are expected to attend one FEBS Fellows Meeting preceding the annual FEBS Congress, upon invitation from the FEBS Fellowships Chair.
12. During the tenure of the Fellowship or after its completion, Fellows may apply for a FEBS Distinguished Young Investigator Award or a grant from the FEBS Fellowship Follow-up Research Fund.
13. Past holders of a Long-Term Fellowship may not apply for another Long-Term Fellowship.