FWO - junior and senior postdoctoral fellowships 2025

Research

Funding organisation:

Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen

What?

The FWO postdoctoral fellowships are intended to support researchers who have completed their PhD in developing an independent, international research career. Researchers can submit an application for a junior or a senior postdoctoral fellowship. Both junior and senior postdoctoral candidates must hold a PhD by thesis or a degree or a diploma or certificate recognised as equivalent in accordance with European Union directives or a bilateral agreement. Postdoctoral fellows are offered an employment contract for a term of three years.

Submission deadline is 2 December 2024. 

Who?

Researchers can apply for a junior postdoctoral fellowship if their PhD degree, with as reference point the date mentioned on the PhD degree, was awarded maximum three years before the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences. The public defence must have taken place no later than 15 September prior to the start of the fellowship, whereby the date of this public defence must be reported to the FWO no later than 1 July prior to the start of the fellowship; 

Candidates can apply for a senior postdoctoral fellowship if their PhD degree, with as reference point the date mentioned on the PhD degree, was awarded minimum three years and maximum six years before the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences (2025) and if they have not previously received a similar fellowship, not even in part.

Important: 

• Applicants can always apply for a senior postdoctoral fellowship if they have previously enjoyed a junior postdoctoral fellowship. In that case, the senior postdoctoral fellowship must immediately follow the junior postdoctoral fellowship;
• Senior applicants can also apply if you have not had a postdoctoral fellowship from the FWO before. In that case they must prove that they have a postdoctoral research experience of minimum 2 years on the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences;
• If the candidate has more than one PhD degree, the rules of this article apply only to the degree obtained in the same area of study as the proposal for postdoctoral research. Regardless of the area of study or discipline, the first PhD must in any case have been obtained no more than 10 years ago to be counted from the application submission deadline;
• Candidates may submit only one application per call. Candidates can apply maximum two times for the same fellowship, with postdoctoral fellowships of the junior or senior type being considered as two different types of fellowship.

Application?

• All applicants need to complete their application online, which is submitted to an FWO Expert panel;
• Candidates must submit and defend their application in English for the purposes of the international peer review;
• The supervisor is asked by the FWO to write a letter of recommendation.

More information?

More information can be found on the FWO website:
for junior postdoctoral fellowships
for senior postdoctoral fellowships

Support for applicants


(1) Information session
On 8 October 2024 FWO will give an online information session on the postdoctoral fellowship schemes, which starts at 12.30pm CET. Special attention will be given to the application modalities and evaluation processes of these funding schemes. Not only candidate postdoc researchers but also supervisors and research managers are welcome to attend this information session. 

Attending this information session is free of charge, but registration is required. If you wish to attend the session, we kindly ask you to register the dedicated registration form. Deadline for registration is Friday 4 October (5 PM). More practical details will follow after registration. 

(2) Grant writing skills for FWO postdoctoral candidates on Tuesday 22 October and Thursday 24 October 2024, 9 am-12-30pm
UHasselt doctoral schools organize a remote workshop with self study for researchers preparing to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship.
registration is possible until Sunday 13 October 2024 (5 PM CET). More info and registration is to be found on the workshop page

 

Deadline

02.12.2024

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail annelies.stockmans@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211268070