HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 | Fully Funded Fellowship

The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 is a fully funded three-year international fellowship for early-career researchers who want to pursue frontier, interdisciplinary research in the life sciences in a new country. Fellows receive a living allowance, a research and travel allowance, a relocation allowance, and where applicable, a child allowance and parental leave allowance. Two fellowship types are available: the Long-Term Fellowship (LTF) for life scientists, and the Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship (CDF) for researchers with a PhD in physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, or computer science who have little or no prior experience in the life sciences. The programme accepts researchers of any nationality from HFSP member countries. Applications follow a two-step process: a Letter of Intent followed by an invited Full Proposal. The Letter of Intent for the 2028 fellowship cycle is expected to open in March 2027. There is no application fee.

If you hold a PhD in a life science discipline or a quantitative science and want to spend three fully funded years conducting bold, interdisciplinary biological research in a leading laboratory in a country you have not previously worked in, the HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship is among the most intellectually ambitious, most internationally mobile, and most career-defining postdoctoral awards available to researchers from any part of the world. Use Our Free Scholarship Calculator

Table of Contents

Key Details at a Glance

Detail	Information
Fellowship	HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship (LTF and CDF)
Funder	Human Frontier Science Program Organisation (HFSPO)
Duration	3 years (36 months)
Fellowship Types	Long-Term Fellowship (LTF) and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship (CDF)
Living Allowance	Competitive – adjusted for host country cost of living
Research and Travel Allowance	Included
Additional Allowances	Relocation, child, parental leave (where applicable)
Eligible Countries	Any nationality from HFSP member countries
Eligible Fields	Life sciences (LTF) / Physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computer science (CDF)
Mobility Requirement	Must move to a new country, cannot stay in country of PhD or last 12 months residence
Current Cycle Status	2027 cycle LOI closed May 2026 -2028 cycle opens March 2027
Application Fee	None
Official Portal	Click Here

What Is HFSP?

The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) is an international programme of research support funded by the G7 nations plus Australia, India, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Switzerland. It was established in 1989 with the explicit purpose of funding frontier, hypothesis-driven research in the life sciences that transcends national and disciplinary borders. The HFSP has supported more than 7,000 postdoctoral fellows since its founding, and its alumni have gone on to win Nobel Prizes, lead major research institutions, and produce some of the most cited and consequential science of the past three decades.

The HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship is one of the programme’s two core funding instruments. It provides three-year fully funded postdoctoral positions specifically designed for researchers who want to take scientific risks pursuing projects that challenge established paradigms, crossing disciplinary boundaries into new fields, and working in international environments that expose them to research cultures and approaches different from their own training.

The HFSP is explicit about what it values: frontier research with the potential to transform existing understanding, novel approaches and techniques, and applicants who can demonstrate that their proposed project is genuinely different from everything they have previously done. This is not a fellowship for researchers who want to continue their PhD work in a new location. It is for researchers who want to learn something entirely new.

Two Fellowship Types: LTF and CDF

Long-Term Fellowship (LTF). The LTF is for applicants who hold a PhD in a biological discipline or who have already worked in the life sciences through previous postdoctoral research or significant research experience. LTF fellows must propose a project in the life sciences that is significantly different from their previous PhD or postdoctoral work. The key requirement is disciplinary extension: you are moving into a new area of biology or a new methodological approach, not continuing the same research programme in a new postcode.

Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship (CDF). The CDF is designed for researchers with a PhD in a non-biological discipline, such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, computer science, or a related quantitative field, who have little or no prior experience in the life sciences. This fellowship is built on the recognition that some of the most transformative biological science is being done by researchers who bring the methods, quantitative frameworks, and conceptual tools of other disciplines to bear on fundamental biological questions. A physicist who wants to study protein folding dynamics, a mathematician working on neural circuit modelling, or a computer scientist developing new computational approaches to genomics are exactly the profiles HFSP is looking for through the CDF.

The two fellowship types are assessed separately by different review panels with different evaluation criteria. You apply for one type based on your PhD background and research plans.

What Does the Fellowship Cover?

The HFSP fellowship provides a comprehensive financial package for the full three years of the fellowship period.

Living allowance. The core of the fellowship package, this is a monthly stipend calibrated to the cost of living in the host country. HFSP adjusts the living allowance for different host countries to ensure that fellows can live comfortably wherever their host laboratory is based. The amounts are competitive by international postdoctoral standards and are confirmed in the fellowship agreement at the award stage.

Research and travel allowance. A dedicated annual allowance paid to support research-related costs and travel, including fieldwork, conference attendance, collaboration visits, and other research activities that take the fellow outside their host institution.

Relocation allowance. A one-time payment to help cover the costs of moving to the host country at the beginning of the fellowship, including transportation of belongings, temporary accommodation costs, and other establishment expenses.

Child allowance. Fellows with dependent children under the age of 18 may receive an additional child allowance. This is assessed at the award stage based on the fellow’s family situation.

Parental leave allowance. Fellows who take parental leave during the fellowship period are entitled to a parental leave allowance, recognising the legitimate career interruptions that accompany parenthood and ensuring that these interruptions do not result in financial penalty.

No tuition or fees. The HFSP fellowship is a postdoctoral award. There are no educational fees associated with it. The fellow is employed by the host institution as a postdoctoral researcher and funded through the HFSP grant.

Eligibility Requirements

PhD requirement. You must hold a research doctorate, a PhD or an equivalent doctoral degree at the time of the full proposal submission deadline. Applicants who are awaiting their PhD can apply, but they must have conferred their degree before the fellowship begins. For the 2027 cycle, the PhD must have been conferred in the three years prior to the invited full proposal submission deadline. This is a strict recency window: applicants who received their PhD more than three years before the full proposal deadline are not eligible.

Nationality and membership. You must be a citizen or resident of an HFSP member country. HFSP member countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Citizens of non-member countries are eligible if they apply to work in a member country. Check the current member country list at hfsp.org as membership can change.

International mobility requirement. This is the most distinctive eligibility rule of the HFSP fellowship and the one that catches the most applicants off guard. You must propose to work in a country where you have not resided or carried out your main professional activity for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the application deadline. This is a mandatory mobility requirement, it cannot be waived. If you have spent more than a year in Germany in the past three years, you cannot apply for an HFSP fellowship hosted in Germany. You must move to a genuinely new country.

No continuation of prior work. HFSP explicitly excludes proposals that are a close continuation of the applicant’s work in their PhD or previous postdoctoral positions. The proposed project must represent a meaningful departure into new territory — new biological questions, new organisms, new techniques, or new disciplinary frameworks.

Host laboratory approval. Your proposed host institution must be willing to accept a postdoctoral fellow under HFSP’s rules, including the provisions regarding externally funded researchers. Confirm this with the host institution’s administration before submitting your application.

The Two-Step Application Process

The HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship uses a two-step competitive process that filters a large initial pool of applications down to a smaller group invited to submit full proposals.

Step 1: Letter of Intent (LOI). The LOI is a concise document submitted through the ProposalCentral platform. It describes the proposed research project, explains how it represents a departure from prior work, and outlines the applicant’s scientific background and plans. The LOI is reviewed by the HFSP Fellowship Review Committee, which selects the strongest proposals for invitation to the full proposal stage. Applicants whose LOI is not selected do not proceed further in that competition year. HFSP notifies applicants of LOI outcomes in August.

For the 2027 fellowship cycle, the LOI initiation deadline was 5 May 2026. This cycle is now closed for new applications. Applicants who successfully submitted their LOI before 5 May 2026 may have been invited to submit a full proposal in September 2026, with awards announced in March 2027 and fellowships beginning from April 2027 onwards.

Step 2: Full Proposal. Applicants whose LOI is selected are invited to submit a full research proposal. The full proposal is a detailed document covering the scientific rationale, research plan, methodology, significance, and the applicant’s specific preparation for the proposed project. Full proposals are due in September of the competition year. They are reviewed by external scientific experts and the Fellowship Review Committee.

For the 2028 cycle: The ProposalCentral portal is expected to open in March 2027. The LOI initiation deadline is expected in May 2027. Researchers preparing for the 2028 cycle should use the period between now and March 2027 to identify a host laboratory, develop their research proposal conceptually, and ensure all eligibility criteria are met.

What Makes a Strong HFSP Application

The HFSP Fellowship Review Committee receives a very large volume of LOI submissions each year and funds a small percentage of them. Understanding what differentiates successful applications is the single most important preparation you can do.

The research must be genuinely frontier-extending. HFSP uses this phrase repeatedly in its guidance, and it means exactly what it says. The committee is looking for projects that challenge existing ways of thinking about a biological problem, use methods or approaches that have not previously been applied to that question, and have the potential to produce results that will matter beyond the immediate research topic. Safe, incremental research does not succeed at HFSP.

The departure from prior work must be real and specific. The committee evaluates specifically whether the proposed project represents a meaningful move into new territory. You need to articulate clearly and precisely how this project differs from everything you have previously done — what new organism, what new biological system, what new technique, what new disciplinary framework you are bringing to bear. Vague claims about exploring “new directions” are not convincing. Specific, evidenced scientific departures are.

The applicant’s unique preparation must be visible. HFSP wants to see why you specifically are the right person to do this particular project. What does your training in physics, mathematics, or a particular biological subfield give you that makes your proposed approach uniquely viable? The fellowship is not simply awarded to the strongest scientist. It is awarded to the scientist whose specific background makes them the right person to do the specific project they are proposing.

The host laboratory must be genuinely new. The mobility requirement is not a box to check. It reflects HFSP’s core conviction that the most productive science happens when researchers with different training work together across national and disciplinary lines. Your choice of host laboratory should reflect genuine scientific reasons for that specific laboratory — not merely a convenient international address.

HFSP for Global South Researchers: Member Country Access

For researchers from Global South countries that are HFSP members — including India and South Korea — the fellowship is fully accessible. Indian researchers are eligible to apply as applicants from a member country, and they can host their fellowship in any other HFSP member country (provided the mobility rule is satisfied).

For researchers from non-member Global South countries, including most of Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia, the eligibility route is different but still exists. Non-member country nationals are eligible if they propose to conduct their fellowship at a host institution in an HFSP member country. A researcher from Nigeria, for example, can apply for an HFSP fellowship if they propose to work in Germany, France, the UK, or any other member country. The key is that the host country must be a member.

This means the HFSP is one of the few globally prestigious postdoctoral fellowships where researchers from non-member developing countries have a genuine and documented eligibility pathway provided they are prepared to move to a member country for the fellowship period.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the LTF and the CDF and which should I apply for?

The LTF is for researchers with a PhD in a biological discipline who want to move into a new area of the life sciences. The CDF is for researchers with a PhD in a non-biological field — physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, computer science — who have little or no prior experience in biology. Your PhD discipline determines which category is appropriate. If you have a physics PhD and want to work on a biological problem, you apply for a CDF. If you have a biology PhD and want to move from neuroscience to evolutionary biology, you apply for an LTF.

Can I apply for an HFSP fellowship if my country is not an HFSP member?

Yes, with conditions. If you are a national or resident of a non-member country, you can apply for an HFSP fellowship provided you propose to conduct your research at a host institution in an HFSP member country. Check the current list of member countries at hfsp.org before applying.

Is the 2027 fellowship cycle still accepting applications?

The Letter of Intent deadline for the 2027 cycle was 5 May 2026. That cycle is now closed for new LOI submissions. The next open cycle for new applicants is the 2028 fellowship cycle, which is expected to open in March 2027 through the ProposalCentral portal.

Can I apply for an HFSP fellowship if my PhD is more than 3 years old?

The PhD must have been conferred in the three years prior to the invited full proposal submission deadline. The full proposal deadline for the 2028 cycle will be in September 2027. This means your PhD must have been conferred after approximately September 2024 to be eligible for the 2028 cycle. Check the official eligibility dates on the HFSP website when the 2028 call opens.

What does HFSP mean by frontier research?

HFSP uses “frontier” to mean research that addresses important biological questions using genuinely novel approaches, challenges existing scientific paradigms, and has the potential to produce knowledge that changes how the field thinks about a fundamental problem. The committee is explicitly looking for high-risk, high-reward projects in research that might not succeed but that would be transformative if it did. This is a deliberate funding philosophy: HFSP funds scientific bets, not scientific certainties.

Is there any restriction on which host institution I can apply to?

The host must be in an HFSP member country. Beyond that, there is no restriction on the type of institution; universities, research institutes, and other research organisations in member countries are all eligible. The host institution must confirm that it is willing to accept a postdoctoral fellow under HFSP’s conditions, including provisions regarding external funding for postdoctoral researchers.

Final Checklist for the 2028 Cycle (Opens March 2027)

Confirm you are a national or resident of an HFSP member country, or planning to host at a member country institution
Confirm your PhD was conferred no more than three years before the 2028 full proposal deadline (expected September 2027)
Identify a host laboratory in a country where you have not lived or worked for more than 12 months in the past three years
Begin developing your research proposal concept now. The LOI must describe a specific, frontier-extending project significantly different from your prior work
Confirm with your prospective host institution that they can accept an HFSP-funded postdoctoral fellow
Register on the ProposalCentral platform at proposalcentral.com to be ready when the 2028 application portal opens in March 2027
Monitor hfsp.org for the official announcement of the 2028 cycle opening
Apply at: hfsp.org/funding/hfsp-funding/postdoctoral-fellowships

Last updated: June 2026. The 2027 HFSP fellowship cycle LOI closed on 5 May 2026. All information about the 2028 cycle is based on established HFSP patterns and is subject to confirmation when HFSP officially announces the 2028 call. Always verify current deadlines, allowance rates, and member country lists on the official HFSP website at hfsp.org before applying. Use Our Free Scholarship Calculator