July 24, 2019
External Funding
Adapted from: https://research.fas.harvard.edu/postdoc_opportunities
Funding opportunities open for Postdoctoral Scholars based on national eligibility (US only, US and Restricted Countries, Unrestricted).
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For US Green Card or Citizens Only |
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| Sponsor | Eligibility | Deadline Month | Description | |
| American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Visiting Scholars | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required; must have received doctoral degree no more than 4 years before the application deadline date | October | The Academy’s Visiting Scholars Program provides residential fellowships to postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Housed at the headquarters of the Academy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Visiting Scholars participate in Academy-sponsored conferences, seminars, and informal gatherings while advancing their scholarly research. | |
| American Cancer Society: Postdoctoral Fellowships | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | April; October | This award is to support the training of researchers who have received a doctoral degree to provide initial funding leading to an independent career in cancer research (including basic, preclinical, clinical, cancer control, psychosocial, behavioral, epidemiology, health services and health policy research). | |
| Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required; must have no more than 12 months of cumulative postdoctoral experience in a research lab, or no more than 3 years from PhD | September | This invited program supports postdoctoral scholars who have the highest potential for success in an independent academic career in chemistry and the life sciences, and to assist in their transition from “mentored yet independent” postdoctoral projects to an independent, tenure-track position. | |
| Fulbright Postdoctoral/Early Career Grants | U.S. citizenship required | Various, announced February | Postdoctoral/early career grants are open to U.S. scholars who have recently completed their doctoral degrees – typically within the five previous years. Postdoctoral awards are available in STEM fields, the arts, humanities and social sciences. These grants present an excellent opportunity for recently minted scholars to deepen their expertise, to acquire new skills, to work with additional resources and to make connections with others in their fields. | |
| Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program | U.S. citizenship required | March | The IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program produces state-of-the-art research in disciplines relevant to the Intelligence Community while mentoring a new generation of American scientists. Postdocs who have completed their Ph.D. within the last 5 years are invited to identify a Research Advisor and collaborate in order to submit a research proposal that responds to the published research topics. | |
| L’Oréal USA for Women in Science Fellowship | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | February | The L’Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship program awards five women postdoctoral scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each for their contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations. | |
| National Institutes of Health: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32) | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | April, August, December | The purpose of this award is to support promising applicants during their mentored postdoctoral training under the guidance of outstanding faculty sponsors. The integrated program of research and training should enhance the individual’s potential to develop into a productive, independent researcher. | |
| National Science Foundation: Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | November | The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) awards Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology to recent recipients of the doctoral degree for research and training in selected areas supported by BIO and with special goals for human resource development in biology. | |
| National Science Foundation: SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowships | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | November | The Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) offers Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to encourage independence early in the Fellow’s career through supporting his or her research and training goals. | |
| Travel Awards for FASEB Summer Research Conferences | U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required | At least 3 weeks prior to the selected conference | Supports the participation of eligible applicants at selected scientific meetings and conferences. There are approximately forty FASEB conferences which meet for five days during the summer period (June-August) on topics in biomedical research. Applicants must be full-time underrepresented academic non-tenured junior faculty/research scientists, postdoctoral fellows or advanced graduate students who reside within the U.S. or U.S. territories. | |
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For US Green Card/Citizens and Restricted Countries |
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| Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Career Awards for Medical Scientists | Limited to citizens or permanent or temporary residents of Canada and the U.S; candidates must be no more than 13 years past their clinical doctorate degree. Candidates who hold a junior faculty appointment may be eligible if they have been in non-tenure track faculty positions for two years or less at the time of application | October | This award supports physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career, to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. Proposals must be in the area of basic biomedical, disease-oriented, or translational research. Proposals in health services research or involving large-scale clinical trials are not eligible. | |
| Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Career Awards at the Scientific Interface | Limited to citizens or permanent or temporary residents of Canada and the U.S.; must have completed at least 12 months but no more than 60 months of postdoctoral research experience (in a research laboratory) at the time of application | September (pre-proposal); January (full proposal) | These grants are intended to foster the early career development of researchers who have transitioned or are transitioning from undergraduate and/or graduate work in the physical/ mathematical/ computational sciences or engineering into postdoctoral work in the biological sciences, and who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academic research. | |
| Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Postdoctoral Enrichment Program | Limited to citizens of Canada and the U.S.; candidate must have no more than 36 months of postdoctoral research experience (in a research laboratory) at the time of application and must not be more than 5 years from his/her Ph.D. | January | The Postdoctoral Enrichment Program (PDEP) provides a total of $60,000 over three years to support the career development activities for underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellows in a degree-granting institution (an institution includes its affiliated graduate and medical schools, hospitals and research institutions) in the United States or Canada whose training and professional development are guided by mentors committed to helping them advance to stellar careers in biomedical or medical research. | |
| Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) | Candidate must be a citizen of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan. | September, April (Standard); October, January, April, June (Short Term) | To promote international scientific cooperation, the JSPS encourages highly qualified researchers from around the world to come to and conduct joint research activities with colleagues at Japanese universities and research institutes. JSPS offers five postdoctoral fellowship programs, each with different eligibility requirements. | |
| Schlumberger Foundation: Faculty for the Future | Candidate must be a citizen of a developing country or emerging economy. Dual citizenship holders of a developed country are not eligible. | November | This program supports outstanding women from developing countries in their pursuit of advanced graduate studies in engineering, science, and technology at leading universities worldwide. | |
| Zuckerman STEM Leadership Postdoctoral Scholarships | U.S. or Canadian citizenship, or visa to study and work in the U.S. required | Varies by participating university | Supports high-achieving scholars from premier universities in the U.S. to do postdoctoral research at one of four Israeli universities. | |
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Unrestricted by nationality |
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| Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers | Must have completed doctoral degree within the past 4 years | Rolling | A Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers allows long-term research (6-24 months) in Germany. Applicants choose their own topic of research and their academic host. Scientists and scholars of all nationalities and disciplines may apply to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation online at any time. | |
| American Association of University Women (AAUW): Fellowships | Varies by fellowship | November | The American Postdoctoral Fellowship (U.S. citizenship required) supports women in higher education; International Fellowships (citizenship unrestricted) are awarded for full-time study or research in the United States to women in graduate and postgraduate studies. | |
| Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships | PhD must have been earned between September 15, 2015 and September 30, 2019 for 2018-19 fellowship and before the start date of the award | September | The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program provides funding to the very best postdoctoral applicants, both nationally and internationally, who will positively contribute to Canada’s economic, social and research based growth. The program funds the following areas of research: health, natural sciences and/or engineering, and social sciences and/or humanities. | |
| Beckman Institute: Postdoctoral Fellows Program | Ph.D. must have been completed within the last three years | March | The program supports recent PhDs or students in their final year of doctoral study in the following fields: behavioral and biological sciences, chemistry, engineering, or physics. The fellowship appointment lasts for up to three years and provides an annual stipend of $54,000, plus benefits and a research budget. | |
| Brain & Behavior Research Foundation: NARSAD Young Investigator Grants | This grant is intended to support advanced post-doctoral fellows. Pre-doctoral students or first year postdoc fellows are not eligible. | March | These grants enable young investigators conducting neurobiological research to either extend research fellowship training or begin careers as independent research faculty. Basic and/or clinical investigators are supported, but research must be relevant to serious brain and behavior disorders such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders or child and adolescent mental illnesses. | |
| BrightFocus Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards | Unrestricted | October | Postdoctoral fellowship awards are intended for young researchers in their final stages of mentored training. These awards fund projects in an established laboratory that will serve as the basis for the applicant’s own independent research career. | |
| Company of Biologists: Traveling Fellowships | Applications will be considered from early career scientists, which includes graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Only one person per laboratory may apply for funding, per funding round, per journal. | March, May, August, November | The Company of Biologists’ journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science, The Journal of Experimental Biology, and Disease Models & Mechanisms – offer fellowships of up to £2,500 or currency equivalent to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers wishing to make collaborative visits to other laboratories. These are designed to offset the cost of travel and other expenses. | |
| Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellowship Award | Foreign nationals may apply to conduct their research only in the U.S. Basic and physician-scientists must have received their degrees no more than 18 months prior to the application deadline. Applicants must not have been in their Sponsors’ labs for more than one year prior to the application deadline. | March; August | The Foundation encourages all theoretical and experimental research relevant to the study of cancer and the search for cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies and prevention. Awards are made to institutions for the support of the Fellow under direct supervision of the Sponsor. Candidates who have already accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship award are not eligible. | |
| EMBO Long-Term Fellowships | Applicants must hold a doctorate degree or equivalent at the start of the fellowship. Applicants who already hold a PhD degree at the time of application are eligible to apply only if they obtained their PhD degree during the two years prior to the application date. | February; August | EMBO Long-Term Fellowships are awarded for a period of up to two years and support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world. International exchange is a key feature in the application process. Applications to go to the country in which the PhD was obtained will not be considered. | |
| Graduate Women in Science: National Fellowship Program | Unrestricted | January | This program offers fellowships to help increase knowledge in the fundamental sciences and to encourage research careers in the sciences by women. | |
| Health Resources in Action: Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program – Basic Science | By the funding start date, applicants must hold a PhD, MD, DMD, MD/PhD, or comparable degree and work in an academic or medical research institution in Massachusetts, and have completed at least three years and no more than five years of full-time postdoctoral research. | March | The Charles A. King Trust was created to “support and promote the investigation of human disease and the alleviation of human suffering through improved treatment.” In keeping with these principles, the King Trust today supports postdoctoral fellows in the basic sciences and clinical and health services research. | |
| Helen Hay Whitney Foundation | Foreign citizens are eligible if they intend to work in a laboratory within the U.S; candidates must have no more than one year of postdoctoral research experience by the application deadline, and must have completed their PhD no more than two years before the deadline or MD no more than three years before the deadline. | July | The Foundation supports early postdoctoral research training in all basic biomedical sciences. The Whitney Fellowship is for a period of three years. Attendance at the two-day Annual Meeting of Fellows, held in November of each year, is expected as a condition of acceptance of the fellowship. | |
| HHMI: Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program | Applicants must have been accepted to join a lab in the U.S., and have no more than 16 months of postdoctoral research experience at the time of the application due date. Non-U.S. citizens and applicants with other nationalities must have a degree from a research institution in the U.S. | January | Seeks to increase diversity in the biomedical research community by recruitment and retention of individuals from groups underrepresented in the life sciences. The competition is open to those dedicated to basic research from both doctoral and/or medical training paths in the biomedical and life science disciplines, including plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology. Fellows will receive funding for their postdoctoral training and, if eligible, in their early career years as independent faculty. The program includes opportunities for career development, including mentoring and active involvement in the HHMI scientific community. | |
| Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie: Individual Fellowships | Unrestricted | September | Support is foreseen for individual, trans-national fellowships awarded to the best or most promising researchers of any nationality, for employment in EU Member States or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. It is based on an application made jointly by the researcher and the beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sectors. | |
| Human Frontier Science Program: Postdoctoral Fellowships | A research doctorate (PhD) or a doctoral-level degree comparable to a PhD with equivalent experience in basic research must have been conferred in the 3 years prior to the submission deadline. | August | Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) are for applicants with a Ph.D. in a biological discipline, who will broaden their expertise by proposing a project in the life sciences which is significantly different from their previous Ph.D. or postdoctoral work. Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF) are for applicants with a Ph.D. from outside the life sciences (e.g. in physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering or computer sciences), who have had limited exposure to biology during their previous training. |
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| James S. McDonnell Foundation: Understanding Dynamic and Multi-scale Systems | Unrestricted | June | This Postdoctoral Fellowship supports PhD students within 18 months of anticipated completion of graduate training. It provides $200,000 expended in no less than 2 and no more than 3 years. Proposals furthering the science of complex systems and/or proposals intending to apply complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate. | |
| Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research | Applicants may be citizens of any country. Foreign nationals awards will be made only for study in the United States. American citizens may hold a fellowship either in the United States or in a foreign country. | February | The JCC Fund works for the furtherance of research into the causes, origin, and treatment of cancer. Applicants must hold either the MD degree or the PhD degree in the field in which they propose to study or furnish evidence of equivalent training and experience. Postdoctoral applicants should not have more than one year of postdoctoral experience and the degree must not have been conferred more than 18 months prior to the deadline date. MDs should not have received their degree more than three years from the date the application is due. | |
| Life Sciences Research Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships | Non-U.S. citizens must work in a U.S. laboratory. Individuals who have held a PhD or MD degree for more than 5 years at the time of application are not eligible. | October | The Foundation supports fellows in the life sciences, focusing on training the next generation of exceptional biologists. The award amount is $62,000/year for three years. | |
| National Institutes of Health: Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00) | Individuals are not eligible if they have more than 4 years of related postdoctoral research at the time of initial or resubmission application. There is no citizenship requirement for K99 applicants.
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February, June, October | This program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions, and to provide independent NIH research support during the transition that will help these individuals launch competitive, independent research careers. | |
| National Science Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships | Citizenship requirements vary | Varies by program | Programs provide either direct (i.e., from NSF) or indirect (i.e., from an awardee institution) funding for students at the postdoctoral level or identify programs that focus on educational developments such as curricula development, training or retention. | |
| Schmidt Science Fellowships | Unrestricted | August (nominations); November (full proposal) | The program aims to expand the horizons of the next generation of leaders and innovators in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and computing. Applicants must be nominated by a designated senior executive at a leading academic institution where the individual has pursued a PhD in an applicable field of natural science. | |
| Simons Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships | Unrestricted | Varies by program | The Simons Foundation supports scholars working to advance research in basic science and mathematics. Please visit the Foundation’s website for information on the latest Fellowship competitions and focus areas. | |
| Simons Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships in Marine Microbial Ecology | Applicants should have received their Ph.D. or equivalent degree within three years of the fellowship’s start date. Applicants may be citizens of any country. | June | The Simons Foundation supports postdoctoral research on fundamental problems in marine microbial ecology. The foundation is particularly interested in cross-discipilinary applicants with who want to apply their experience to understanding the role of microorganisms in shaping ocean processes, and vice versa, as well as applicants with experience in modeling or theory development. Applicants already involved in ocean research are also encouraged to apply. | |
| Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowships | Unrestricted | July (LOI); November (full proposal) | PDF Grants seek to attract and support promising scientists embarking on careers dedicated to breast cancer research and who have no more than 3 years post-completion of their most recent clinical fellowship, 5 years post-completion of their most recent residency (for physicians), or 5 years post-completion of their most recent Ph.D. | |
| UNESCO Fellowships Programmes | Varies by program | Varies by program | Fellowships are specially tailored training which are designed to give qualified persons practicing or intending to practice a profession in the field of the UNESCO programme priorities an opportunity to receive additional and practical training, thus contributing to the advancement and circulation of knowledge and skill promoting development and international understanding. | |
| Wenner-Gren Foundation: Post-Ph.D. Research Grants | Unrestricted | May, November | Grants support research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates, and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas. There is no preference for any methodology, research location, or subfield. | |