Postdoctoral Fellowships

Features

There are two types of FWO Postdoctoral Fellowships:

  1. The Junior Postdoctoral Fellowships are intended to support researchers who have only recently completed their PhD, in developing an independent, international research career. You can apply for a junior postdoctoral fellowship if your PhD was obtained between 1 October 2021 and 15 September 2024. You need to inform the FWO of the date of your public defense by 1 July 2024, if this takes place after the submission and evaluation of the application.
  2. The Senior Postdoctoral Fellowships are intended to support researchers who have completed their PhD a few years ago, in developing an independent, international research career.

tijdslijn 2024 postdoc senior junior.jpg

(link to regulations art. 6)

  • FWO Postdoctoral Fellowships are personal fellowships for a period of 3 years. Mandate holders work for FWO at one (or multiple) of the eligible host institutions.
  • Mandate holders receive an annual bench fee which can range from €4.000 to €10.000. More information regarding the bench fee can be found here.

Important dates

  • 03/10/2023: information session regarding the opening of the 2023 call for postdoctoral fellowships. Please find the recording and presentation below.
  • 01/12/2023 (5pm): submission deadline (FWO e-portal).
  • 29/03/2024: first selection: interview stage.
  • 30/03/2024 – (+/-) 20/04/2023: mock-interviews* organized by UGent – followed by the (physical) interview at FWO.
  • 16/05/2024: second selection: final results.
  • 01/10/2024 or 01/11/2024: start fellowship.

 

*Mock-interviews: If you are successful during the preselection, you can rely on support at Ghent University to prepare you for the second round.

  1. You will be invited to attend a plenary session on how to pitch your research proposal and how to approach the Q&A with the FWO panel members.
  2. The Research Co-ordination Office, Ghent University Language Center and the faculties organize mock interviews. During these interviews, you deliver your pitch before a test jury, which afterwards will ask you questions similar to those you can receive during the FWO interview. After this, you receive detailed feedback on your pitch, presentation slide(s) and interview. Invitations for the mock interviews will be sent by your faculty after the plenary.

Presentations and recordings

For applicants:

Presentation and recording of the FWO & UGent information session (03/10/2023). The information session was structured as follows: (The video under “recording” has time indications)

  • FWO information by Alexandra Vandervelde followed by Q&A.
  • UGent: Tom Geerinckx on ethics.
  • UGent: Thomas Van de Velde on the Data Management Plan.
  • UGent: Esther De Smet on proposal writing: impact & scientific communication.

For mandate holders:

You will be invited to a welcome session once you start your fellowships. Afterwards, you can consult the presentation slides and the recording of the introduction session to learn more about the financial, job- and HR-related aspects of your fellowship.

More information

  • On “Declaration postdoctoral seniority”

NEW procedure

If you did not have an FWO postdoctoral fellowship before, and you apply for an FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship, you must prove that you have a postdoctoral research experience of minimum 2 years on the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences.

Since this year, the document no longer has to be signed by the rector, but only by the supervisor. UGent gives its approval afterwards with a "rectoral advice".

Please note that this document is mandatory and forms an essential part of your application.

  • On “Expert panels”

Expert panels

Make sure you thoroughly check the overview of panels and scopes for each panel. Please note: FWO reformed the expert panels in 2022. Check if the scope of the panel of your choice still fits your research. If the panel judges during the review by consensus that the application falls outside the scope of the panel, they may reject it for that reason. It is important to stress that it is the applicant who is responsible for matching the application with the correct panel (cfr. The FWO website). More information can be found here.

Contact

  • If you have a question regarding your fellowship, contact the FWO account manager of your scientific field.

  • If you have HR-related questions, contact the FWO via hr@fwo.be.

  • For technical (IT) problems regarding the e-portal and application modules, send an email to FWOhelpdesk@fwo.be.

  • Do you have any other questions? Contact the Ghent University Research Co-Ordination Office via Vlaams-Federaal@ugent.be.