Independent Fellowships

CDB is committed to supporting fellows with the aim of securing a permanent position through a ‘tenure-track’ route.

Is an independent fellowship right for me?

Independent fellowships are suitable for researchers who are ready to start up their own independent research programme. Typically, successful fellows have some postdoctoral experience, several significant lead-author papers and a clear idea of their research programme.

How CDB supports candidates

We will assist you in the early stages of your funding application, providing feedback on your proposal and preparing you for the interview. CDB staff include many current and former fellows, all of whom will be able to share their experience in the development of applications.

The career development of our CDB fellows is supported via our mentorship programme and networking opportunities. Independent fellows have full academic status and Divisional policy is to provide successful fellowship holders with a pathway to a permanent position.

How to apply

To ensure that we can truly invest in our fellows and plan for their future, we only sponsor a small number of applicants each year. A pre-application selection process is run in the Department with three calls per year for fellowship sponsorship. Details of the next round will be added here in due course.

Take a look at our Information for Applicants to learn more about the process. Before starting an application (and well ahead of the call deadline), please get in touch with the CDB Fellowship Coordinators for more information: Roberto Mayor or Anna Franz.