Human Frontier Science Program

HFSP / Human Frontier Science Program
RGP / Research Grants and Projects Office

WEB SITE: Access the HFSP website.

SCIENTIFIC AREAS: The HFSP supports innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries. Fellowship projects can range from biological functions at the molecular and cellular level up to biological systems including cognitive functions. Within this broad area, all levels of analysis are supported: from studies on genes and individual molecules, intracellular networks, intercellular associations in tissues and organs, to networks underlying complex functions of entire organisms, populations, or ecosystems.

AWARD MECHANISM: The HFSP supports:

• Career Development Awards (CDA): LTFs and CDFs who return to their home country at the end of the fellowship are eligible to apply for the CDA. This award provides $300,000 over 3 years. Eligible HFSP Fellows will receive information in good time to apply for the Award.
Long-Term Fellowships (LTF): are reserved for applicants with a Ph.D. in a biological discipline to embark on a new project in a different field of the life sciences. Preference is given to applicants who propose an original study in biology that marks a departure from their previous Ph.D. or postdoctoral work so as to learn new methods or change study system.
Cross Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF): are open to 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. Applicants for the CDF should propose a significant departure from their past research by changing e.g. from material science or physics to cell biology, from chemistry to molecular biology, or from computer science to neuroscience.
Short Term fellowships: are awarded for periods of 2 weeks to 3 months. the length of time must be justified on the basis of need to perform experiments, learn techniques or to use facilities that are only available at the host institution. - CANCELED BEGINNING FEBRUARY 2010.

• An Israeli candidate, not a national of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus (EU part only), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA, may apply to work only in a research institution in any of these countries.
• A candidate who is a national of one of the countries mentioned above can apply to work in a research institution in any country.
• In order to be eligible, candidates with a Ph.D. must have obtained their doctoral degree in the 3 years prior to the submission deadline
• Applicants must have at least one lead author paper either accepted for publication, in press or published, in a peer-reviewed international journal on 9 September 2010.
• Applicants who at the beginning of the fellowship have already spent 12 or more months in the host country or host institution (e.g. during previous stays for collaboration, training, or during the Master or Ph.D.) are not eligible.
• Applications will not be accepted from candidates who wish to work again with their former research supervisors, scientific collaborators or with scientists with whom they have already co-authored publications.
• Applications will not be accepted from candidates who obtained the Ph.D. degree in the host country of the HFSP fellowship, even if the applicant is not a national of that country.
• Applications to move from one laboratory to another in the same country are not eligible.
• A candidate cannot apply to go to the country of which he/she is a national, even though he/she may have undertaken pre- or post-doctoral studies abroad or obtained his/her Ph.D. in another country. The only exception to this rule concerns candidates with dual nationalities. They are allowed to apply to work in a research institution in one of the countries for which they have a dual nationality provided they never lived or studied in this country or they left this country during their childhood.
• A candidate can only submit one fellowship application for either a Cross-Disciplinary or a Long-Term Fellowship in the same round of awards.

SUBMISSION DATE(S):

• Career Development Awards (CDA): 15 November 2011.
Long Term Fellowship (LTF): 25 August 2011, registration; 8 September 2011, submission.
Cross Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF): 25 August 2011, registration; 8 September 2011, submission.
Short Term fellowships: Throughout the year - CANCELED BEGINNING FEBRUARY 2010.

MODE OF APPLICATION:

• Career Development Award (CDA): Register to the HFSP and submit your application according to the guidelines. Please note, that the application involves three persons: an applicant and two referees. The referees must complete their section independently and submit it.
• Fellowships: Before 25 August: a password has to be requested; the application has to be initiated. Guidelines and forms are available on the HFSP website for the the fellowships.

• From the Feinberg Graduate School: Confirmation that if and when the fellowship is approved, the candidate will be eligible to be a post-doc at the Weizmann Institute for the entire duration of the proposed fellowship.
• From the candidate's supervisor (a Weizmann Institute researcher of rank Senior Scientist or higher): Confirmation that the supervisor agrees to host the post-doc for the entire period of the fellowship.

Please note that according to Weizmann Institute procedures, fellowships are paid as stipends at a fixed rate. Consequently, if the amount provided by the funding source is lower than this rate, the difference will have to be supplemented (with an a priori written commitment to this effect to the RGP) by the host researcher at the Institute.

If the fellowship on offer is higher than the Weizmann Institute standard rate, the Institute will be able to receive a stipend only up to its standard rate. Alternatively, if allowable by the funding agency, the fellowship can be paid by the agency directly to the bank account of the recipient. In such a case, the host researcher should apply for post-doctoral status for the fellow at the Institute, either with or without the additional standard Weizmann Institute post-doctoral stipend (as allowable by the external funding source, and according to the resources available to the prospective Weizmann Institute host). For further information and/or clarifications, please contact the Feinberg Graduate School or the RGP.

Please note that foreigners are required to obtain the relevant visa (i.e. for a fixed-amount stipend: category A2; or for an employment contract: category B1 = work permit) prior to taking up an appointment at the Weizmann Institute:

• Non-Israeli fellows receiving a post-doctoral fixed-amount stipend at the Weizmann Institute standard rate are required to obtain a category A2 [student] visa, with the assistance of the Feinberg Graduate School.
• In the case of an external funding source which is willing to provide support only in the form of a salary with social benefits (as opposed to a stipend), the fellow must be engaged by the Institute as a Visiting Scientist on an individual contract. In order to obtain approval for Visiting Scientist status, the prospective host must contact the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate and follow their guidelines in this regard. The Visiting Scientsts Section will also assist in the procedures required for obtaining a B1 work permit visa. Please note that the procedures will be different, depending on the location of origin of the prospective Visiting Scientist:
  1. Foreigners intending to come to the Weizmann Institute from abroad, without having previously completed studies in Israel: the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate must be contacted to initiate the B1 work permit visa application procedure, long enough in advance for the prospective Visiting Scientist to receive the visa at an Israeli embassy/consulate (outside of Israel), prior to his/her arrival in Israel.
  2. Foreigners who are currently in Israel and hold a category A2 [student] visa: According to the laws of the State of Israel as regards foreign citizens (who do not possess Israeli citizenship), engagement by the Institute of such researchers will only be possible if they a priori leave Israel and then return to an appointment as a Visiting Scientist (conditional upon approval of the Ministry of the Interior, which must agree to issue a category B1 work permit visa for this purpose).
  It should be noted that the work permit approval process - a prerequisite to the approval of the status of Visiting Scientist - usually takes several months. Consequently, a Weizmann Institute researcher intending to host a Visiting Scientist who is not an Israeli citizen should begin the relevant procedures several months in advance of the desired start date. For further details regarding the issue of obtaining a work permit for a Visiting Scientist, contact the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate.