Eligibility

Candidates applying for an Installation Grant must:

• Be negotiating a full-time group leader position at an institute/university in the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal and Turkey by the date of application
  OR have established a laboratory in one of these countries in the last two years.
• Have spent at least two consecutive years outside the country in which they are planning to establish their laboratory in the four years prior to application.
• Have received their PhD less than 9 years prior to application.
• For female candidates with children, 9-years since PhD is automatically extended by one year per child.
• For male applicants with children, this limit can be extended by the actual time taken off as paternity leave or – if their partner is working at least 80% FTE (full-time equivalent) – three months per child, whichever is longer.
• illness and extended military service are considered as exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Special provision may also be made for clinical scientists. If you feel your circumstances warrant an extension of the eligibility periods, please contact the EMBO Young Investigator Programme office ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for advice before applying.

For detailed information on the eligibility criteria, please consult the application guidelines (pdf).

Application

Applications for EMBO Installation Grants are accepted annually and must be submitted through an online system.

Application process

• Selected applicants will be interviewed by an EMBO Member who is an expert in the applicant's research area. Interviews shall take place by end of August 2019.
• Based on recommendations from the EMBO Young Investigator Committee, the Strategic Development Installation Grants (SDIG) Board will make the final decision by the end of November 2019.
• All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application by email.

Required documentation

The complete application for Installation Grants consists of:

• CV
• Synopsis of recent work
• Description of the research programme
• Short summary of proposed research
• Publication list and list of two best papers
• Three letters of reference
• Description of the receiving institute
• ORCID
• Information and confirmation of the receiving institute, including a description of
  • the available infrastructure
  • any start-up package provided
  • the duties and benefits of the applicant

EMBO will consider papers published on preprint servers (arXiv, BioRxiv, PeerJ., etc), but a first author publication in an international peer reviewed journal is still a requirement.

Do NOT indicate the journal impact factor. EMBO is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, ascb.org/dora/), which recommends “not to use journal based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an individual scientist’s contributions, or in hiring, promotion, or funding decisions”.

For detailed information on the eligibility criteria, application process, key dates and required documentation, please consult the application guidelines (pdf).

Selection

Selection criteria

The selection committee takes into account the application, interview report and host institute's offer and will rank all applications based on the following criteria:

• Track record
• Proposed research
• Group and research environment
• Offer by the host institute
• Financial and intellectual independence

For a detailed list of selection criteria, download our application guidelines.

Selection process

The number of grants available each year is decided by the Strategic Installation Grant (SDIG) Board, which is made up of representatives from participating EMBC Members States. Selection of EMBO Installation Grantees is made by the EMBO Young Investigator Committee.

The selection process involves the following steps:

• The pre-screening of applications: After this stage, approximately 50% of applicants are selected for an interview with an EMBO Member who is an expert in the applicant’s research area.
• Ranking by the selection committee: Based on the above selection criteria, the EMBO Young Investigator Committee creates a ranked list of recommended recipients.
• Final decision: The SDIG Board makes the final decision on the number of awards on the basis of recommendations from the selection committee.
• All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application by email shortly following the board meeting.

Research Integrity

EMBO expects responsible conduct of research from its awardees. All the research activities carried out shall be in compliance with fundamental ethical and research integrity principles. In line with our commitment with these initiatives, we require all Installation Grantees to complete an online course on research integrity.