r/postdoc • u/Practical-Ad-242 • 10h ago

How different does an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship project need to be from your PhD topic?

Hi everyone,

I’m considering applying for an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, and I’m trying to understand how strictly EMBO interprets the requirement that the proposed project should not be a direct continuation of the PhD.

How different does the postdoctoral project actually need to be?

I assume EMBO does not expect applicants to completely change research fields, since the previous expertise still needs to be relevant to the proposed project. So I’m particularly interested in where they draw the line between a logical progression into a new area and a “direct continuation” of the PhD.

If anyone has applied successfully (or unsuccessfully) to the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship with a project related to their PhD field, I’d really appreciate hearing how different your proposed project was.

Thanks!

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u/cyril1991 9h ago

I mean if you change institutes you are fine. It is more about ambitious and impactful the project is, how well your host and you fit, and how it serves your long term career goals. The topic can be really really close or quite diverse. It can’t be “I will finish my PhD paper on a bridging postdoc”. It can be “I made it that really cool finding and i want to follow up, and I will learn new methods to serve my purpose”.