HUMAN FRONTIER SCIENCE PROGRAM ORGANIZATION: Call for submission of applications

The Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO), in collaboration with its South African members, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), invites applications for the following HFSP funding opportunities for 2026:

1. HFSP Research Grants
2. HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowships
3. HFSP Awardees Meeting

1. HFSPO Research Grant Program – Award Year 2026

First deadline: 18 March 2025

The HFSP Research Grant Program is for a period of 3 years, with fixed awards based on team size. These grants are for teams of scientists based in different countries and wish to combine their expertise in innovative approaches to questions that could not be answered by individual laboratories.

There are 2 types of grants that are available:

• Research Grants – Early Career*

All team members are expected to direct a research group (however small) and must have a doctoral degree (PhD, MD or equivalent). They must be in a position to initiate and direct their own independent lines of research.

• Research Grants – Program

Awarded to teams of independent researchers at any stage of their careers. The research team is expected to develop new lines of research through the collaboration. Applications including independent investigators early in their careers are encouraged.

HFSP Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries (see guidelines).

Participation of scientists from disciplines outside the traditional life sciences such as biophysics, chemistry, computational biology, computer science, engineering, mathematics, nanoscience or physics is recommended because such collaborations have opened up new approaches for understanding the complex structures and regulatory networks that characterize living organisms, their evolution and interactions.

Applications for applied research, including medical research typically funded by national medical research bodies, will be deemed ineligible (see guidelines). 

Application submission: Applications to be submitted via Proposal Central.

Application Deadlines:

• 18 March 2025:                               Initiate Letter of Intent
• 27 March 2025:                               Submit Letter of Intent
• Mid-September 2025:                Submit Full Proposal (by invitation only)

Guidelines: Documentation about the programme is attached and more information can be accessed on the website.

• The HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs

First deadline: 5 May 2025

The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Applications for high-risk projects are particularly encouraged. The projects should be interdisciplinary in nature and should challenge existing paradigms by using novel approaches and techniques. Scientifically, they should address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field.

HFSP postdoctoral fellowships encourage early career scientists to broaden their research skills by moving into new areas of study while working in a new country.

There are two types of fellowships are available:

• Long-Term Fellowships (LTF) are for applicants with a PhD on a biological topic who want to embark on a novel and frontier project focussing on the life sciences. Link to the guideline below Long-Term Fellowships Application Guidelines 2026 (pdf)
• Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (CDF) are for applicants who hold a doctoral degree from a non-biological discipline (e.g. physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering or computer sciences) and who have not worked in the life sciences before. Link to the guideline below. Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships Application Guidelines 2026 (pdf)

Application submission: Applications to be submitted via Proposal Central – portal opens on 13 March 2025.

Application Deadlines:

• 7 May 2025:                              Initiate Letter of Intent (LOI)
• 15 May 2025:                            Submit LOI (1:00 pm Eastern Time)
• 25 September 2025:            Submit Full Proposal (by invitation only)

Guidelines: Documentation about the programme is attached and more information can be accessed on the website.

For questions about registration in ProposalCentral please use the following contact: https://proposalcentral.com/inforequest.asp

E-mail: pcsupport@altum.com  

Phone:   +1 703 964 5840
 

• 24^th HFSP Awardees Meeting, Melbourne, Australia

First deadline: 31 March 2025

The HFSP is pleased to welcome all HFSP Awardees/Alumni to submit an abstract and present HFSP-funded research work at the 24th HFSP Awardees Meeting (HFSP2025) to be held in Melbourne, Australia, from Wednesday, 9 July to Friday, 11 July 2025.

Call for Abstracts & Deadlines:

• The Abstract Submission Platform and Guidelines for Abstract Submission are now available at the Participant Portal.
• Abstracts will be accepted until 31 March 2025, 29:59 CEST.

Submission Guideline: The following important documentation is attached hereto, and more information can be found on the website.