ERS - IDEA-League Fellowships 2027

Background

The five IDEA-League universities have agreed on a fellowship program to strengthen scientific exchange, long-term collaboration, and the use of specific research infrastructure (RI). Each IDEA-League university conducts the fellowship calls autonomously and sets its own priorities. The IDEA-League Fellowships enable researchers to carry out research activities of their own choice in collaboration with the respective host institute at ideally two or more universities of the alliance. In addition to establishing long-term collaboration, the use of research infrastructure should also be targeted. To learn more about the IDEA League visit https://idealeague.org/.

General conditions of this call

• This call is open to all researchers of RWTH Aachen University who are at least in a postdoctoral position.

• Funding is provided for research stays in 2027.

• Each fellow ideally visits two or more IDEA-League universities. The overall dura tion must be between one and six months and can be divided into shorter periods of at least one month's stay at each partner university.

• The applicant may be accompanied by one person of his/her research group (master or doctoral student).

• A report about the scholarship must be submitted after the project is finished.

Funding

The funding may be used to cover travel expenses, accommodation costs and fees for use of the host institutions' research infrastructure. The visiting scholar’s research stay may start in January 2027 and must be com pleted and all expenses be paid by December 31, 2027. The total budget for this call is 100.000 €.

Eligibility criteria

• Postdocs require an endorsement by the professor or head of services.

• Applicants should speak English fluently (or the language spoken at the host uni versities) and show intercultural competence.

• During the visit abroad, the researcher is supposed to give at least one talk at the host universities in which RWTH Aachen University is presented.

• The duration of the stay should be at least one month at each location.

• Funding cannot be used for conferences. The proposal (in pdf format) must be written in English and may not exceed - 5 pages if two destinations are visited, - - 6 pages if three destinations are visited and 7 pages if four destinations are visited. The letter(s) from the host institution(s) do not count to the 5, 6 or 7 pages.

The proposal must contain:

1. Name of applicant and, if applicable, name of the accompanying person.

2. The respective institutes and contact details of host institutions.

3. For postdocs: endorsement by the professor or head of services (a few lines, signed by the professor/head of services)

4. A short CV including the five most important publications.

5. A brief, generally understandable description of the research project. It must de scribe the collaboration with the host and, if applicable, the use of the research infrastructure.

6. A budget plan and information about the course and the period(s) of the stay. Furthermore: Letter(s) of support from the host institution(s).

Please note: Proposals that do not comply with the formal criteria will be excluded from the reviewing process.

Deadline

Applications need to be submitted by September 15, 2026 through our online sub mission platform at http://portal.ers.rwth-aachen.de, call "IDEA-League Fellowships 2027". All applications will be assessed by the enlarged ERS steering committee.