FWO - junior and senior postdoctoral fellowships 2026

Research

Funding organisation:

Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen

What?

The FWO postdoctoral fellowships are intended to support researchers who have completed their PhD in developing an independent, international research career. Researchers can submit an application for a junior or a senior postdoctoral fellowship. Both junior and senior postdoctoral candidates must hold a PhD by thesis or a degree or a diploma or certificate recognised as equivalent in accordance with European Union directives or a bilateral agreement. Postdoctoral fellows are offered an employment contract for a term of three years.

New rules for this call:
The FWO has changed some rules regarding the postdoctoral fellowships. 

• Applicants who do not receive support in the 2026 call and are not among the top 50% of the panel in the pre-selection are not eligible to apply again for the same type of mandate (junior or senior) in the subsequent 2027 call. The feedback letter will state whether the candidate was among the top 50% and what the consequences are if they were not. Applicants who submitted in previous calls will still be able to resubmit once without belonging to the top 50%.

Furthermore, the FWO let us know they will apply the current rules more strictly. Specifically:

• If the application—due to missing or incorrect information—does not enable the FWO administration to judge whether the application is eligible, it will be declared ineligible.

• If the application is missing crucial information that is needed by the internal or external reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the application, this can be noted by those reviewers and can lead to a lower score. Changes at the request of the applicant after the deadline are not permitted in any case.

• If a deviation from the formal requirements is so obvious and objective that even a layman can notice it, the application will be declared ineligible.

• Deadlines for applications or pre-registrations, as communicated via the FWO web pages, will not be deviated from.

• Attachments will be limited where possible. The FWO web pages or application forms will clearly state which attachments are permitted.

• Where possible, technical tools will be used in the e-portal to prevent applicants from uploading unauthorized attachments. If this still happens, file managers will remove the unauthorized attachments. The applicant will not be notified separately about this change to the file, as researchers are informed in advance about the FWO policy on unauthorized attachments.

Finally, the submission deadline will change from December 1st to November 15th (unless this falls on a weekend, in which case it will be the next Monday) at 5 P.M.

Submission deadline is 17 November 2025, 5 P.M. 

Who?

Researchers can apply for a junior postdoctoral fellowship if their PhD degree, with as reference point the date mentioned on the PhD degree, was awarded maximum three years before the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences. The public defence must have taken place no later than 15 September prior to the start of the fellowship, whereby the date of this public defence must be reported to the FWO no later than 1 July prior to the start of the fellowship; 

Candidates can apply for a senior postdoctoral fellowship if their PhD degree, with as reference point the date mentioned on the PhD degree, was awarded a minimum of three years and a maximum of six years before the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences (2026) and if they have not previously received a similar fellowship, not even in part.

Important: 

• Starting with the call for applications opening in September 2026, submitting a second application for the same type of postdoctoral fellowship will only be possible if the first application was among the top 50% in the pre-selection.
• Applicants can always apply for a senior postdoctoral fellowship if they have previously enjoyed a junior postdoctoral fellowship. In that case, the senior postdoctoral fellowship must immediately follow the junior postdoctoral fellowship;
• Senior applicants can also apply if they have not had a postdoctoral fellowship from the FWO before. In that case, they must prove that they have a postdoctoral research experience of a minimum of 2 years on the first of October of the year in which the fellowship commences;
• If the candidate has more than one PhD degree, the rules of this article apply only to the degree obtained in the same area of study as the proposal for postdoctoral research. Regardless of the area of study or discipline, the first PhD must in any case have been obtained no more than 10 years ago to be counted from the application submission deadline;
• Candidates may submit only one application per call. Candidates can apply a maximum of two times for the same fellowship, with postdoctoral fellowships of the junior or senior type being considered as two different types of fellowship.

Application?

• All applicants need to complete their application online, which is submitted to an FWO Expert panel;
• Candidates must submit and defend their application in English for the purposes of the international peer review;
• The supervisor is asked by the FWO to write a letter of recommendation.

More information?

More information can be found on the FWO website:
for junior postdoctoral fellowships
for senior postdoctoral fellowships

Support for applicants


(1) Information session
On the 30th of September 2025, FWO will give an online information session on the postdoctoral fellowship schemes, which starts at 13h (1 PM). CET. Special attention will be given to the application modalities and evaluation processes of these funding schemes, as well as the new regulations. Not only candidate postdoc researchers but also supervisors and research managers are welcome to attend this information session. 

Attending this information session is free of charge, but registration is required. If you wish to attend the session, we kindly ask you to register using the dedicated registration form. Deadline for registration is Thursday, 25 September (5 PM). More practical details will follow after registration. 

(2) Grant writing skills for FWO postdoctoral candidates on Tuesday 16 September and Wednesday 17 September 2025, 9 am-12-30pm
UHasselt doctoral schools organize a remote workshop with self-study for researchers preparing to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship.
Registration is possible until Sunday, 14 September 2025 (11:59 PM CET). More info can be found on the workshop page. You can register using the dedicated registration form or via the workshop page.

 If you would like a personal meeting with Brecht, feel free to book an appointment.

Deadline

17.11.2025

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail brecht.vanhoof@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211268744