EPFL CYD Fellowship 2027 in Switzerland (Fully Funded)

About the fellowship

The CYD Fellowships, run by EPFL with the CYD Campus, fund research in cyber-defence at a Swiss higher education institution. There are three strands: Master Thesis, Doctoral and Distinguished Postdoctoral. The Master Thesis strand pays a living allowance of CHF 2,500 per month for up to 6 months, plus up to CHF 1,500 for research costs. The Doctoral strand pays a salary contribution (including social security benefits, set by the host institution’s salary scale) plus up to CHF 3,000 a year for research costs and up to CHF 5,000 a year for conference costs, for 4 years with a possible one-year extension. The Distinguished Postdoctoral strand pays a salary contribution on the same basis, plus the same research and conference caps, for up to 2 years. EPFL publishes no fixed salary figure and no lump-sum total for the doctoral and postdoctoral strands — only the scale basis and the caps — so this article states the components and nothing more.

The timing is the part that needs care. The 14th call is closed. The 15th call for Doctoral and Distinguished Postdoctoral fellowships opens on 3 December 2026, with a Stage 1 deadline of 25 February 2027 at 17:00 CET. The Master Thesis strand runs on a rolling call with no fixed deadline — applications may be submitted throughout the year. If you see "19 August 2026" on a listing, that was the 14th call and it is over. The research itself must engage with cyber-defence themes — protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of cyber and cyber-physical systems; information sharing, data fusion and crowdsourcing; data science and AI methods for cyber-relevant data; and security, privacy and digital trust technologies — and must bring together CYD Campus researchers and at least one Swiss higher education institution.

Eligibility

• Citizens of any nationality may apply; no age restrictions apply.
• Excellence is the primary selection criterion, judged on academic records and professional accomplishments; strong grade transcripts are expected.
• Master Thesis: must be enrolled in a Master’s programme at a Swiss higher education institution (university or school of applied sciences) and have the endorsement of a professor/supervisor employed there.
• Doctoral: must be enrolled in a doctoral programme at a Swiss higher education institution and have a supervising professor’s endorsement by the Stage 2 application. Applicants endorsed by a professor at a school of applied sciences must also provide written confirmation at Stage 2 of simultaneous enrolment in a doctoral programme at a Swiss university. Preference is given to applicants who have not yet started, or are at the beginning of, their PhD. Funding for less than four years may be requested if that matches the thesis completion date.
• Distinguished Postdoctoral: must have the endorsement of a professor employed at a Swiss higher education institution by the Stage 2 application, and the funded postdoctoral research must be carried out in a different laboratory from the applicant’s doctoral laboratory and any current postdoctoral laboratory.
• Research must engage with cyber-defence themes: protection of confidentiality, integrity and availability of cyber and cyber-physical systems; information sharing, data fusion and crowdsourcing; data science and AI methods for cyber-relevant data; and security, privacy and digital trust technologies. Applicants must show their project can significantly influence security/data-science research and Swiss cyber-defence, and that it brings together CYD Campus researchers and at least one Swiss higher education institution.

Benefits

• Master Thesis: a living allowance of CHF 2,500 per month for a maximum of 6 months, plus up to CHF 1,500 for research costs.
• Doctoral: a salary contribution (including social security benefits, set by the host institution’s salary scale) plus up to CHF 3,000 per year for research costs and up to CHF 5,000 per year for conference costs, for 4 years with a possible one-year extension.
• Distinguished Postdoctoral: a salary contribution on the same basis, plus the same CHF 3,000/year research and CHF 5,000/year conference caps, for up to 2 years.
• A CYD Campus mentor for shortlisted applicants, and research hosted by a Swiss higher education institution with CYD Campus researchers.

Documents to prepare

• The exact document checklist is not published in detail on the EPFL pages checked. The official pages state only that all required documents must be submitted in English via the online submission platform, and direct applicants to read the call guidelines and the application toolkit.
• The toolkit currently linked is for the 14th call; EPFL states the updated documents for the 15th call will be available when it opens on 3 December 2026. No itemised document checklist (for example CV, transcripts, proposal) could be confirmed from two sources, so no such list is printed here as fact — the exact document list is in the official toolkit/guidelines.

How to apply

1. Read the official call guidelines and application toolkit on the EPFL CYD Fellowships page (15th-call versions from 3 December 2026).
2. Check the list of prioritised topics in the call guidelines and align your proposal with them; Master Thesis applicants may pick a listed CYD Campus topic or propose their own.
3. Secure hosting/endorsement from a professor at a Swiss higher education institution (needed by Stage 2 for doctoral/postdoctoral applicants).
4. Prepare and submit all documents in English through the official online submission platform before the Stage 1 deadline.
5. Selection runs in two stages: Stage 1 screening by a CYD Campus internal committee, after which shortlisted applicants are assigned a prospective CYD Campus mentor who interviews them and must endorse them for Stage 2; Stage 2 requires a full research proposal, with final decisions by a committee chaired by the Director of the CYD Campus.

FAQs

Verified 28 Oct 2026 against the official EPFL CYD Fellowships pages (overview, Master Thesis, Doctoral and Distinguished Postdoctoral pages, epfl.ch/research/funding/epfl-programmes/cyd/), which state that the 14th call is closed, the 15th call for Doctoral and Distinguished Postdoctoral fellowships opens on 3 December 2026 with a Stage 1 deadline of 25 February 2027 at 17:00 CET, and that the Master Thesis fellowship runs on a rolling call with no fixed deadline. Award components: Master Thesis living allowance CHF 2,500/month for a maximum of 6 months plus up to CHF 1,500 for research costs; Doctoral salary contribution (including social security benefits, set by the host institution's salary scale — no fixed figure published) plus up to CHF 3,000/year for research costs and up to CHF 5,000/year for conference costs, for 4 years with a possible one-year extension; Distinguished Postdoctoral salary contribution on the same basis plus the same caps, for up to 2 years. No lump-sum total is published by EPFL for the doctoral/postdoctoral strands. Eligibility: citizens of any nationality, no age restrictions; excellence the primary criterion (academic records and professional accomplishments; strong transcripts expected); Master Thesis — enrolled in a Master's at a Swiss higher education institution with a professor/supervisor's endorsement; Doctoral — enrolled in a doctoral programme at a Swiss higher education institution with a supervising professor's endorsement by Stage 2 (applicants endorsed by a professor at a school of applied sciences must also provide written confirmation at Stage 2 of simultaneous enrolment in a doctoral programme at a Swiss university; preference to applicants who have not yet started, or are at the beginning of, their PhD; funding for less than four years may be requested if that matches the thesis completion date); Distinguished Postdoctoral — endorsement of a professor at a Swiss higher education institution by Stage 2, funded research in a different laboratory from the doctoral laboratory and any current postdoctoral laboratory; research must engage with cyber-defence themes and bring together CYD Campus researchers and at least one Swiss higher education institution. Selection: two stages — Stage 1 screening by a CYD Campus internal committee, shortlisted applicants assigned a prospective CYD Campus mentor who interviews them and must endorse them for Stage 2; Stage 2 full research proposal, final decisions by a committee chaired by the Director of the CYD Campus. CONFLICTS: (1) August 2026 vs February 2027 — the queue and several aggregator sites still list 19 August 2026; the official EPFL pages state the 14th call is closed and the 15th call opens 3 December 2026 with a 25 February 2027 Stage 1 deadline. Resolved in favour of the official EPFL pages; the August 2026 date belongs to the closed 14th call. (2) "Fully funded" lump sums on aggregator sites — only the component figures above are confirmed by EPFL; no lump-sum total for doctoral/postdoctoral funding is published. (3) Possible nationality limits on sensitive projects — one secondary source suggests some projects may carry nationality restrictions; this does not appear on the official EPFL pages, which state any nationality may apply, so it is not confirmed and is not stated as a rule. Documents: exact checklist NOT published in detail on the EPFL pages checked — the official pages state only that all required documents must be submitted in English via the online submission platform (epflresearchfunds.gomovein.com), and direct applicants to the call guidelines and application toolkit; the toolkit currently linked is for the 14th call, with 15th-call documents available when the call opens on 3 December 2026.