StudyDesk Scholarships
About the fellowship
The ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship programme — known as ETH Fellows — supports incoming postdoctoral researchers of high potential who have already shown internationally competitive achievements early in their careers. It is deliberately broad: fellowships are available in all disciplines covered by the research of ETH host professors, from engineering and the natural sciences to architecture, mathematics and the social sciences. The fellowship lasts two years and cannot be prolonged, because the scheme is designed to launch an independent career rather than extend a postdoctoral position indefinitely.
Two features set it apart from an ordinary postdoctoral job. First, the project is yours: you write the proposal and an ETH professor supports it as your mentor, rather than you joining a professor’s existing project. Second, the funding is a full salary at ETH standards, including social-security contributions, rather than a bare stipend — plus a research allowance for travel, mobility and research costs. Recent guides put the research allowance at CHF 12,000 a year; some older pages list CHF 10,000, and this article flags that difference rather than silently picking one.
Benefits
- Full salary: a salary at ETH standards for two years, including the 15% social-security contribution — an employment contract, not a stipend.
- Research allowance: CHF 12,000 a year for travel, mobility and research costs in current guides (older pages list CHF 10,000 — confirm the current figure in the call documents).
- Two years, non-renewable: a fixed horizon with a start expected no later than eight months after the submission date, unless the Grants Office agrees a later start.
- Your own project: you propose and lead the research, with an ETH professor as mentor, in any discipline the host professors cover.
- World-class setting: access to ETH Zurich’s laboratories, facilities and research community, and a cohort of fellows across disciplines.
Who can apply
- Recent PhD: you must have defended your doctoral degree within two years of the submission deadline. You may apply up to six months before your defence, with a certification of the planned defence date signed by your advisor or department chair.
- Not an ETH or Zurich PhD: your doctorate must be from an institution other than ETH Zurich or the University of Zurich.
- Publication threshold: at least one scientific publication in a peer-reviewed journal, or a prize for your doctoral thesis. Applications that fail the formal rules are rejected on formal grounds, so this is a threshold, not a preference.
- Host professor: the application is made jointly with an ETH Zurich professor who will act as mentor. You need that professor’s support before you submit.
- Mobility rule: at the deadline, you must not have resided in or carried out your main activity in Switzerland for more than twelve months in the preceding three years, and you must not have worked at ETH Zurich, EPFL, an ETH-domain institute or the University of Zurich for more than six months in that period.
Documents required
- Project description on the ETH templates, setting out the research you propose to lead.
- CV and the host professor’s supporting documents, uploaded through the application.
- Two reference letters, sent directly by the referees to the Grants Office — at least ten days before the deadline in current guidance, so line referees up early.
- Proof of the PhD (or, if you are applying before defence, the signed certification of the planned defence date).
- All documents are submitted electronically through the ETH eResearch system; the programme does not accept applications by email.
How to apply
- Find an ETH Zurich professor willing to act as your host and mentor, and agree the project with them — the application is joint, and a host’s support is a formal requirement.
- Download the project-description templates, write your proposal, and prepare your CV and the host’s supporting documents.
- Register on the ETH eResearch system, create the application, and upload everything as PDFs. Ask your two referees to send their letters directly to the Grants Office well before the deadline.
- Validate the application in the system, then submit by 1 March 2027 at 17:00 Swiss time. If the deadline falls on a weekend it moves to the following Monday at the same time. Shortlisted candidates are invited to a video interview, and final decisions arrive about four months after the deadline.
- Do not confuse this scheme with the separate ETH AI Center fellowships, which have their own system and deadlines.
FAQs
The next round closes on 1 March 2027 at 17:00 Swiss time. The programme runs twice a year, on 1 March and 1 September; the September 2026 round has already closed, so 1 March 2027 is the live target.
Two years, and it cannot be prolonged. Fellows are expected to start no later than eight months after the submission date unless the Grants Office agrees otherwise.
A full salary at ETH standards, including social-security contributions, plus a research allowance — CHF 12,000 a year in current guides, though some older pages list CHF 10,000. Exact salary figures for 2027 are not stated as a single published number in the sources checked, so this article does not invent one.
No. The doctorate must be from another institution, and the mobility rule also limits recent activity in Switzerland and at ETH-domain institutions.
Defended within two years of the submission deadline. You may apply up to six months before your defence with a signed certification of the planned date.
Yes. The application is made jointly with an ETH Zurich professor who acts as mentor, and the host’s supporting documents are part of the submission.
Verified 29 Oct 2026 against EURAXESS (ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowships: joint application with an ETH professor as mentor; 2 years, non-renewable; PhD defended within 2 years of the deadline, not from ETH Zurich or University of Zurich; up to 6 months before defence with certification; no more than 6 months' main activity at either institution; at least one peer-reviewed publication or thesis prize; deadlines 1 March and 1 September) plus Europe Scholarships (two non-renewable years at a full ETH salary plus CHF 12,000/year research expenses; 17:00 Swiss time; 12-month Switzerland / 6-month ETH-domain mobility limits; ~15-20% success rate) and ResearchersJob (eResearch system; templates; host support documents; 2 references sent directly to the Grants Office; contacts eresearch-support@ethz.ch and ethfellows@sl.ethz.ch). CONFLICTS: (1) Research allowance is CHF 12,000/year in current guides but CHF 10,000/year on older pages — the article states both and leads with the current figure. (2) Exact 2027 salary figures (CHF 92,500 / 97,200) appear in secondary summaries only and are not stated in the article; it uses the confirmed "full ETH salary" formulation. (3) The ETH AI Center fellowships are a separate scheme with their own system and deadlines and are excluded.
