EISA Postdoctoral Bridge Grants 2026

EISA Postdoctoral Bridge Grants will support recently graduated or final-year PhD students who have not secured an academic contract or fellowship. They are designed to help bridge the gap between a doctorate and a postdoctoral funded/salaried position. EISA will award up to 5 Bridge Grants of €3,500 each to support early career colleagues’ transition from doctoral research to academic employment. The scheme is particularly aimed at those who require additional time and funds to finalise potential publications or incubate postdoctoral funding proposals in conjunction with the completion of their doctoral projects.

Eligibility criteria:

Applicants must have an active EISA membership.

Applicants must either (a) have been awarded their PhD degree within 12 months of the application deadline, or (b) have submitted their PhD degree (pending award confirmation) within 12 months of the application deadline.

Applicants must not yet have held a permanent academic post after PhD completion.

Application details, use of funds, timeline and review criteria HERE

The submission form will ask for your membership number. To find this number, please log in to the membership portal https://eisa-net.org/login/and then click in the upper right corner of the webpage on ‘my account’. This will display your membership number and expiration date of your membership.

Surname

Name

Country of residence

Please list your country of residence.

Institution

MEMBERSHIP ID NUMBER

Eligibility

Amount (EUR)

Monthly income (salary, scholarship, unemployment, other type of income…), EUR/month, after tax

Duration of funding during PhD

please indicate dates

Do you still have funding at the time of application?

If "Yes" (to question above)

When is your funding due to stop?

Are you eligible for unemployment benefits after your funding stops?

What positions are you applying to / planning to apply to for the future?

If "No" (to question above)

PhD funding, post-doc or other job, unemployment benefits, please specify)

What will you use the funds for?

Please mention here any challenging circumstances you wish to bring to the attention of the committe

(health, family, administrative etc)

Proposal

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Size limit: 10MB per file

Please submit a 1-page proposal, outlining the specific task (e.g., drafting a funding proposal, completing a peer-reviewed article, preparing a book manuscript proposal) you intend to undertake and/or support with EISA funding.

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Size limit: 10MB per file

Please submit a brief CV (maximum 4 pages).

Confirmation of PhD status

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Size limit: 10MB per file

Please submit an electronic confirmation of your PhD status, or if the degree has not been awarded at the time of application, a letter from your PhD supervisors confirming your examination/degree award timeline.