AXA Research Fund Post-Doctoral Fellowships

What is an AXA Fellowship?

The AXA Fellowship is a funding scheme aimed at supporting young promising researchers on a priority topic aligned with AXA and the Society.

ELIGIBILITY

Institutions

Host institutions must be registered in the AXA Research Fund’s database.  Institutions can apply only when a call for projects is open. Projects which are not directly linked to the call for proposals' topics are not eligible.  Institutions can present only one candidate for the whole institution (and not one per department, faculty or laboratory)  

Institutions hosting an AXA Chair cannot request for an extra Post-Doctoral fellowship for a researcher working on the AXA Chairholder's team.  

Prospective Fellow

Candidates should be maximum PhD+ 5 years with proven scientific excellence and high potential for innovation, transformation and dissemination. 

Research program 

The research program should demonstrate its scientific originality and innovative nature. Projects selected for funding are expected to start less than one year after the result's announcement, click here to see the guidelines. 

Timeline & Application process

The AXA Research Fund’s evaluation process has been designed to assess scientific excellence. The evaluations are monitored to ensure transparency, fairness, and impartiality in the treatment of proposals.

The AXA Research Fund partners with independent external providers to carry out the peer review process in accordance with criteria defined by the AXA Research Fund, the results of which are submitted to the Scientific Board for final selection. Please note that:

• The complete application must be submitted in English, on time, and online. It must respect the template structure and the page limit.
• The research topic must fall within the scope of the eligible topic focus.
• The candidate must submit a free-standing independent research project involving full-time work for the duration of the fellowship (with the possible exception of up to 20% time dedicated to teaching).

Application process 

Submitting an application is a multi-step process: 

Host institutions phase:

• Step 1 - Registration Only if your institution is not alreadyregistered on the AXA Research Fund’s online platform. March 25th, 2023 – April 10th, 2024 4 PM Paris time
• Step 2 - Expression of interest On the AXA RF platform March 25th, 2024 – April 15th, 2024 4 PM Paris time

Researcher’s phase: 

• Step 3 - Research proposal submission On the ESF platform, our partner organization (online link to be provided in due time) April 22nd, 2024 – May 16th, 2024 4 PM Paris time
• Step 4 – Rebuttal On the ESF platform August 22nd , 2024 – August 29th , 2024 4 PM Paris time

AXA Research Fund Results announcement by email December 2024 to the candidates

Application process

Step 1 – Registering

To apply for the AXA Fellowship grants, academic institutions must be registered on our platform: https://institution.axa-research.org/. You can check if your institution is already registered in the database via the above link. If your institution is already on our database, skip the registration and your institution’s operational contact can log in directly using the login details they defined.

Institutions should appoint a single point of contact (“Operational Contact”) who will handle relations with the AXA Research Fund and be responsible for candidate’s application.

Step 2 – Expression of Interest ON OUR ONLINE APPLICATION PLATFORM
Only host institutions can apply, applications cannot be directly submitted by individual researchers.

To submit an online Expression of Interest, host institutions need to follow the steps below:

1. Log onto our online application platform: https://institution.axa-research.org/
2. Go to the “Application” tab and click the “Post-doc” link to go to the “Expression of Interest” page
3. Click “New” and fill in the online Expression of Interest form. Attach a short CV (3 pages maximum)
4. Click “Submit”

At the stage of Expression of Interest, you will be requested to provide the following information:

• About the candidate -Name, Birth date, PhD defense date, Current institution the candidate is affiliated with, Short CV (3 pages maximum)-
• About the research program - Project description: 3000 characters including spaces

You will receive an email confirming that your Expression of Interest has been submitted. If you don’t receive the email, please check your spam folder, and, if needed, contact fellowships@axa.com.

You will be able to edit your Expression of Interest as long as you have not clicked on “Submit”. Once submitted, your Expression of Interest can no longer be edited. The Expression of Interest will be reviewed by the AXA Research Fund. You will be informed of the decision pertaining to your Expression of Interest by email.

Expressions of Interest received after the deadline, by email, or incomplete will not be considered.

Step 3 – Full Application

Academic institutions will be given access to the dedicated ESF platform to nominate their candidates by entering their name & email address online. Nominated candidates will be invited to submit their research proposals and will be provided with the necessary information to access the application form. Eligibility criteria of the application call will be screened by our partner organization.

Candidates will have 4 weeks to submit their proposals through the ESF platform. Please note that if the host institution doesn’t nominate the candidate on the ESF platform, the candidate won’t have access to the platform.

Applications received after the deadline, by email, or incomplete will not be considered.

Step 4 – Scientific Assessment

The evaluation of the scientific quality of research proposals is carried out in a fully independent manner by our partner peer-review organization.
Each application is reviewed by two relevant experts who will assess the candidate’s excellence and the research program’s scientific quality.

Step 5 – Rebuttal

Candidates will have the opportunity to respond online to peer review experts’ comments before their applications are reviewed by the AXA Research Fund. The main purpose of the rebuttal is to provide applicants with the possibility to comment on any potential misinterpretations or misunderstandings that may have been made by the experts while initially assessing their proposals.

Step 6 – Selection & Results Publication

The Scientific Board of the AXA Research Fund selects to fund applications based on strength of the scientific case, peer review assessments, the potential of the project, candidate profile and of the institution and overall impact. The AXA Research Fund informs the candidates of the decisions by email. Results will also be made available on the AXA Research Fund’s website https://www.axa-research.org/en

The Scientific Board’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. It can neither be disputed nor subject to explanations or justifications, no feedback will be provided.