AXA Research Fund Post-Doctoral Fellowships
The AXA Fellowship is a funding scheme aimed at supporting young promising researchers on a priority topic aligned with AXA and the Society.
Who can apply
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.
When to apply
Post-Doctoral Fellowships Key Dates
- The AXA Fellowship is awarded once per year. You can find the key application dates for this year:
- Registration: April 03 - April 17, 2025
- Expression of Interest: April 10 - May 05, 2025
- Research proposal submission: May 10 - June 13, 2025
- Rebuttal: September 24 - September 30, 2025
- Results announcement (December 2025, no precise date): December 01 - December 31, 2025
How to apply
Submitting an application is a multi-step process:
Step1: Registration
Only if your institution is not already
registered on the AXA Research Fund’s
online platform.
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.
Step2: Expression of interest
On the AXA RF platform
Register on our dedicated online platform. Once registered, you can submit the candidate’s details (date of birth and date of PhD defense), a short CV (3 pages) and title and description of the research program (3000 characters, spaces included).
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”.
You will be requested to provide the candidate's details (date of birth and date of PhD defense), a short CV (3 pages) and a project description of the research program (3000 characters, spaces included).
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 axaresearchfund@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.
Step3: Full application
On the ESF platform, our partner organization (online link to be provided in due time)
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.
Step4: 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.
Step5: 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.
Step6: 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 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/.
Contact
For enquiries regarding AXA Fellowships
axaresearchfund@axa.com
