Yes, you can. You will need to have obtained your PhD before starting the fellowship, but you do not need to already have the degree at the moment of application, interview or poissible offer.

The programme is aimed at early-career scientists who have received their PhD recently. As a general guideline, candidates with up to five years of experience after their PhD are the target group for the Research Fellowship programme.

The open research environment at ESA is best suited for fellows who have acquired a high degree of independence and are ready to proactively pursue their own scientific ideas and search for collaborations. Experience organising one's own projects, whether during the PhD or during a first postoc, may thus be helpful. ​

In general we expect research fellows to start in in autumn. Special arrangements for an earlier or later start can be negotiated on a case by case basis if necessary.

Your science should be relevant to any of the scientific areas covered by the Science Programme missions and projects. It is advisable to be able to build links with one or more ESA science mission(s) or projects which also helps fellows to foster collaborations with active ESA scientists. We recommend that you search for ESA scientists working on a mission or project related to your scientific interests and contact them (see below) to discuss your proposal.

Conference attendance is fully funded from the Programme's budget allowing each Research Fellow to attend three conferences per year.

No. As with any ESA employee working on a science project, Research Fellows need to compete for data like non-ESA employees, e.g., write observing proposals in response to Announcements of Opportunity (AOs) or join a PI team with privileged data access. It is recommended to consult with a Faculty member from the mission you plan to work with about data rights policies.

As research fellow you are welcome to join our communities within the Science faculty and ESA in general. For example you can join our community dedicated to building and sharing knowledge on applied and scientific machine learning, or our Exoplanet working group or the Mars science research team. More information on the different groups can be found here. You are also very welcome to use this chance to get to know new to you research areas and build new collaborations with scientists in different fields.

Rather then being scientific advisor or supervisors, the Fellowship Mentors are guides providing both ESA-specific and career information as well as general support and advice. The mentor does not need to be an expert in your field. One important role of the mentor is to give guidance during the job search after the fellowship.​​​ 
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In addition to the mentor, fellows will have a formal Line Manager, who has the overall responsibility of the science fellowship programme. The Line Manager approves travel, leave, etc.

The mentor and line manager do not have to be involved in the scientific activities of the fellows. It is desirable to seek suitable collaborative relationships with many Faculty members working in your research field (and beyond).​​​​​

Research Fellows typically use their research fellowships to expand their network and usually continue their academic career outside of ESA after completion of the fellowship.

An idea of typical post-fellowship careers can be seen from the RF Alumni Portal. You can also read interviews with some of the former fellows about their fellowship and how it helped their career:

• Japheth Yates - lead computational engineer at Arrival, an electric vehicle startup

• Catarina Alves de Oliveira - head of Science Operations Development Division at ESA's Directorate of Science

• Christiane Helling - Director of the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and university professor for space research at the Graz University of Technology

• Ágnes Kóspál - ERC grantee and permanent staff (Research Advisor), leading a group at the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary

• Tra-Mi Ho - Head of the Department of System Engineering and Project Office at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Contact

For further inquiries, feel free to contact the Head of the Science Research Fellowship Programme.

The Space Science Faculty Directory lists all the members and their interests.

To contact any person by email, please use the address given on their profile page, or use:

         firstname.lastname@esa.int

Current Space Science Research Fellows will be happy to share any experience with you. You can also read shot project descriptions from fellows hired in the previous years: 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

It is highly recommended to contact one or more ESA scientists who work in your area. They can give you much more detailed information about their research and the research you can conduct during the Fellowship. Information about research activities at ESA and contact details for all ESA scientists and current fellows in particular can be found in the main Application page.

The current Research Fellows will be happy to share their experience with you.

The review board has to review many - usually more than a hundred - of applications from a large range of research fields spanning different space science topics. It is therefore very probable that most of the board membvers will not be experts in your specific field. It is thus important to explain the big picture and how your proposal specifically advances the area you are adressing.
Of course, the technical feasibility needs to be established, so you need to find a healthy balance between emphasising the scientific importance to a general audience and demonstrating that you are in command of the required expert abilities. An important element of feasibility is a realistic schedule, showing that the anticipated goals can be achieved within 2 years that the fellowship is first granted for.

Recommendation letters do not need to be sent at the time of application, but names and contact details of three people who can be contacted for references need to be provided. We may contact them if you are shortlisted.