Long-term fellowships

I. Purpose
The purpose of the ERA Long Term Fellowships is to support basic and clinical research in the field of Nephrology in the ERA geographical area (Europe, countries bordering Europe and the Mediterranean Sea), in particular to favour the growth of the young investigators living within the ERA geographical area.
The ERA Long Term Fellowship will cover a maximum 12 months’ grant for the work of a young researcher involved in a given project.
The ERA Long Term Fellowships will be assigned to competitive research proposals submitted by ERA Bodies, with the aim to simultaneously finance the worthy ERA Body projects and to favour young researchers’ growth.
The Council will approve/not approve the applications based on SAB’s evaluation.
The ERA Council is in charge of deciding the budget dedicated to this programme.
Any exception to any of the rules of this programme must be evaluated by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the SAB.

II. Selection of the projects and awarded fellowships
The SAB evaluates the projects submitted by the ERA Bodies and, further to the Council’s approval, the ones that are approved are posted in the appropriate section of the ERA website.
The long-term candidates will have to submit their candidature for an ERA long-term fellowship linked to one of the approved projects.
All submitted fellowship applications will be evaluated by the project’s Principal Investigator and the Working Group/Committee Chair, as appropriate, that will shortlist up to the three best candidates. 
The SAB must then evaluate and score the pre-selected fellowship applications.
The Council will make the final decision on the granted fellow.

III. Deadline(s)
The deadline(s) will appear in the appropriate section of the ERA website.

IV. How to apply
Applications have to be submitted by means of a specific application form available in the appropriate section of the ERA website. 

V. Institution
The institution/s where the fellowship will be performed will be indicated in the call.

VI. Eligibility
Only ERA Full members who are 40 or younger at the time of application submission can apply. An extension of the age limit can be considered if the applicant’s career has been interrupted due to childcare or severe illness; in any case this extension cannot exceed 2 years.
ERA Full members are those living and working in the ERA geographical area. 
Applicants who already received an ERA Fellowship in the past under the same programme cannot apply again for a new Long-Term Fellowship.

VII. Duration
The length of the project will be indicated in the call.

VIII. Selection of the applicants
The ERA HQ does an administrative pre-screening and all applications with administrative fails are discarded and not submitted to the SAB for evaluation. Applicants of these discarded applications are immediately informed about the rejection. 
Following the SAB’s scoring and the subsequent approval/decision by the ERA Council, the ERA HQ informs all applicants about their own results (application acceptance/rejection).

IX. Factors normally considered in the selection of applicants

1. Age of the applicant (in case of ex-aequo, the older candidate should be preferred);
2. Prior expertise of the applicant/published papers;
3. How the project fits into the applicant’s career;
4. Motivation letter.

X. Start of the fellowship
The fellowship should start according to the indications included in the call; in any case, within 6 months after reception of approval by ERA.

XI. Payment
Payments for the long-term fellowships will be done every 3 months, starting 10 days prior to the arrival of the fellow in the host institute (the air ticket must be used to verify this date); however, the last 10% of the total amount due will only be given to the fellow after the official “End of Fellowship report” form has been submitted and approved.
So that the 1st part of the fellowship grant can be paid, a letter from the Chief of the Host Institute and/or the ERA Body Chair, confirming that all is “on track”, must be received by the ERA HQ.
All other payments by ERA are subject to the regular receipt of the “Letter of Attendance” signed by the Supervisor of the fellows. Failure to send this letter will compromise the instalments payment plan.
The fellowship grant amounts are based on the EMBO -European Molecular Biology Organisation- daily subsistence rates: these daily flat fee figures will be applied for a period of 12 months (365 days or 366 days in case of leap year) and are meant to cover living expenses and any work-related taxes and insurances. For a shorter period, the amount must be calculated accordingly. A travel grant amount will also be added to the fellowship grant and it is meant to cover the expenses related to the round trip costs from the country of residence to the host country (Travel Grant Chart for fellowships and CME).
If the applicant is already working at the receiving institute and the annual gross salary is higher than the offered fellowship grant, the ERA will reimburse (further to the Council approval) the actual salary costs to the local paying institution directly. In this specific case, the fellow will not receive any subsistence rate and/or travel grant. In any case, the granted amount cannot exceed what was originally approved by the Council.
With regard to any taxes and insurances, it is the responsibility of the Fellow to obtain information from the authorities of the receiving country and of the home country about any obligations related to this type of grant, to file the proper documents accordingly and to pay any dues that may be required. For no reason will ERA be held liable for these matters.
In the event of early termination of the Fellowship, the final balance to be paid will be reduced accordingly and any eventual extra amounts already paid will have to be repaid back to ERA.  
ERA will not give any other financial support apart from what is clearly mentioned above. 

XII. Publications and visibility
Every publication of work produced while in receipt of an ERA Fellowship, as well as after the end of the Fellowship, provided that it is the result of work done during the fellowship, must acknowledge the support given by the ERA. It is recommended that the output of the Fellowship be submitted for publication in ERA journals, subject to the usual peer review process and the Editor’s final decision.
Failure to give proper acknowledgement to ERA in publications may result in not allowing the ERA Body to propose future projects for this programme.

XIII. End of fellowship report
At the end of the fellowship, the fellows are asked to provide ERA with a report of the activity done at the receiving institution. The report must be signed by the Supervisor.
So that the End of Fellowship Report can be approved, and thus the last amount of the fellowship paid, any eventual reprint of publications (electronic format) done during the fellowship should be submitted with the report itself.
The End Report Form may include diagrams, charts or illustrations to enhance the results.
The report and the eventual publications must be sent, within one month after the end of the fellowship, to the ERA HQ which will forward them to the SAB Chair and Vice-Chair for evaluation/approval/rejection.
Once the evaluation process has been concluded, all SAB members receive, for their information, the end reports (both those approved and rejected) from the ERA HQ.
The Council is also updated on the outcome at this stage.
Upon approval of the end report, the fellow receives a certificate by way of acknowledgement. This document will include the dates and duration of the fellowship, the place and title of the project and it will be signed by the SAB Chair and Vice Chair.

XIV. Various
If a granted fellow “refuses” the fellowship, without a valid reason, he/she will not be able to participate in the ERA Fellowship Programme in the future; furthermore, the amount allocated for this fellowship will be lost.

Last update: January 2024