Postdoctoral fellowships and early-career research grants can play an important role in building academic independence, developing international experience, and establishing a long-term research profile.

The ACO Strategies provide practical guidance on some of the main competitive funding opportunities available to early-career researchers across Europe and the United Kingdom, including schemes such as MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, ERC Starting Grants, Humboldt and Walter Benjamin Fellowships, NWO, FWO, and British Academy programmes.

Each strategy explains the scheme's purpose and eligibility, when to start preparing, how to approach potential host institutions, and the key elements that can strengthen an application. Because requirements and expectations vary considerably between programmes, these guides are designed to help researchers identify the opportunities that best match their career stage, mobility plans, and research ambitions, and to plan their applications well in advance.

Explore our strategies

Explore practical guides to some of the leading postdoctoral fellowships and early-career research funding schemes across Europe and the UK.