ELBE Postdoctoral Fellows Program 2027

Are you an ambitious postdoctoral researcher looking to take your research career to the next level? The ELBE Postdoctoral Fellows Program at the Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD) is offering fully funded 2–3 year fellowships for outstanding independent researchers.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineSeptember 11, 2026
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorCenter for Systems Biology Dresden
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

• The CSBD provides fully funded, 2-3 year positions in an international and cross-disciplinary research environment. ELBE Postdoctoral Fellows benefit from close collaborations with scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS), and the Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), and a stimulating and inspiring atmopshere.
• Fellows have full access to state-of-the-art research facilities and infrastructure on the campus. These are in particular the service and facilities of the MPI-CBG, which are located next door to the CSBD. They are given freedom, mentoring, and support to develop their own research questions.
• Dresden is a vivid and international scientific city, with a large number of research institutions that collaborate under the DRESDEN-concept umbrella. Its position as an outstanding location for research and science is recognized world-wide. Since 2012, the TU Dresden is one of eleven Excellence Universities in Germany.

Requirements

• The ELBE program seeks outstanding external candidates who are passionate about bringing new ideas, concepts, or systems to the Center. ELBE postdoctoral fellows pursue an interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with members of the CSBD. They are encouraged to develop and use theoretical or computational approaches to study biological systems in close collaboration with experimental groups at the MPI-CBG and the TU Dresden.
• Ideal candidates should have backgrounds in physics, computer science, mathematics or a related discipline, with a strong interest in working in a cross-disciplinary life-science environment. In some exceptional cases, ELBE fellows can be analytically-minded experimentalists in the field of cell or developmental biology, who work between a lab and a CSBD research group.
• ELBE Postdoctoral Fellows have the opportunity to collaborate with more than one research group to bridge between disciplines. Successful candidates are expected to identify a collaborative project and the host groups to work with within three months after arrival. An interim mentor will support this process. When host groups and research projects are identified, mentorship can be changed or adjusted to facilitate collaborations.

Check also:
2026 Fully Funded Humboldt Research Fellowship
2026 Eutopia PhD Co-tutelle Call

Application Deadline

How To Apply

• Selection of ELBE Fellows is based on scientific merit with two application cycles per year. Applications are exclusively accepted through the online application system. We do not accept applications by e-mail or direct contact of a group leader. In the first selection stage, candidates are judged on their track record and a research proposal describing the work they intend to do while at the CSBD.

For more information, kindly visit the CSBD webpage.