Frequently Asked Questions

The start of the call for applications may vary from one year to another. If you wish to receive a notification when a new call for applications opens, you can do so by subscribing to the notification service.

No. You may only submit one application in the current call. If you apply for a Junior Leader postdoctoral fellowship, you must choose one single modality: Incoming or Retaining. It is not possible to apply to both modalities.

Unlike other ”la Caixa” Foundation programmes, if you have previously obtained a ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowship, you can apply for the Junior Leader programme to carry out your postdoctoral project in one of the eligible Research Centers.

However, fellows who have already availed a Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowship cannot apply for the same programme.

Yes. Candidates will be able to consult applications submitted in previous calls by accessing https://candidate-fellowships.lacaixafoundation.org/login with their credentials.

However, as of the 2027 call, a new application platform will be used. Therefore, data from previous applications will not be automatically transferred, and candidates will need to submit a new complete application through the new platform within the established deadline.

No. The fact that you have already submitted applications in previous calls is not a factor that is taken into account when evaluating applications.

No. The duration of the fellowship is 36 months, to carry out a research project on a full-time basis.

Yes. In fact, it is highly advisable to have alternatives to your first choice, in case it turns out to be not feasible or you wish to choose another option when the fellowship is awarded. You can mention these additional options in your statement of purpose.

No, the start of the fellowship must coincide with the dates stated in the programme entry requirements.

No. In any case, the years of since you have got your PhD degree will be taken into account. The applicant must have obtained the doctoral degree within the two to seven years before the call deadline.

In the Euraxess Spain portal you will find information on administrative procedures that affect researchers and their families when moving to a foreign country.

In the Euraxess Portugal portal you will find information on administrative procedures that affect researchers and their families when moving to a foreign country.

A medical doctor is not equivalent to a PhD degree by itself but it requires the proven proof that its equivalence.

To be eligible to apply for a Postdoctoral Junior Leader Incoming fellowship, candidates who wish to carry out their research in Spain may not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as vacations, will not be taken into account when calculating the mobility requirement.Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.

A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.

On the other hand, those candidates who wish to carry out the research in Portugal should not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three previous years.

Compliance with the geographical mobility requirement will be reviewed at the beginning of the eligibility examination phase. It will be reviewed again, and definitively, after the date of publication of the final list of selected candidates.

See the following example:

A Spanish researcher completed her doctoral thesis at a Spanish university. She then moved to the Netherlands to carry out a first postdoctoral position at The Hague University from 1 January 2024 to 31 October 2025, when she ceased to reside in the Netherlands. From 1 November 2025, she returned to reside in Spain and, from 1 January 2026, she started working for a Spanish company, where she plans to work for at least one year.

Is the candidate eligible to apply for the fellowship to carry out her research in Spain? No, the candidate would not be eligible, as she has resided and/or carried out her main activity in Spain for more than 12 months in the three years immediately preceding the call deadline.

As the reference period is the three years immediately preceding the call deadline, i.e. from 24/09/2023 to 23/09/2026, the candidate would have resided and/or carried out her main activity in Spain for more than 12 months within that period. Therefore, she is not eligible to apply for the fellowship to carry out her research in Spain.

For the purpose of the mobility rule, the country of the main activity is both the country where the researcher is physically based when carrying out the main activity and the country of the institution for which the main activity is performed. Therefore, in cases of remote work, both countries may be taken into account when assessing compliance with the mobility rule.

For example, for candidates applying under the Incoming modality with a Spanish host institution, periods of remote work carried out physically from Spain may count as activity in Spain, even if the employer or institution is located in another country. Likewise, periods of work carried out from another country for a Spanish institution may also count as activity linked to Spain.

Therefore, these periods may be taken into account when assessing whether the candidate has resided or carried out their main activity in Spain during the three years immediately preceding the call deadline. To be eligible under the Incoming modality, the candidate must have resided or carried out their main activity in the host country for a period equal to or shorter than 12 months during that reference period.

The same principle applies to candidates applying with a Portuguese host institution, taking Portugal as the reference country.

No.

The eligibility window may be extended for the duly justified reasons listed below: maternity or paternity leave, compulsory national service, and long-term sick leave exceeding 30 consecutive days, either for the candidate or for the care of a close family member (child, spouse, parent, or sibling).

The date considered to calculate the eligibility period is the date of defence of the doctoral thesis.

For those candidates who hold more than one PhD degree, the date considered will be the date of the first PhD.

Yes, provided that you fulfil the mobility requirements.

Yes, provided that you fulfil the mobility requirement.

Yes, provided that you fulfil the mobility requirement.

You can apply to the Retaining subprogramme to perform the research in a Spanish institution or to the Incoming subprogramme to carry out the research in a Portuguese institution.

No.

No. The documentation can only be attached to the application using the online application platform.

No. You can only include what you can accredit with original documents in your application. Should you get the fellowship and be unable to accredit any of the achievements mentioned in your application, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

No. Each and every one of the requirements and deadlines must be duly complied with. Any incomplete application on the deadline for applications will be disregarded.

Within three calendar days from the date the rejection notification is sent, candidates may submit redress by sending an e-mail to [email protected], which must include an explanatory text together with the documents that the candidate deems appropriate.

Redress will be resolved by a redress committee. The resolution will be sent by e-mail within ten calendar days from the date of receipt of the redress.

The redress procedure will be strictly confidential.

The technical or scientific appraisal of the evaluators will not be called into question. The selection and evaluation processes themselves ensure the independence and the objectivity of the evaluation.

No. According to standard practice in the selection processes using the peer review system, applicants are not informed of the identity of the individuals who will evaluate their application or of the composition of the selection boards who will interview the applicants. Nevertheless, once the selection processes have ended, a list of all the professors and researchers who took part in them will be made public.

Please, read all the details about the selection process.

The candidates connect by videoconference and are interviewed by a panel of evaluators that will gather at ”la Caixa” Foundation headquarters in Barcelona (Spain). Each candidate's interview lasts 30 minutes consisting on a 10 minute oral speech by the candidate and 20 minute discussion led by the evaluators.

No, under no circumstances.

The Redress Committee is made up of personnel from the ”la Caixa” Foundation who receive and handle any complaints and/or suggestions from the applicants.

To activate the account as an applicant, it is necessary to click on the link that you receive in the registration e-mail. If your e-mail account disables the links (e.g. Hotmail accounts tend to do this), you should copy the link to your browser’s address bar. You access codes will not be activated until you have completed this step.

Send a soft copy of your National Identity Card to [email protected] so that we can verify your information and make the necessary corrections.

The application includes a limited number of sections, so you should select the aspects of your CV that you consider most relevant to support your application.

The form includes a narrative CV. This approach allows you to explain not only what you have done, but also how you have done it, and how your contributions, skills and experiences have contributed to your development as a researcher. It also allows you to contextualise non-linear or diverse career paths and reflect contributions and impact beyond publications.

In addition, the CV includes an additional information section where you may provide information on research career breaks, diverse career paths or significant life events, as well as other contributions to the research community.

The documents have a size limit, beyond which the system rejects them and prevents them from being attached to the application. The online form specifies the limits for each case. Most of the time, file sizes can be significantly reduced by creating a pdf document and optimising compression settings:

• a resolution between 90 and 120 ppp.

• black and white or greyscale printing.

Most likely, you don't see the updated file because of your computer’s cache. You can clear your browser’s cache or delete all temporary files to see the right document.

No, but it will be necessary for you to contribute a "Letter of Intent" from the center you choose as the first option. Remember that this letter is not binding, so if you finally get the fellowship, you can change the centre if you decide so.

Yes, independently of the ”la Caixa” Foundation selection process, the Research Centres may conduct interviews or use any other means to get to know the applicants who aspire to become research fellows.

The Research Centre will draw up a contract in accordance with the regulations in force for research personnel.

The Foundation ”la Caixa” postdoctoral fellowships include a total of €64,000 per year for labor costs. The host institution will contract the fellow for a minimum gross salary of €47,000 per year, and will be able to use the rest to cover the costs of hiring assumed by the institution.

The estimation of the net salary should be calculated for each particular case. More information can be found on the websites www.euraxess.es and www.euraxess.pt.

For more detailed information we recommend contacting directly with the Human Resources department at the host institution.