In December 1965 EMBO secured a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation to fund their activities for 3 years. EMBO was keen that it’s financial support from the VW foundation
not be permanent, as it wished for its long term funding to come from all participating nations, rather than organisations belonging to just one in order to ensure its independence.
EMBO, alongside its Swiss partners, organized two “temporary” conferences attended by governmental representatives to establish a consensus for an inter-governmental organization. The two focus points of these meetings were the long-term management of EMBO’s programs, and the question of establishing a European Laboratory.
Through these two conferences the constitution of the European Molecular Biology Conference was established, and in 1970, 14 governments officially established the EMBC, which to the present day supports EMBO’s General Programme. Over the years this programme has expanded through the EMBC creating “special projects” to allow new activities to be performed under EMBO’s remit. It’s through this system that EMBL was born, as well as newer EMBO programmes like its Global Activities and Young Investigator Programme.
The Young Investigator Program scheme was designed from the outset to offer financial support and training opportunities to group leaders with less than four years’ experience leading a laboratory. The intention was to support both excellence and maintain a healthy geographic distribution. The scheme was first proposed to the EMBO Council in 1998, who, receiving it favorably, officially accepted it a year later and established a working group with the support of all participating countries. Council subsequently established a selection committee and carried out its first round of selections in 2001, accepting 23 candidates.
The primary allure of the program to applicants seemed from the beginning to be the Networking opportunities. The YIP program offered participants the opportunity to present their work and meet their peers at yearly meetings, access to EMBL core facilities, mentoring opportunities, and even courses for PHD students at participants’ laboratories.
In 2005 these networking opportunities expanded to include Laboratory Management Courses (now [Lab Leadership Courses]), designed to empower YIPs with skills in everything from project management to managing laboratory groups.
In 2008 the program created the Special Development Installation Grant. These were established as a Special Project of the EMBC for the purpose of supporting scientists in peripheral nations: The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, and were based on and replaced the EMBO/HHMI Startup Grants. Eligibility has since grown to include Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, and Türkiye.
By 2011, Council noted the strength of the project, highlighting the promotion of scientists engaging in novel research topics. Through the years the prestige of the award as well as the networking opportunities has provided the greatest motivation to applicants.. YIPs currently receive a financial award of 15,000 euros in their second year, and can also apply for additional small grants of up to 10,000 euros per year. There is currently a network of over 700 YIP alumni.
The Fund Committee was first appointed by council on May 8th 1965, in order to manage funds the organization were to receive from the Volkswagen Foundation in December of that year . The Purpose of the Fund Committee was to handle all classes of Fellowship appointments: short-term, long-term, and senior, as well as engaging in financial supervision of the EMBO program.
The purpose of short-term fellowships was to facilitate collaboration between different scientific institutions through the provision of funds for travel and subsistence, and to make these funding decisions within a very short timeframe. In the beginning, one of the most popular uses of these grants was to allow scientists from smaller institutions to have access to complex scientific equipment at larger ones, and the program was incredibly popular from the very beginning. These fellowships lasted up to 3 months.
Long-term fellowships were modeled after the American post-doctoral fellowships of the time, enabling young researchers to carry out in-depth research immediately following their PHDs in leading hubs of scientific activity, widening their experience, building relationships with other scientists, and improving the quality of their work. EMBO was keen to ensure the highest caliber of candidates and endeavored where possible to have a member of the committee interview the applicants. These fellowships lasted up to 2 years.
Senior Appointments (also known as visiting professorships and senior fellowships) were initially designed to fund scientists of a professorial rank to travel to other laboratories in to foster collaboration. In 1966, council expanded this idea to include scientists of any rank or experience who worked with new skills and techniques, or those at the forefront of novel research.
In 1997 the first EMBO Fellows meeting took place, giving Fellows the opportunity to network with their peers and EMBO staff, sharing their work and their experiences.
In 1999 a network of EMBO Fellows was created, with the intention of increasing participation in EMBO activities amongst fellows, especially in the nascent Science and Society Program.