Series 1 - Fellowships Committee

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.