ELIGIBILTY CRITERIA

Applicants Eligibility

For an applicant to be eligible for this Fellowship:
  • Must have been awarded a Ph.D. degree, within four calendar years - those applying for CALL 2027, must have received their Ph.D. after January 2023 inclusive;
  • Must expect to complete their Ph.D. before the start of their Fellowship, if Ph.D. is now awarded yet;
  • Must be ready to move to KAUST to undertake their proposed three-year research project*;
  • Must identify in the application at least one (up to three) potential KAUST faculty members whose research aligns with the proposed work.**

People of all nationalities are welcome to apply. We encourage female applications to promote a better gender balance in science and engineering.

*Candidates must satisfy all Kingdom of Saudi Arabia requirements to obtain resident status.

**Applications are shared with the named faculty for review; only faculty-supported applications advance to the full proposal stage. If you've already secured a host, are affiliated with KAUST, or are joining KAUST, name only that one faculty.

Proposal Eligibility

To be eligible for this Fellowship, the proposal should:
  • Focus on one or more of the KAUST research missions: Water, Food, Health, Energy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Red Sea;
  • Have an outline for a three-year duration;
  • Follow the budget and financial guidelines of the call;
  • Use the provided Call 2027 templates for the Concept Note and the Full Research Proposal (by invitation only)
  • Align with the programs of the KAUST academic divisions: 

Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE)

Biomedical Sciences Division (BioMed)

Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE)

Physical Science and Engineering (PSE)

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Call 2027 opens on 1 September 2026.

Stage 1 of the application process:

  • Submission of Concept Note is accepted from 1 September to 1 October 2026.
  • No Host PI letter is required at this stage. Must identify in the application form up to two KAUST Faculty members whose research aligns with the proposed work.

Stage 2 of the application process:

  • Applicants who receive Host PI support are invited to submit a full proposal.
  • Full proposals will be accepted from 15 November 2026 to 15 January 2027.

General guidelines:

  • Applications must be drafted in English using the provided templates and must be submitted via the online application form.
  • All applications need to be completed with all required documents to be eligible for review at the cut-off dates.
  • Applicants and their referees are required to sign up to the application platform to access the system and submit the required documents.

Required Documents

Before applying, download and carefully read the instructions, materials, and templates provided below:

      Application GuidelinesDownload
      Concept Note TemplateDownload

      Full Proposal Template (by invitation only)

      		Download
      Application Kit (All documents)Download

       

      The following documents must be uploaded and submitted with the online application form at Stage 1:

      • Most recent CV with full publications list (max 4 pages)
      • Up to two selective publications (attachments)
      • Concept note (template)
      • Two reference letters

      APPLICATION PROCESS

      KAUST-GLOBAL-FELLOWSHIP-timeline

      SELECTION PROCESS

      stages_website