HOW TO APPLY

ELIGIBILTY CRITERIA

Must have been awarded a Ph.D. degree, within four calendar years (i.e., those applying in January 2027, must have received their Ph.D. after January 2023 inclusive);
Must expect to complete their Ph.D. before the start of their Fellowship;
Must be ready to move to KAUST to undertake their proposed three-year research project*;
Must identify in the application up to two KAUST faculty members whose research aligns with the proposed work. (Securing the support of a Host PI from among these faculty members is required at a later stage in order to be invited to submit a full proposal.)

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.

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 Letter of Intent and the Full Research Proposal (by invitation only)
Align with the programs of the KAUST academic divisions: Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE), Physical Science and Engineering (PSE), and Biomedical Sciences Division (BioMed).

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.

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.

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

Application Guidelines
Concept Note Template
Full Proposal Template
Application Kit [All documents]

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