Quick Eligibility Checker
Choose a researcher path. Yes means you pass that published rule. This is a planning tool, not an official REA decision.
1. You will not hold a doctoral degree on the recruitment date?
2. You will be enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project?
3. You have not lived or worked in the recruiting country more than 12 of the 36 months before recruitment?
1. PhD awarded, or thesis successfully defended, by the call deadline?
2. No more than eight years of research experience since the PhD (after official exceptions)?
3. Mobility rule met for the host country (European) or outgoing-phase country (Global)?
4. If Global PF: you are an EU/Associated national or long-term resident? (European PF: answer Yes)
5. You are not blocked by the 2026 resubmission rule (previous comparable score was not below 80%)?
You meet these published cutoffs
Confirm the current wording on the official action page, then open how to apply.
You may not be eligible on these rules
One or more official conditions may fail. Read the action pages and the Work Programme before you write a proposal.
Planning tool only. REA and external experts apply the full call text.
Doctoral Network fellow vs Postdoctoral fellow
Nationality is not a hard bar for Doctoral Networks or for European Postdoctoral Fellowships. Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are the exception. The mobility rule is the filter most people miss.
Doctoral Networks (researcher)
- No doctoral degree at the date of recruitment
- Any nationality
- Enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project
- Mobility: not more than 12 months in the recruiting country in the 36 months before recruitment
- Industrial Doctorates: at least 50% of time outside academia
Source: official Doctoral Networks page, updated 10 August 2026.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
- PhD at the deadline, or successful defence without the diploma yet
- Maximum eight years of research experience from the PhD award date
- Years outside research, career breaks, and (for reintegration) research in third countries do not count toward that cap
- Mobility: not more than 12 months in the host country (European) or outgoing-phase country (Global) in the 36 months before the deadline
- From 2026: resubmission restriction if the previous comparable score was below 80%
Source: official Postdoctoral Fellowships page, updated 14 April 2026.
The mobility rule in one sentence
You must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, and similar) in the relevant country for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the reference date — recruitment for Doctoral Networks, the call deadline for Postdoctoral Fellowships.
That country is the recruiting organisation’s country (DN and European PF) or the outgoing-phase host country (Global PF). Short stays do not automatically reset the clock. Count months carefully and keep evidence.
Who this is not for
Use REA’s 8-year self-assessment tools for Postdoctoral Fellowships. Confirm associated-country status on the Horizon Europe participating-countries list, not on a blog.