Postdoctoral Fellowship
Postdoctoral training and research at Stanford may be funded through a variety of sources. Most postdocs are funded through Research Grants, and many postdocs receive internally or externally (national and international) competitive fellowships. Postdocs may be funded through other external sources, such as salary continuation while on sabbaticals from current employers or through scholarships and fellowships from foreign governments or institutions.
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) manages four fellowship and travel grant programs at the School of Medicine. OPA is a partner with the Iraqi Women’s Fellowship Foundation in Science and Engineering and administers the program at Stanford. The Research Management Group at SoM maintains a comprehensive list of funding resources and links to the Community of Science searchable funding database. The School of Medicine is also home to several National Institute of Health Institutional Training Grants; interested postdocs apply directly through the appropriate training grant program in the department.
Check the side navigation bar on this page for Stanford fellowships in the different disciplines.
Additional Opportunities Outside Stanford: Several fellowship opportunities also exist outside of Stanford University.
Preparing a Fellowship Application: Fellowship applications made by postdocs at Stanford to external entities require an Institutional Representative. For postdocs in the School of Medicine, the Institutional Representative is the Research Management Group and for all other schools please contact the Office of Sponsored Research. Information about preparing fellowship applications may be found here. For a downloadable description of additional educational opportunites for Stanford postdocs that can be attached to an applicatoin, please click here.
Holders of MD degree or MD/PhD degrees are eligible to benefit from the Expanded Pilot PI Waiver to apply for R01-type grants that require Principal Investigator status at the School of Medicine. Contact the Research Management Group for more information and for the application process and deadlines.
Funding Guidelines:
Salary vs. Stipend: In some cases, it may be difficult to determine whether funding being provided to support a Postdoctoral Scholar should be treated as a fellowship or as a research grant/contract, i.e., as a sponsored research project. The differences between these two types of funding will affect how Stanford accounts for the money, whether PI status is necessary, and how indirect costs will be recovered. For more information to determine if the fund is considered a fellowship or a research grant/contract, please visit the Postdoctoral Fellowship Decision Model Web site.
Combination of Awards: In some cases, a postdoc may receive multiple fellowship awards that overlap in their funding periods. In order to accept both awards, each awarding agency must not have provisions disallowing the combination of its award with other funding during the award period unless it’s incidental or supplemental. Postdocs funded through a combination of awards are responsible for compliance with the policies of both awards. Departments may require the postdoc recipient to defer one of the awards, or may arrange redistribution of funding in order to extend the funding period of the postdoc. Department decisions should keep the best interest of the postdoc in mind. As is the case with student funding at Stanford, where a postdoc has multiple sources of funding, outside funds should be used before university funds.
Budgeting for a Postdoctoral Fellowship: Please review the Postdoc Guide for budgeting for your postdoctoral fellowship. This guide provides direction for postdocs applying to individual fellowships and who need to provide a budget to fund a postdoc appointment.
Disclaimer: This guide may not cover all required expenses depending on specific research needs and is intended for informational purposes only. The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs does not assume liability for specific requests. Please seek additional assistance from Department & Grant Administrators, Faculty Mentors, the Office of Sponsored Research (University) or Research Management Group (School Of Medicine), or other offices as necessary.