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Call for Applications: LCEL Early Career Scholars Visiting Programme

  • Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL)
    10 October 2025
  • Category
    Research

Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) Early Career Scholars Visiting Programme

The promotion of research and academic exchange of early career scholars, and support in the advancement of their research activity, is an important part of the scholarly community that the LCEL is building. The Centre is particularly keen on supporting early career scholars who may benefit from the LCEL’s research environment, be it to conclude a manuscript, a PhD thesis, or an article, or refine the first ideas of a research project. The LCEL will provide access to exchanges with international colleagues working in areas related to the visitors’ fields of research, to library resources, and proximity to the EU institutions located in Luxembourg.

If funding from the host institution is not available, the LCEL offers a limited number of scholarships to facilitate research stays at the Centre for one to two months between January and July 2026. The scholarship includes a monthly allowance of up to €1,800 as reimbursement for daily expenses. In exceptional cases, and upon request, accommodation costs may also be reimbursed, up to a maximum of €1,200 for one month.

1. Eligibility

To be considered for the programme, applicants must be early career researchers (advanced PhD candidates, post-doctoral researchers, assistant professors or equivalent) working in the law of the European Union, which is the Centre’s primary focus. The Centre’s remit is a broad one, gravitating around the development of EU integration and the legal system and national laws relation to EU law.

Preference will be given to candidates coming before the end of the 2025–2026 academic year.

We particularly favour applications in the following areas:

  • EU constitutional law, judicial protection, and governance;
  • Geopolitics and the EU’s external relations, including CFSP, trade, and external dimensions of the internal market;
  • Nature and sustainability;
  • Regulation of digital markets and artificial intelligence;
  • Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and financial regulation.

Post-doctoral researchers and assistant professors or equivalent are expected to demonstrate a solid research track-record.
Proficiency in English is compulsory, but the call is open to early career scholars writing their work in languages other than English.
Scholars based in Luxembourg are not eligible.

2. Application

To apply, interested candidates meeting the requirements of the call must submit the following documents, in English:

  • a cover letter (max. 1 page), stating the motivation for their application, the correlation between the topic of their research and the Centre’s mission, and the desired time frame for the scholarship stay (between January 2026 and June 2026);
  • an up-to-date curriculum vitae, including publications;
  • a summary of the research project to be undertaken at the Centre (max. 2 pages), including subject, description and work plan;
  • two letters of recommendation (for PhD researchers, one of the letters must be from their supervisor);
  • where applicable, a letter from the institution of origin declaring lack of funding for the research stay; 
  • post-doctoral researchers and assistant professors or equivalent must include a copy of one of their publications.

3. Fellowship benefits

The selected applicants will be offered a workstation in the LCEL’s reading room. They will be an integral part of the Centre’s scholarly community and have the opportunity to access the Centre’s library, participate in the scholarly events hosted at the Centre, and interact with its researchers.

Funding may be available under the conditions indicated above.

The LCEL Library

The LCEL Library serves as a central hub for European law, fostering academic excellence in this interdisciplinary field.

4. Visitors activities

Visitors are expected to participate in the activities of the Centre, and present their work at the LCEL Exchange Forum. For longer research stays, and in line with the mission of the Centre to foster high-level research, visitors are expected to develop a substantial and publishable scholarly contribution as a result of their research stay. This will be presented at a public event of the Centre in the semester following their research stay.

The presence of funded visitors at the Centre during the funding period is compulsory.

5. Deadline and application process

Interested candidates are invited to apply by 30 October 2025 by submitting the required documents in English to:

6. Timeline

Applications will be reviewed promptly, and selection decisions will be announced by end of November 2025.

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