Funding Instruments
The IAS – Luxembourg will achieve its missions through four strategic funding instruments:
Distinguished
Description: The aim of the instrument Distinguished is to enable and encourage research groups of the University of Luxembourg to engage with distinguished international scientists, but also wider personalities, including policy makers, and representatives of the arts, government or industry. Distinguished fellows will strengthen university’s activities and reinforce the development of new ideas in research and innovation, teaching approaches and for addressing global challenges, thereby enriching Luxembourg’s academic and intellectual environment. In order to ensure that a wide cross-section of the University community as well as Luxembourg society benefits from the impact of the visit, IAS Visiting Fellows will take part in activities such as: (i) conducting interdisciplinary research, including the preparation of research projects and proposals with members of the University of Luxembourg (ii) training events targeted at early career scholars, (iii) public events to engage society, together with the Uni.lu community and other IAS visiting fellows, (iv) and, where appropriate, in teaching activities.
Selection principles: Applicants to the “Distinguished” fellowship will be assessed by the College of the IAS fellows. The duration of stay can be from a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 3 months. The selection is based on the quality of the applicant and their fit with the host research group at the University of Luxembourg.
Audacity
Description: The aim of the instrument Audacity is to enable audacious interdisciplinary research, breaking the barriers between scientific disciplines and sectors, and fostering increased collaboration at the University of Luxembourg. The projects are expected to be at the forefront of science and to have a distinctly bold and audacious character with a high element of risk. The projects can act as preliminary studies thereby enabling and reinforcing later submissions to external funding instruments used by Uni.lu such as FNR, Horizon Europe, ERC, ESA etc. Securing such follow-up funding will be considered as a success measure of the Audacity instrument.
Selection principles: The IAS will open a yearly call for projects with a maximum lifespan of 4 years. The Scientific Council of the IAS, composed of Uni.lu-internal and Uni.lu-external experts, will select the project proposals after oral presentations by the applicants potentially supported in their task by international experts. The presentations will be open to the Uni.lu community, thereby making the selection process an open scientific event of the Uni.lu. The selection criteria are the excellence, audacious character and interdisciplinarity of the submitted projects.
Young Academics
Description: The instrument Young Academics aims to attract outstanding PhD candidates and Post-doctoral researchers, who wish to conduct their interdisciplinary research in a consortium grouping distinct Uni.lu’s departments (faculties), research groups (ICs), or entities. Their interdisciplinary project would be run under the responsibility of two academic staff holding Thesis supervision rights. This instrument contributes to positioning Uni.lu as the place to be for interdisciplinary research, and as an attractive employer with appealing working conditions. For their career development, the selected Young Academics will benefit from schemes such as the University of Luxembourg Leadership Academy (ULLA), a catalogue of interdisciplinary and short courses or lectures in transversal skills.
Selection principles: Applicants to “Young Academics” will be selected by the Scientific Council of the IAS, potentially supported in their task by international experts. The selection criteria are excellence of the candidate and the quality of an interdisciplinary project. Professors affiliated to the University of Luxembourg (in the sense of Professeurs affiliés, Law on the organisation of the University, Art. 28) are eligible to co-supervise Young Academics of the IAS with Uni.lu ADR-holders, under the conditions that the doctoral position is co-funded by, and contracted with, their respective institution. Young Academics co-supervised by an Affiliate Professor will undergo the same selection process and will integrate the community of doctoral candidates of the IAS – Luxembourg.
Brainstorm
Description: The IAS will support these small-size brainstorm meetings (minimum 5 and maximum 15 people all together incl. Coord-PIs) considered as the ideal forum for exchanges on emerging research reflexion, often covering more than one discipline or sector. These workshops, organised by a member of the Uni.lu or an IAS – Luxembourg DISTINGUISHED Visiting Fellow, are expected to bring together a select group of international and Uni.lu scientists, to discuss the latest pre-publication research and innovation at the edge of the concerned field. Targeted participants include international experts, Uni.lu researchers including Uni.lu Doctoral or Post-doctoral researchers and YOUNG ACADEMICS from the IAS. Junior participants will gain new understanding of emerging fields through dialogue with more senior experts. The BRAINSTORM workshops are expected to lead to new research projects, initiatives, networks or short position/white papers published internationally, further increasing Uni.lu’s visibility.
Selection principles: Applications to the Brainstorm workshops will be assessed by the College of IAS fellows. The selection is based on the quality of the Brainstorm idea, the international recognition of the participants, and the potential to lead to new ideas and initiates.
Activity overview
| Audacity | Distinguished | Brainstorm | Young Academics | Young International Academics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | |||||
| 2024 | 6 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2023 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| 2022 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2021 | 2 | 10 | |||
| 2020 | 6 | ||||
| 2019 | 4 |
Call schedule 2025
Distinguished & Brainstorm (open to researchers from the University of Luxembourg):
1 April 2025: Call opening
6 June 2025: Institutional Validation
13 June 2025: Deadline for project proposals submission
19 September 2025: Selection Committee Meeting (no pitch)
End-September 2025: Communication of results to PIs
Audacity (open to researchers from the University of Luxembourg):
1 June 2025: Call opening
12 September 2025: Institutional Validation
19 September 2025: Deadline for project proposals submission
27 November 2025: Selection Committee Meeting (pitch)
Mid-December 2025: Communication of results to PIs
Postdoctoral Exchange Programme with IAS Warwick (open to researchers from the University of Luxembourg):
1 October 2025: Call opening
15 December 2025: Deadline for project proposals submission
23 March 2026: Selection Committee Meeting
Mid-April 2026: Communication of results to PIs
Young Academics for postdoctoral candidates (open to all eligible candidates):
More information will be available online in 2025.
Fellowship & affiliation
Fellowship policy
The Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of Luxembourg fosters top-level research by sponsoring and recruiting talented fellows through its various funding instruments:
- Doctoral Fellows: through the Young Academics scheme, successful applicants are offered a 48-month doctoral fellowship programme, see Funding Instruments.
- Postdoctoral Fellows: The Young International Academics (YIA) Postdoctoral Programme is a career development programme hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies Luxembourg (IAS) of the University of Luxembourg (Uni.lu), co-funded by a MSCA COFUND grant, to nurture early-career postdoctoral researchers to gain momentum in interdisciplinary research. YIA candidates are international talents holding a recent doctoral degree and willing to propose and realise their own interdisciplinary research projects through a bottom-up approach. In 2024, YIA welcomed ten postdoctoral fellows with individual fellowships of 36 months each. Visit the dedicated website.
- Senior Fellows: DISTINGUISHED fellows will strengthen Uni.lu’s activities and reinforce the development of new ideas in research and innovation, teaching approaches and for addressing global challenges, thereby enriching Luxembourg’s academic and intellectual environment. Funding can be requested for visits of a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 3 months. See Funding Instruments.
These funding instruments are part of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of Luxembourg and have the objective to leverage bold and interdisciplinary projects at the very forefront of science, to break the walls between scientific disciplines and sectors, and to foster collaboration at the University. The conditions for applying to these international, open and competitive calls can be found in the Documents section.
Affiliation and acknowledgement
PIs and anyone employed on an IAS funded project shall name the IAS as their secondary affiliation (in addition to their primary Uni.lu department or research unit affiliation) on any publications and other scientific outputs accruing from an IAS funded project.
Address to be used:
Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Luxembourg, Campus Belval, L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Publications and any other communication materials generated by an IAS funding instrument must acknowledge the financial support from the IAS in the following form:
Author X acknowledges financial support of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of Luxembourg through a “Name of the funding instrument (please select between Audacity, Brainstorm, Distinguished or Young Academics)” grant (Year)