ISGlobal International PhD Fellowships Programme

in Global Health 2025

10 PhD scholarships available!

The ISGlobal PhD Programme brings together doctoral candidates from different health fields, and universities, to enjoy the added benefits of developing transdisciplinary research at our Institute.

Thanks to the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence Accreditation, in this call we offer up to 10 fellowships for national and international PhD students, who wish to undertake rigorous research training and complete a research project in the field of global health and population studies to make new contributions to the existing knowledge base.

Apply now to kick-start your scientific career at ISGlobal!

Select the research proposal you are interested in from the list of research proposals provided at the end of this call, section "PhD Research Proposals (10 PhD proposals)".

Eligibility Criteria

ISGlobal will recruit prospective doctoral candidates of any nationality, gender, culture, religion, sexual orientation or age to undertake a PhD in Global Health.

• Candidates can be of any nationality
• Candidates must have obtained a University Degree and a Master’s Degree in biomedicine, epidemiology, computer sciences, environmental sciences, biostatistics, or a related discipline within the European Higher Education Area (minimum 300 ECTS - European Credit Transfer System, of which at least 60 are at master’s level), or an equivalent University Degree that allows to start a PhD thesis in Spain by the fellowship starting date

  NOTE: each candidate will be assessed for eligibility on individual basis by the corresponding PhD programme following University admission criteria; each candidate will need to be admitted to a University PhD Programme by the fellowship starting date – University PhD programme admission will be managed after completion of the selection process

• Candidates must demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to pursuing a scientific research career with an interest in global health and population studies
• Candidates must have good command of English
• Candidates already holding a PhD are not eligible
• Candidates beneficiary of a PhD Fellowship by the Spanish Government are not eligible
• Candidates must not have held a PhD contract exceeding twelve months by the fellowship starting date. The months in which the candidate has enjoyed a predoctoral contract will be discounted.

How to Apply

Applicants must fill in the request form and attach the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae in English including the name of two reference contacts that could be contacted by ISGlobal during the selection process
• Motivation letter in English (1-page MAX, A4, Arial, size 11, single space), justifying the interest and suitability for the selected research proposal (see section “PhD Research Proposals (10 PhD proposals)” below).
• A scan of the student’s academic transcripts (degree and masters), showing grades obtained. If the academic transcripts are not in Catalan, Spanish or English, applicants should also attach a translation in one of the above-mentioned languages, and the grading system should be explained.

Please note that all documents must be in pdf format and each submitted document must be named as: CandidateSurname_CandidateName_filetype (e.g. Smith_John_cv, Smith_John_letter). Candidates must ensure that all required information is submitted before the application deadline of 01 March 2025. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

Conditions

• Number of offered PhD fellowships: 10.

  These fellowships are funded through the ISGlobal Centre of Excellence Severo Ochoa grant (CEX2023-0001290-S) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Spanish Research State Agency (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).

• PhD fellowships conditions
  Duration (years)

  4 years max^‡

  Expected remuneration*
  (annual gross salary)

  Y1-Y2 = 20.400€
  Y3-Y4 = 24.350€

  Expected starting date

  Sept-Dec 2025^§

  Dedication

  Full time

  Additional contribution

  6.860€^◊

  
  

  ^‡If the doctoral degree is obtained before the predoctoral fellowship ends, a Postdoctoral Orientation Period (POP) can be funded from the time the doctoral degree is obtained until the end of the predoctoral fellowship, with a maximum duration of 12 months (i.e. predoc contract + POP = max. 4 years in total).

  *As per ISGlobal’s salary scale and according to the grant CEX2023-0001290-S by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Please note that the final salary will be agreed upon candidate’s selection. The contract is linked to the registration to Social Security, a public system of protection against situations of illness, disability, unemployment, old age, accidents at work, maternity. This also gives access to a public health-care system that offers universal assistance to city residents. All these costs are covered by the employer institution, so the candidates do not need to pay for them.

  ^§The predoctoral fellowship necessarily starts on the 1st of the month. The exact date will be defined once the candidate has been selected.

  ^◊The predoctoral fellowship provides an amount of 6.860€ in total to support covering expenses derived from carrying out stays in other R&D centers and enrollment in a university PhD programme, according to what is established in the grant CEX2023-0001290-S by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The approximate distribution is:

  - Support for enrollment fee in doctoral studies: 1.600€ approx. in total (400€ approx. per year).

  - Support for a research stay: 5.260€ approx. The research stay needs to be agreed with the doctoral supervisor(s), and needs to take place throughout the duration of the predoctoral fellowship, with a minimum duration of 1 month. The research is aimed at completing and consolidating the research training and promoting the development of the doctoral thesis. The research stay needs to be carried out in an R&D center located in a different place from the centre where the PhD is carried out and different from the beneficiary’s place of origin. Provided support: support for expenses derived from lodging and meals, travel expenses, and medical and accident insurance abroad during the stay. Please note that expenses are limited by the Ministry (Decree 462 of the BOE) and vary according to the country of the stay.

Selection Process and Selection Criteria

All applications are reviewed by an ad hoc Internal Committee, with representative of Principal Investigators at ISGlobal with no conflict of interest.

Candidates are selected on the basis of academic excellence, performance in research, adequacy of candidate’s experience to the selected research proposal, and a commitment to pursuing a scientific research career with an interest in global health and population studies (see detailed selection criteria and subcriteria below). A good command of English is requested.

Selection criteria and subcriteria: 100 points in total

Criterion 1. Candidate’s academic and/or scientific-technical background (up to 50 points).

• Subcriterion 1.a): Scientific and technical contributions (up to 45 points). The academic and other curricular merits of the candidate will be assessed, as well their suitability for the duties to be performed in the doctoral study.
• Subcriterion 1.b): Mobility and internationalization (up to 5 points). The relevance and impact of the candidate's stays in national and international centres and/or in the industrial sector on his/her research career will be assessed, taking into account the prestige of the institution hosting the stay and the activity carried out there.

Criterion 2. Adequacy of candidate’s experience to the research activities to be conducted in the doctoral study (up to 50 points). The suitability of the candidate for the research activities to be carried out in the framework of the selected PhD research proposal will be assessed, on the basis of the candidate’s previous training and experience. For this, it will be taken into account the added value that carrying out the research activities will bring to the candidate’s career, as well as the added value the candidate will bring to the Centre and to the host research team.

Short-listed candidates will be invited for an online interview.

Selected candidates will be notified shortly after the interview period.

Applicants who have not been successful but have received a positive evaluation will be put on a waiting list to cover possible renunciations and for future positions.

Key Dates

Call opening: 30 January 2025

Call deadline: 1 March 2025, 17.00 CET

Notification to candidates: 30 April - 15 May 2025 approx.

Contact

For any additional information, please contact research.management@isglobal.org.

PhD Research Proposals (10 PhD proposals)

Please find the list of PhD research proposals HERE.

Select the research proposal you are interested in.

Should you wish to know more about a research proposal, you can contact the corresponding Supervisor/Co-Supervisor. 

Full text of the PhD call.