Supporting scientific talent
Industry partners directly foster the next generation of scientists by opening access to EMBL’s world-class conferences, courses, and research opportunities (Christian Boulin and Scientific visitor fellowships) for those who might otherwise be excluded. Since 2010, more than 4000 scientists from over 100 countries have received fellowships to attend EMBL Courses and Conferences training events.
Since 2015, scientists visiting EMBL core facilities continue to receive Christian Boulin fellowships, gaining hands-on experience, and connecting with leading experts in molecular life sciences. Since 2022, CPP member companies also support the Corporate Partnership Programme Scientific Visitor fellowships and enable excellent young researchers to access state-of-the-art technology platforms and research laboratories at all six EMBL sites. These fellowships are specifically aimed at those from countries seeking to build scientific expertise and promote the growth of their scientific communities.
Course and Conference fellowships
These conferences and courses enable scientists to communicate their latest research findings and to obtain hands-on training with state-of-the-art techniques and instruments.
“I meet a lot of new people here and then all the speakers advertise the open positions in their lab so you meet them in person, talk to them, understand, what exactly they are looking for as an early stage career researcher.”
“I have a lot of feedback about my current work, and I also have new perspectives from the field, and this is very important for me right now.”
“My visit to EMBL has given me the opportunity to discuss the ideas and my ongoing projects with world-class researchers. I will definitely share the knowledge and experience with my peers at my home country so that they can also improve their projects.”
Christian Boulin fellowships
Through the support of the EMBL CPP, young scientists receive financial assistance to visit EMBL and gain hands-on experience with the latest laboratory and computational methods. The Christian Boulin Fellowships, which fund training in EMBL’s Core Facilities, also help fulfil EMBL’s mission to transfer knowledge and technical know-how back to the scientists’ home institutions.
“I was awarded the Christian Boulin Fellowship, which covered my travel and accommodation expenses for my visit to the Electron Microscopy Core Facility (EMCF) at EMBL Heidelberg. During my stay, I received outstanding training from Dr. Paolo Ronchi, with the kind support of the entire EMCF team, led by Dr. Yannick Schwab. This experience has been a vital step in advancing my research skills and career, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity. I look forward to maintaining future collaborations with EMBL.”
“My time at EMBL in Heidelberg was nothing short of fantastic. Through Nuclera and the PEPCF team’s support, I was able to work on my proteins in ways I never thought possible. A science village par excellence nestled in montane forests: a uniquely inspiring atmosphere. Suffice it to say, I’m excited to keep in touch with EMBL for future collaborations.”
“I would like to thank the Corporate Partnership Programme for making my visit to EMBL possible. My research investigates how diatoms, microscopic algae vital to aquatic ecosystems, process DNA damage. To address this, I am using cooled microscopes at ALMF, which are essential for successful long-term imaging of these very small cells and their nuclei. The ALMF team has been really supportive, arranging training and microscope bookings in advance and continuing to provide expert help throughout my stay.”
Scientific visitor CPP fellowships
The EMBL Corporate Partnership Programme has prioritised the introduction of short-term fellowships amounting up to 4.000 EUR to enable junior level scientific visitors to carry out experimental projects with an EMBL host research group, thereby allowing them to build new networks and experience the international and interactive environment at EMBL, in addition to experiencing progress of their own research goals. These fellowships are run by the Scientific Visitor Programme office to provide logistic and organisational support to successful awardees before and during their stay.
“My time at EMBL in Kyung-Min Noh’s lab had a strong impact on my technical and professional development. I gained experience with advanced technologies that are difficult to access in my country and highly valuable for my PhD project. I also had the chance to collaborate with other researchers, contributing to projects, one of which led to a publication, and to build lasting professional relationships that I truly value.”
“Thanks to the EMBL-CPP fellowship, I could work in the protein families database (Pfam) at EMBL-EBI by establishing a mutual data enrichment workflow involving the database I developed: RepeatsDB. The experience was beneficial for both resources, as well as my career: my name was added among the authors of the Pfam paper. Moreover, the experience made me eager to return to EMBL-EBI, which I eventually did.”
“I’m Yifei Cai, an Associate Research Scientist in the Jaime Grutzendler Lab at Yale University. I’m truly grateful and honored to have received an EMBL CPP Fellowship, to visit Dr. Evangelia Petsalaki’s group. As a molecular and cellular neuroscientist, I had the opportunity to deeply immerse myself in the bioinformatics mindset and experience the highly collaborative, dynamic culture at EMBL-EBI. During my one-month visit, I completed two collaborative projects with Dr. Petsalaki’s group on cell–cell communication in the human brain and Alzheimer’s disease, both of which got published earlier this year. The visit also fostered new ideas and collaborations that we are actively pursuing. Beyond the research, I enjoyed the evergreen spring in Cambridge and the Wellcome Genome campus, shared enthusiastic and relaxing sports activities with colleagues outside the lab, and built friendships that span oceans. My EMBL CPP Fellowship at EBI is undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences of my academic journey.”
Social impact and industry interactions
Partner with EMBL to create meaningful social impact and advance your corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. Through CPP, your company can help inspire future scientists, support education and training at every career stage, and enable hands-on fellowships that drive research excellence and knowledge exchange across Europe and beyond.
Interact with EMBL scientists in multiple ways e.g. in scientific collaborations or as customers.
“From Nikon’s point of view, basic research around the world is becoming more and more dynamic in terms of cutting-edge research, applications and innovations, and we are delighted with this collaboration with EMBL which will enable us to anticipate future requirements and accelerate the delivery of key solutions to the research community to improve the quality of life.”
“The EMBL Industry Day is a great chance to talk with EMBL scientists again, some of whom I was already in touch with because they use our products.”