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ERS Clinical Training Fellowships

European Respiratory Society

European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Training Fellowships offer early career clinicians the chance to train at an institution outside of their home country for between 1–6 months. The programme aims to enable fellows to learn skills or procedures that are not available at their home institution, supporting the exchange of knowledge and best practices across institutes. This programme is not for research projects. For research projects, please consider exploring the Short-Term Research Fellowships or Long-Term Research Fellowships programmes instead.

Key deadlines and important information

Applications for the ERS Clinical Training Fellowship are currently open. For information on calls, please refer to the information below.

Call opening:

1 August, 2026

Application deadline:

1 October, 2026

Notification of application decision:

Mid-February, 2027

Selecting a host institution

In the quest for potential training institutions, the Web Host Registry proved invaluable for ERS fellowship applicants facilitating the identification of potential host institutions. However, please note that the Web Host Registry, initially designed for RESPIRE4, might not perfectly align with the requirements of the Clinical Training Fellowship programme. It is imperative to understand that the responsibility for identifying the most suitable institution and supervisor for the application rests entirely with the applicant. In all instances, the choice of the host institution remains the candidate’s prerogative.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Strong relevance to respiratory research ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the highest-priority factor.

Competitive projects should clearly address:

Respiratory diseases
Pulmonary medicine
Lung biology
Respiratory physiology
Sleep and breathing disorders
Respiratory infections
Asthma/COPD
Interstitial lung disease
Pulmonary vascular disease
Thoracic medicine
Respiratory epidemiology
Respiratory public health

ERS explicitly lists relevance of the topic to respiratory research as a scored criterion.

2. Potential impact on patients and respiratory medicine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ERS evaluates the potential impact of the proposed research, including:

Patient-related outcomes
Translational potential
Policy-making
Clinical practice
Healthcare delivery

Therefore, a strong proposal should clearly explain why the research matters and how successful results could improve respiratory health.

3. Novelty and innovation ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Innovation is an explicit ERS scoring criterion.

Competitive proposals should demonstrate:

Original research questions
Novel hypotheses
New methodologies
Innovative technologies
New approaches to respiratory disease
Potential to challenge existing knowledge

A proposal should make clear what is genuinely new rather than simply applying established methods to a familiar question.

4. Strong methodology and research design ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ERS specifically evaluates:

Adequacy of approach
Methodology
Work plan
Feasibility
Quality of study design
Backup/contingency plan

A strong application therefore needs a technically convincing methodology and should anticipate potential problems rather than presenting an overly optimistic plan.

5. Strong applicant scientific record ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The applicant accounts for 40% of the fellowship assessment, making this nearly as important as the research project itself.

ERS considers:

CV quality
Publications
Previous grants
Scientific presentations
Overall ability to successfully conduct the project
Research potential

This means the application should present a coherent trajectory showing that the applicant is ready to undertake the proposed work.

6. Strong career-development plan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ERS fellowships are designed not merely to fund a research project but to develop the next generation of respiratory researchers and clinicians.

A competitive career plan should show:

Skills the applicant will gain
New techniques to be learned
How the fellowship fills a current training gap
How the experience advances scientific independence
Long-term career objectives

ERS explicitly scores the quality and feasibility of the career-development plan.

7. Strong host institution and supervisor ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For research fellowships, the host environment contributes 10% of the overall evaluation.

Important factors include:

Scientific expertise of the host institution
Technical capabilities
Appropriate supervisor
Access to methods/equipment unavailable at the home institution
Interaction with other researchers
Opportunity to develop new international collaborations

The Long-Term Research Fellowship specifically enables researchers to work at institutions outside their home country to gain research techniques and expertise unavailable at their home institution.

8. International collaboration and networking ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

ERS places significant emphasis on mobility and international collaboration.

Strong applications demonstrate how the fellowship will:

Establish new international collaborations
Provide access to specialist expertise
Expand the applicant's professional network
Facilitate future collaborative research
Create opportunities for knowledge exchange

ERS specifically considers the potential for the fellowship to create new international collaborations.

9. Ethics, dissemination and outreach ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

The research plan should address:

Ethical approvals
Participant protection
Appropriate animal-research principles where applicable
Dissemination of findings
Scientific communication
Outreach

ERS explicitly includes ethical processes and a dissemination and outreach plan among its research-project criteria.

10. Clear application strategy and exact programme fit ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

ERS has several different funding mechanisms, so applicants should select the programme that matches their career stage and research objective.

For example:

Short-Term Research Fellowship: 1–3 months
Long-Term Research Fellowship: 6–24 months
Clinical Training Fellowship: 1–6 months
VISIT Grant: up to 1 month
Clinical Research Collaboration: collaborative respiratory research networks

The current ERS portfolio explicitly differentiates these programmes by duration, applicant profile, mobility, and purpose.

Specialties

Pulmonology

Eligibility Requirements

a. CTF October 2026: The application deadline is Thursday, 1 October 2026 at 23:59 pm CEST. ERS will notify successful applicants mid-February 2027. CTF can start from 1 March 2027. CTF must begin no later than 29 February 2028. If the fellowship is not started within this timeframe, ERS maintains the right to revoke the fellowship.

b. CTF duration is between 1 and 6 months maximum.

c. Between the notification date and the start of the CTF, successful applicants should complete travel, visa, passport, housing formalities, insurances, etc. To achieve this, they should engage with their host and home institutions and related authorities ahead of time. Failure to fulfill these requirements within the specified timeframe may result in the cancellation of the fellowship.

d. The fellowship is to be carried out on a full-time basis (100%), requiring the fellowship recipient complete dedication to the clinical training. The fellowship cannot be split into separate periods. The fellowship requires physical presence at the host institution. Working from home country is forbidden.

e. Should applicants be potentially interested in working part-time for family or personal reasons, this will need to be requested upfront and agreed with the host institution and ERS. If approved, all the allowances will be calculated pro-rata (30-day month). Kindly note that it may not always be feasible to have such arrangements and applicants must ensure that by working part-time they will be eligible for a visa for the duration of their fellowship in the selected host country.

Academic qualifications

a. Applicants should be actively engaged or must have experience in the respiratory field.

b. Applicants must be qualified clinicians or healthcare professionals working in respiratory health/medicine (nurses, physiotherapists, respiratory function technologists, allied respiratory professionals, etc.). At a minimum, applicants should hold a MD, MSc or equivalent degree at the time of application.

c. Applicants should have adequate fluency in the language spoken at the host institution.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: European Respiratory Society

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 4 Avenue Ste-Luce CH1003

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