No, the Policy Leader Fellowship is a residential programme. You must reside in Florence for the whole duration of the fellowship.
Each year the Florence STG awards approximately twenty to twenty-five fellowships.
Work samples are not mandatory for the submission of an application. Candidates who have not produced any recent work samples could prepare an ad hoc writing sample in English on a topic of their choice, preferably in line with their policy interests, if they wish.
Yes, candidates may reapply to the programme if they wish.
Unfortunately, due to a high volume of applications, the EUI is not in a position to provide individual feedback to the applicants who have not been selected.
You may contact STG faculty or fellows if you have specific inquiries about their work area, however, given the high numbers of applicants, we cannot guarantee a timely response to all interested candidates. Therefore, the candidates are encouraged to do so only in very specific cases.
Given the nature of this fellowship, usually, the work plan of selected candidates is policy-oriented. If academic, or research-based, the plan has to show direct policy implications and/or generate evidence for applied policy decisions.
Candidates should have a minimum of ten years of relevant professional experience (including PhD and other fellowships). Candidates with strictly academic background are likely to be less successful given the scope of this fellowship.
There is no preference given based on the fellowship duration that the candidates have applied for. The candidates are selected based on their professional profile and various application components. The requested number of months (five or ten) should however be reasonable considering the fellowship work plan. The final cohort for each year is composed based on the funds’ availability.
A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required. A Ph.D. degree is not required.
There is no age recommendation or cut-off for this fellowship. In 2023, the average age of candidates is 39, ranging from 32 to 46 years. The STG does not have an age recommendation or preference.
No, academic/research/teaching experience is not necessary for the Policy Leader Fellowship. The call is for mid-career policy leaders, so it is expected that the applicants are experts in their policy field with some leadership experience and/or high potential. Candidates with a strictly academic background are likely to be less successful given the scope of this fellowship.
The structure of the fellowship programme includes both individual work and peer interactions as well as skills development and thematic workshops. The exact schedule will be made available to the accepted candidates. Please note that the fellowship is not a degree course nor requires a university course-type of work, however, the fellows can audit courses through the Florence STG, if they wish.
While each fellow works independently to achieve their own work plan, the fellowship programme also offers the opportunity for interdisciplinary discourses with peers at STG, the broader EUI community, and beyond to benefit the work of the fellows. The fellows are highly encouraged to meet colleagues, interact with members of the EUI community and beyond. Fellows are welcome to use the offerings of the institute or find their own ways of networking.
No, it is not possible to combine the fellowship with another job. The fellowship is a full-time and fully-funded programme, and successful applicants are expected to provide a statement from their current employer stating that they have taken leave for the whole duration of the programme (5 or 10 months).
Occasional remote consulting work is allowed as long as it does not interfere with the fellow's participation in the programme activities when required.
Each year, the Policy Leader fellows make use of the offerings of the EUI and not just the STG as much as possible, e.g. library use, open events, workshops, and training. The fellows can join the EUI interdisciplinary clusters and participate in activities at other EUI departments and centres.
No, all the information and documents must be submitted via the online application form. Applications received by email will not be considered.
Please follow these recommendations if you encounter issues with the applicant portal:
- Please use a PC and not a mobile device;
- Please use a web browser that is not Chrome, as the Chrome autofill can overwrite data on the form;
- Please try to use your web browser in incognito mode to ensure previously saved passwords or logins to other accounts will not affect accessing the application portal.
Please reset your password accessing the ‘Password forgotten?’ webpage.
Please note that each time you request a new password, the previous password will become invalid – please try to request it only one time and leave a little time for the new password email to arrive in your mailbox. If you have triggered the password reset several times, please use the password from the latest email only. Please make sure you try the new password in an incognito browser.
Please note that you cannot start or submit multiple applications for the same programme. If you see this error, then you already have an application for that programme (either submitted or draft). If your application is still in draft (with status ‘In progress’), you will need to continue editing and submit your existing application. To continue with an existing application:
- Log into your application account via eui.eu
- On your account home page, you will see all your applications listed.
To continue with the existing application, please click on “Details” link for the respective application.
If your referee has not received the automatic e-mail request, please ask them to check that it has not been stored as junk, and if problems persist, they can send the reference letter by e-mail to [email protected].
You can check the status of your reference by logging back into your application. References submitted by e-mail will be inserted as soon as possible during normal working hours and the status will then change to submitted.
Once your application has been successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email. In case you didn’t, please check that it has not been blocked by spam filters/stored as junk.
Programme content or structure
If you have any questions on the programme content or structure, please contact: [email protected]
Technical problems with your online application
Close to the deadline, we always receive a large number of applications and the system may temporarily be overloaded. If you encounter technical problems entering into or submitting your online application, please have some patience and try again. For technical queries, please access the portal and log the query via the ‘Help’ button. If you cannot access the portal at all, please email [email protected] explaining clearly the nature of the problem. Please include any screenshots of the errors you receive.