Stays Abroad
Every year, we support up to two young scientists through a one-year stipend to cover a research stay abroad at their dream institution.
World-renowned universities such as Columbia University in New York, MIT in Boston and Stanford in California. These and many other top institutions are the places that our stipend holders have travelled to for their research stays abroad. The Experientia Foundation’s annual stipend competition is open to young chemists who have completed or are close to completing their PhD studies and are under the age of 35. “The choice of university and supervisor is entirely up to the candidates themselves. However, we are happy to see them aiming as high as possible,” says Hana Dvořáková, founder of the Experientia Foundation. The outcome of the competition is decided based on the merit of the candidates’ projects, which is evaluated by independent professional experts and the Foundation’s Grant Committee.
How it works
You can apply for the scholarship in you are under 35 years old, have completed or will soon complete your Ph.D. studies, and your research is in organic, bioorganic or medicinal chemistry.
Original project
Come up with an original project in organic, bioorganic or medicinal chemistry. (For an initial project idea, please consult with us at experientia@experientia.cz.)
Choosing a foreign university
Approach your dream university abroad where you plan to travel for your internship. (Do not be afraid to aim as high as possible, reviewers also evaluate the prestige of the foreign lab).
Submitting your application
Submit your application for a grant no later than 15 March (see below for details).
The application includes and introduction to your project, structured CV, letter of invitation from the foreign university and estimated budget. In addition, it is necessary to secure a letter of reccomendation from your educational supervisor, who sends it directly to the foundation at experientia@experientia.cz until 15 March.
Detailed instructions (Checklist) including all templates can be found in the Downloads section.
Submit the complete written application, including all of the required attachments, by 15 March of the relevant year by email (as a PDF file) to the address experientia@experientia.cz. You will receive an email from us confirming receipt of your application and we will confirm receipt of recommendation letter of your supervisor, too.
In addition to looking at your study and professional results to date, we will assess chiefly the quality and originality of your project, as well as the scientific excellence of the workplace at the host institution of your choice. Your application will be assessed by at least three independent experts and by the Experientia Foundation’s Grant Committee. The selected candidates will be invited to present their projects at a joint meeting of the Grant Committee and the Board of Trustees.
If you are invited to present your project at a joint meeting of the Grant Committee and the Board of Trustees (usually held at the end of May), this means you have advanced to the second round of the competition. You can choose presenting in person or online. You should send your project presentations (in ppt/pdf format) to the email experientia@experientia.cz no later than 2 days prior to the date of the meeting, confirming at the same time whether you will be attending in person or online. The expected length of your presentation is 5 minutes max. You should also be prepared to discuss your project briefly with the members of the Grant Committee and the Board.
A final decision will be made by no later than 30 June of the relevant year.
If our decision regarding your application is positive, we will conclude an Experientia Grant Award Agreement with you.
You will receive the grant in four installments as follows:
- The first installment, equal to 10% of the total grant amount, will be paid within ten days of the date the Experientia Grant Award Agreement is signed, no earlier than two months before the start day of your research stay.
- The second installment, equal to 40% of the total grant amount, will be paid within ten days of the start date of your research stay.
- The third installment, equal to 45% of the total grant amount, will be paid within ten days of the date on which your regular written report is approved by the Experientia Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
- The fourth and last installment, equal to the remaining 5% of the total grant amount, will be paid within ten days of the date on which your final written report is approved by the Experientia Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
- You are obliged to send us a progress reportafter the first six months of your research stay.
- You are obliged to send us a final report within three months of the end of your year-long research stay. Both written reports must be confirmed by your host at the foreign institution.(For a detailed specification of the progress and final report, please refer to the current rules available on the website under Downloads).
- You are also obliged to specify the support of the Experientia Foundation in all published materials originating as a result of your research stay. (Detailed wording can be found in the current rules available on the website in the Downloads section and in the contract).
- You will prepare a presentation about your project at the conference “Advances in Organic, Bioorganic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry – “Liblice”.
If you intend to extend your internship at given workplace, we recommend that you apply for other sources of funding during your internship abroad. In the event that you receive another source of funding during your internship abroad, you may use the unused funds after the end of another source of funding. In such a case, you should contact us and arrange an individual plan.
For young scientists who have been on parental leave, we deduct 1.5 years from the age of 35 for each child.
Downloads:
Our Scholars:
2024 Václav Chmela:
University of Chicago, USA
2024 Zuzana Osifová:
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
2023 Karolína Vaňková:
University of Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
2023 Dominik Madea:
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
2022 Anna Poryvai:
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
2022 Michal Šimek:
University of California, Los Angeles, USA
2021 Soňa Krajčovičová:
University of Cambridge, UK
2021 Athanasios Markos:
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2020 Lenka Štacková:
University of Zurich, Switzerland
2020 Ondřej Kováč:
University of Innsbruck, Austria
2019 Eva Bednářová:
Columbia University, NY, USA
2019 Rafael Navrátil:
Scripps Research Institute, CA, USA
2018 Lukáš Maier:
University of Innsbruck, Austria
2017 Václav Havel:
Columbia University, NY, USA
2017 Petr Slavík:
University of York, UK
2016 Andrej Jančařík:
National Centre for Scientific Research, France
2016 Tomáš Slanina:
Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2015 Vojtěch Kapras:
University of British Columbia, Canada
2015 Jiří Šturala:
Durham University, UK
2014 Vladislav Kotek:
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
2014 Tomáš Šolomek:
Universität Basel, Switzerland
2013 Filip Hessler:
Standford University, California, USA
2013 Jakub Hývl:
MIT, USA
What they said about us
“Thanks to the Cool Chemistry program, I have let my students see the mystery and beauty of chemistry, hidden in everyday parts of our lives.”
Mgr. Veronika Fialová
“To me, Yale symbolizes prestige. It’s one of the world’s leading universities. And thanks to the Experientia Foundation, I will now be able to spend a whole year there.”
Ing. Karolína Vaňková, Ph.D.
“Thanks to the Experientia Foundation grant, I have been able to work in one of the most advanced workplaces in Japan, with a team from all over the world.”
Mgr. Dominik Madea, Ph.D.
“I am delighted to be able to fulfil the underlying aim of the Experientia Foundation – bringing back experience and interesting topics from abroad and using them within Czech science.”
Mgr. Ondřej Kováč, Ph.D.