Applications are open for the C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027, offering 13 funded research positions in Belgium and Finland through the first call of the Cleantech4Wallonia/Vaasa programme. Jointly organised by the University of Mons (UMONS) and the University of Vaasa (UVAASA), the fellowships provide a €5,215 gross monthly salary, a €500 monthly mobility allowance, and an additional €350 monthly family allowance for eligible researchers. Each position lasts 30 months and includes research funding, professional training, and an international or intersectoral secondment.
Applications are open to PhD holders of all nationalities, with no age limit or maximum postdoctoral experience restriction. Applicants must satisfy the mobility rule for their chosen host country. The application deadline is 5 February 2027 at 16:00 Brussels time (CET). C4W will fund 25 fellowships across two competitive calls.
C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027: Quick Overview
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Programme | Cleantech4Wallonia/Vaasa (C4W) |
| Funding scheme | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND |
| Host institutions | University of Mons and University of Vaasa |
| Countries | Belgium and Finland |
| Total fellowships | 25 across two calls |
| First-call fellowships | Up to 13 |
| Duration | 30 months |
| Monthly gross salary | €5,215 |
| Mobility allowance | €500/month, net |
| Family allowance | €350/month, net, if eligible |
| Eligible nationalities | All nationalities |
| Application deadline | 5 February 2027, 16:00 CET |
| Expected start | July–September 2027 |
| Application status | Open |
The programme is co-funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101261746.
What Research Areas Are Available?
C4W supports researcher-led projects addressing environmental challenges through clean technologies, sustainable processes, and innovation.
Applicants can develop proposals within three broad research areas.
1. Energy transition
Research may cover renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, energy efficiency, smart grids, industrial decarbonisation, and low-carbon heating technologies.
2. Sustainable resource management
Relevant topics include recycling, waste management, circular economy systems, sustainable materials, green chemistry, biotechnology, water management, and pollution reduction.
3. Transforming economic and social sectors
This area includes sustainable mobility, buildings, industrial processes, agriculture, food systems, responsible digital technologies, and the social dimensions of environmental transitions.
Researchers from engineering, natural sciences, economics, social sciences, and related disciplines may apply, provided their proposals clearly address the programme’s cleantech objectives.
Applicants have considerable freedom to develop their own research topics. However, the project must fit the expertise and available infrastructure of the selected host research group.
Applicants developing their own research ideas can consult our research proposal writing guide, which explains how to identify research gaps, formulate research questions, select suitable methods, and prepare a realistic timeline. Although its examples focus on PhD proposals, the same planning principles apply to postdoctoral projects. C4W applicants must follow the programme’s mandatory proposal template and evaluation criteria.
Who Is Eligible for the C4W Fellowships?
The programme accepts applications from researchers worldwide, including those outside the European Union.
To qualify, applicants must:
- Hold a doctoral degree by 5 February 2027.
- Be fluent in English.
- Meet the MSCA mobility rule for their chosen host country.
- Propose a 30-month research project within the cleantech domain.
- Include a compulsory secondment lasting three to six months.
- Comply with the programme’s ethics requirements and MSCA Green Charter recommendations.
There is no age limit or maximum number of years of postdoctoral research experience.
Applicants who have successfully defended their PhD but have not received their diploma may submit an official statement confirming that the degree has been unconditionally awarded.
Understanding the mobility rule
The mobility requirement depends on the country where your selected Principal Investigator (PI) is based.
For a fellowship at UMONS, you must not have lived or carried out your main activity in Belgium for more than 12 months between 5 February 2024 and 5 February 2027.
For a fellowship at UVAASA, the same restriction applies to Finland.
This distinction matters. A researcher who has spent two years working in Belgium may still qualify for a fellowship in Finland, provided they satisfy the Finnish mobility requirement.
Short stays such as holidays are excluded from the calculation. The official guide also provides specific exclusions relating to refugee-status procedures.
Is relocation compulsory? Yes. Selected fellows must relocate to Belgium or Finland for their fellowship. C4W is not advertised as a fully remote research position, although approved research visits and secondments may take place elsewhere.
Researchers considering other postdoctoral opportunities in Belgium can also explore the TOGAS Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027 at the University of Antwerp. TOGAS offers five positions under a different MSCA-supported scheme, with applications closing on 8 February 2027. Its research experience restrictions, mobility requirements, and selection process differ from those of C4W.
C4W Fellowship Salary and Funding Benefits
Selected researchers receive a 30-month, full-time employment contract from their recruiting university.
The funding package includes:
| Benefit | Amount or provision |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | €5,215 per month |
| Mobility allowance | €500 per month, net |
| Family allowance | €350 per month, net, if eligible |
| Research budget | €15,000 per fellowship |
| Travel budget | €3,000 per fellowship |
| External training budget | €2,800 per fellowship |
| Annual paid leave | 25 days in Belgium or 30 days in Finland |
The €5,215 monthly figure is the programme’s published gross salary, not a guaranteed take-home amount. The EURAXESS advertisement also describes this figure as including employer and employee contributions. Applicants should therefore request an individual salary breakdown from their prospective employer to confirm the contractual gross pay, statutory deductions, and estimated net income in Belgium or Finland.
The €500 mobility allowance and, where eligible, €350 family allowance are separately identified as net allowances in the official C4W applicant guide.
The research, travel, and external training budgets support approved professional activities. They are not additional personal income.
Fellows also receive applicable social security coverage, career development support, and access to research facilities.
Research training and industry experience
Every fellow must complete a three-to-six-month secondment, normally between months 6 and 24 of the fellowship.
The placement may take place at an academic or non-academic organisation and should provide interdisciplinary or intersectoral experience.
The programme also offers entrepreneurship training, professional development, and support for translating research findings into practical applications. Its wider entrepreneurship pathway includes potential seed funding of up to €10,000 for eligible spin-off ideas, rather than a guaranteed payment to every fellow.
Researchers exploring additional MSCA COFUND opportunities can also consider the AToUT Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 in France. The programme offers 15 funded research positions at the University of Toulouse, with a 24-month contract and a minimum gross salary of €3,393.58 per month. Applications close on 26 February 2027, and applicants must satisfy AToUT’s separate eligibility and mobility requirements.
Required Documents for the C4W Application
Applicants must prepare the following information and documents:
- PhD diploma or official defence statement: Evidence that the doctoral degree has been unconditionally awarded.
- Research proposal: A maximum of 10 pages, excluding the cover page, using the mandatory C4W template.
- Curriculum vitae: A detailed CV with a complete publication list, following the template provided.
- Mobility history: Details of residence and main activities between 5 February 2024 and 5 February 2027.
- Supervisor information: Details of the selected PI and Co-PI.
- Secondment information: The proposed host organisation and secondment supervisor.
- Ethics self-assessment: Disclosure and explanation of relevant ethical issues.
Recommendation letters are not required for the C4W application. The programme requires applicants to be fluent in English, but its published application document list does not specify a compulsory IELTS or TOEFL certificate or minimum test score. Applicants should still be prepared to communicate their research clearly in English, including during the selection interview.
Your academic CV should clearly document your research experience, publications, technical expertise, and relevant achievements. Our academic CV writing guide for Master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral applications includes practical examples. For C4W, use the CV format included in the official research proposal template rather than submitting a general CV layout.
The online form also requires a research abstract of no more than 1,000 characters, five to seven keywords, and a short explanation of the project’s proposed breakthrough and environmental impact.
All uploaded documents must be PDFs. The proposal’s formatting requirements are compulsory, and proposals exceeding the 10-page limit are ineligible.
Applicants using generative AI tools must disclose their use on the proposal cover page and remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, and references of the submitted work.
Before uploading your proposal, check the mandatory template’s font, margins, spacing, and page-limit instructions. A research proposal exceeding 10 pages, excluding the cover page, is declared ineligible.
The five to seven research keywords entered in the online application also deserve attention. C4W uses these keywords to help assign appropriate external evaluators. Choose terms that accurately represent your project’s scientific methods and subject area rather than broad environmental terms alone.
How Are C4W Fellowship Applications Evaluated?
C4W uses external peer review, an ethics assessment where required, and an interview.
The official evaluation criteria are:
| Criterion | Weight | Minimum score |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific excellence | 40% | 4.0/5 |
| Impact | 40% | 3.5/5 |
| Implementation | 20% | 3.5/5 |
Scientific excellence considers research novelty, methodological quality, cleantech relevance, secondment design, and the applicant’s research record.
Impact examines career development, scientific and societal contributions, knowledge transfer, commercialisation potential, and dissemination.
Implementation assesses the work plan, available resources, feasibility, and risk management.
Each criterion has a minimum threshold. A proposal scoring below any one of these thresholds cannot receive funding, even if its overall score is strong.
The 25 highest-ranked eligible proposals meeting the thresholds are shortlisted for interviews. Each interview lasts 20 minutes, including a five-minute presentation and 15 minutes of questions.
The final score combines the written proposal assessment (80%) and interview (20%). Up to 13 fellowships will be awarded in the first call.
Careers Help Desk Counter Angle: Choosing the Right Supervisor Can Determine Your Eligibility
One of the most important decisions in a C4W application happens before you begin writing your proposal: selecting your Principal Investigator.
Your PI determines which university recruits you and, therefore, whether Belgium’s or Finland’s mobility rule applies.
The choice also affects the feasibility of your research. Applicants must confirm that their intended supervisors have suitable expertise, infrastructure, and resources.
For example, a researcher proposing hydrogen process development should establish whether the selected research group has the necessary experimental facilities, modelling expertise, or industrial partnerships.
There is another important restriction: supervisors may discuss scientific suitability and available facilities, but they cannot write, review, or pre-approve your application.
A practical approach is to identify a suitable PI, discuss the research infrastructure, confirm the feasibility of your proposed secondment, and then prepare the proposal independently.
This is particularly important because scientific excellence and impact together account for 80% of the written evaluation score.
If you are unsure how to approach a potential supervisor, our guide to emailing professors about research opportunities explains how to write a focused academic inquiry. Adapt its examples to C4W’s rules: contact the PI only to discuss scientific suitability, expertise, and facilities. Do not request help drafting or reviewing your fellowship proposal.
How to Apply for the C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027
Applications must be submitted online through the official C4W submission platform.
Step 1: Visit the official C4W call information page. Read the Guide for Applicants and download the mandatory research proposal template.
C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships Guide for Applicants
Research proposals mandatory template for Posdtoc Application
Step 2: Identify an eligible PI from the programme’s published supervisor list and select a Co-PI.
List of Supervisor for C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships in Belgium
Step 3: Develop your 30-month cleantech research proposal, including the compulsory secondment.
Step 4: Prepare your CV, doctoral qualification evidence, mobility history, and ethics information.
Step 5: Complete the online application and upload the required PDFs. Submit before 5 February 2027 at 16:00 CET.
Apply Here for C4W MSCA COFUND Postdocal Positions in Belgium
Only one research proposal may be submitted per applicant per call. However, applicants can edit and resubmit their application before the deadline. The final submitted version is used for evaluation.
Final Thoughts
The C4W Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027 provide funded employment, research resources, and professional development for researchers working on environmental and cleantech challenges. The first call is particularly relevant to PhD holders who can develop an independent research proposal and demonstrate a clear connection between their expertise, their chosen host, and the environmental impact of their work. With only 13 fellowships available in the first round, applicants should prioritise supervisor suitability, the mandatory proposal format, and the published evaluation thresholds. Application deadline: 5 February 2027, 16:00 Brussels time (CET).
Official application and resources:
- C4W official call information and application access
- Mandatory research proposal template (PDF)
- C4W fellowship announcement on EURAXESS
For application questions, contact the programme at C4W@umons.ac.be.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can international researchers apply for the C4W Fellowships 2027?
Yes. Applicants of all nationalities are eligible, including researchers from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and other non-EU regions. They must hold a PhD, meet the relevant mobility requirement, and satisfy the remaining programme conditions.
2. Is there an eight-year postdoctoral experience limit?
No. Unlike some other MSCA fellowship schemes, C4W does not impose a maximum number of years of research experience after the PhD. Its official applicant guide explicitly confirms this.
3. Can I apply before receiving my PhD diploma?
Yes, provided you have successfully defended your doctorate and can submit an official statement confirming that the degree was unconditionally awarded by 5 February 2027. A pending defence alone does not satisfy the requirement.
4. Do I need a supervisor’s acceptance letter?
No. The programme does not require supervisor pre-approval. You must nevertheless identify a suitable PI and Co-PI and establish that the necessary research resources are available.
5. Is a secondment host’s support letter required?
No. Applicants must identify a secondment organisation and supervisor, but a formal support letter from that organisation is not required at the application stage.
6. When will successful applicants receive their results?
The programme expects to notify applicants by the end of May 2027. Selected researchers are expected to begin their fellowships between July and September 2027.
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