EMBL Traineeships (European Molecular Biology Laboratory)

EMBL Traineeships place students inside Europe’s flagship molecular biology laboratory for three to twelve months of real research, across six sites from Heidelberg to the European Bioinformatics Institute near Cambridge. Trainees work in world-leading groups with facilities most universities cannot offer, with stipend support for eligible positions.

Openings post year-round on the EMBL jobs portal, and direct, well-matched emails to group leaders generate many placements. For life-science students eyeing Europe’s best-funded PhD programs, an EMBL traineeship is among the strongest possible stepping stones.

• Undergraduate and master's students in molecular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, chemistry, physics and computer science, typically needing a research placement for their degree.
• Applicants of any nationality; EMBL is an intergovernmental lab with a deliberately international community.
• A study requirement or strong academic rationale for a research stay of three to twelve months.
• Solid grounding in laboratory or computational methods relevant to the host group.
• Good English, the working language across all six EMBL sites.
• Enrolment at a university for the traineeship's duration in most cases (each call specifies).

• Join a research group at one of EMBL's six European sites, from the Heidelberg headquarters to the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton.
• Run experiments or computational analyses inside world-leading projects in genomics, structural biology, cell biology and bioinformatics.
• Use core facilities that few universities can match, from cryo-EM to massive sequence databases.
• Participate in group meetings, seminars and the campus scientific community.
• Produce results feeding your thesis or first publications.
• Build mentorship links that regularly convert into EMBL PhD applications.

• Stipend support for eligible trainees, with terms set per position and site.
• Research experience at Europe's flagship molecular biology laboratory, an elite CV credential.
• Six sites across Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain offering different specializations.
• Access to EMBL's courses, seminars and scientific community during the stay.
• A proven springboard into the EMBL International PhD Programme, one of Europe's best-funded doctorates.
• An international cohort of trainees and predocs on every campus.

• Browse trainee and internship openings on the EMBL jobs portal, where groups post positions through the year.
• Alternatively, identify groups matching your interests on the research pages and contact group leaders directly with a CV and dates, since many placements arise from direct inquiry.
• Apply three to six months ahead of your intended start to allow visa and housing steps.
• Interviews are held online with the hosting group.
• Confirmations set the stipend arrangement, duration and site logistics.
• Use the traineeship to position yourself for the EMBL PhD calls if research is your path.