Living Planet Fellowship call for proposals 2025

Invitations to Tender, Scientists October 17, 2025

ESA invites young researchers in ESA Member States to submit scientific proposals to the Living Planet Fellowship Call 2025. The LPF aims at supporting the new generation of scientists in ESA Member States to undertake cutting-edge research in Earth Observation and Earth System and Climate Science that may maximise the scientific impact of ESA missions and European EO capacity and respond to the main challenges of the new ESA Earth Observation Science Strategy: Earth Science in Action for Tomorrow’s World.

This call for proposals follows a two-step approach to facilitate and maximize the participation of scientists and the submissions of the proposals.

  • STEP 1 (Scientific proposal submission) where only scientific proposals are expected to be submitted by candidate researchers and will be evaluated only on basis of the scientific and technical merits and
  • STEP 2 (Final response submission) where only selected candidates and their respective Host Institutions will be invited to submit a full proposal through the ESA STAR system including also financial and contractual information as provided below.

STEP 1 – Scientific Proposal Submission:

In this STEP, scientific proposals are expected to be submitted by candidate researchers and will be evaluated only on basis of the scientific and technical merits. The LPF package can be found at the link below and comprises the following documents.

  1. Living Planet Fellowship Description
  2. Scientific Proposal Template
  3. A draft contract (only for consultation)
  4. A draft final response template (only for consultation).
  5. Cover Letter

Scientific Proposals shall be submitted before the deadline indicated in the table below  through the LimeSurvey online tool (see submission link below)  including (as attachments):

  • A list of the Candidate’s scientific publications
  • The Scientific Proposal Template filled in by the Candidate.
  • A letter of support from the Host Organisation supporting the candidate and his/her project proposal;
  • Two additional letters of support from senior scientists in the relevant field, supporting the candidate and the scientific proposal

Full LPF Package

Follow this link to submit your scientific proposal for the LPF 2025

At this STEP no contractual or detailed financial information is required.

Proposals will be selected based on a peer review process by a scientific review panel. The selection process will be carried out based on the following criteria:

  1. Scientific background and experience of the candidate
  2. Scientific background and experience of the Host Organisation, as well as adequacy of the proposed laboratory facilities, data sets availability.
  3. Relevance of the proposed work with respect to the specific areas of interest and ESA EO Science
  4. Excellence of scientific proposal demonstrating a contribution to science beyond the state of the art and providing significant advancement with respect to the specific objectives of the programmatic areas of
  5. Adequacy of the proposed methodology, work plan, scientific approach, proposed EO data and available data sets.
  6. Expected impact of concrete project outputs in terms of scientific results, data sets, products, models and target publications and potential further developments.

After the selection process, ESA will inform all candidates about the outcome of their application. Candidates and Host organizations of successful proposals shall receive an invitation to proceed to STEP 2 and submit a final response through the ESA STAR system as described below.

STEP 2 – Final Response: Restricted to selected proposals from STEP 1. 

Selected proposals in STEP 1 will be invited to submit their final response required to place a contract with ESA. it is possible that some changes or clarifications to the Scientific Proposal are required by ESA and shall be included in the final response. For submission, ESA will inform the selected candidates of the ESA STAR dedicated link that will be opened for this purpose in due time. The final response shall include:

  1. The Scientific Proposal updated with any agreed changes.
  2. The final response template fully completed in all its parts and signed by the representative of the Host Institution.

 

 Timeline and deadlines

  • STEP-1 submission deadline  – 14th November 2025
  • Communication of results –  January 2026
  • STEP-2 submission of final response –  1st Quarter 2026
  • Contract signature –  1st Quarter 2026

Any additional questions relating to this Call shall be submitted to EOScience@esa.int not later than two (2) weeks before the Closing Date. Please refer also to the Frequently Asked Questions

SHARE


All posts

All posts