The difficult decision has been made to cancel the 2020 PhD Course.

This decision has been made to try to ensure the continued safety and wellbeing of all concerned, and to mitigate the risk to participants and the host university community, given the recent developments and increased travel restrictions necessitated to reduce the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Australian National University has kindly agreed to host the 2021 EMBL Australia PhD Course. Details of the course will become available in due time and, circumstances permitting, applications will open in January 2021.

Thank you to all 2020 applicants and their supervisors for their support of the course.


The 7th annual EMBL Australia PhD Course will be held at the Australian National University (ANU) between 13 July – 24 July.

Sixty outstanding first and second year PhD students from around Australia will attend the two-week residential course.

Modelled on the compulsory pre-doc training program of the prestigious European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the course covers a wide range of topics – from epigenetics and bioinformatics to translational and clinical sciences – exposing students to the latest ideas in molecular biology.

Sessions held by international guest speakers and researchers from around Australia will provide students with an overview of the full range of life science research and infrastructure available in Australia, as well as useful tools and ideas for their projects and a network of scientific contacts across the country.

There are no course fees and once students are in Canberra, EMBL Australia will provide dormitory style accommodation and most meals.  Read more information here.

Applications to attend the course will open in early 2020.

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