Start programme

Learn

The Start programme offers grants and training opportunities for young scientists wishing to gain the skills needed to embark on a career in research.

Funding your Master’s degree

• Master’s Scholarships – International Network

The call for applications for ‘Master’s Scholarships – International Network’ is aimed at early–career researchers from low– and middle–income countries (LMICs) and aims to enable successful candidates to undertake a Master’s I, Master’s II or a Specialised Master’s programme, and to open up opportunities for further careers in research in close collaboration with the partner sites and International Research Platforms in Global Health (PRISME) of the ANRS MIE’s International Network.

 

Discover the 2025 edition 2025 Laureates

• ‘Françoise Barré–Sinoussi, Nobel Prize in Medicine’ Excellence Scholarships

Since 2012, ANRS MIE has funded an annual scholarship of excellence, the “Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize in Medicine” scholarship, to enable French-speaking healthcare professionals from sub-Saharan Africa or South-East Asia to undertake the Master 2 programme in “Global Health in the Global South – Global Health” atIsped / University of Bordeaux, and thereby conduct research in their home countries on topics relevant to the ANRS MIE.

Since 2023, this programme has been supplemented by a scheme offering supplementary scholarships to enable students to undertake the university diploma (DU) in ‘Methods and Practice in Epidemiology’ offered by Isped. This scheme is aimed at candidates wishing to consolidate their foundational knowledge in epidemiology and statistics in order to apply for the Master’s programme.

2026-2027 Laureates

Funding your PhD

• PhD and fourth–year PhD research grants – Emerging infectious diseases

The call for applications for ‘Research Grants – Emerging Infectious Diseases’ is aimed in particular at early–career researchers wishing to undertake a PhD or a fourth year of their PhD research focusing on emerging infectious diseases.

This scheme, which was initially open only to PhD projects, is also supporting, for the first time in 2026, fourth-year PhD projects and postdoctoral research projects (see below).

The 2026 edition of this call was open to all disciplines and research approaches and to all emerging infectious diseases, with a priority given to arboviral diseases, viral haemorrhagic fevers and respiratory viral infections. The emerging or re-emerging nature of the diseases or pathogens under study had to be justified.

2025 Laureates 2026 Laureates

• PhD and fourth-year doctoral scholarships – HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis

The ANRS MIE’s ‘HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis’ general call for proposals enables early–career researchers to undertake a PhD thesis on the topics of HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Continuing your professional development

• ‘New Technologies’ – Mobility and training grants 2026

In 2026, the ‘New Technologies’ group of the ANRS MIE Virology and Pharmacology Network launched a call for applications for mobility grants dedicated to training in innovative technologies.

This is aimed at early-career researchers (residents, assistants, senior registrars, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, within 10 years of completing their thesis) wishing to undertake a one-week placement in a partner laboratory specialising in the ‘New Technologies’ group’s field.

• International Network

The partners of the ANRS MIE International Network are committed to supporting early-career researchers, in particular by providing guidance on career development and offering a diverse range of training programmes.

Two training programmes are specifically aimed at young healthcare professionals in Africa:

• a University Diploma (DU) in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance delivered at Gamal Abdel Nasser University in Conakry (UGANC) in Guinea and co-developed by UGANC, the Guinean Centre for Research and Training in Infectious Diseases (CERFIG) and ANRS MIE as part of the PRISME Guinea programme;
• a training programme in clinical research and advocacy co-developed by the Francophone Alliance against HIV and Hepatitis (AFRAVIH) and ANRS MIE, in close collaboration with partners from the International Network.

Launch a career

The Start programme offers grants enabling young researchers to pursue a postdoctoral career or to take up their first research chair.

Funding your postdoctoral research

• Postdoctoral grants – Emerging infectious diseases

The call for applications ‘Research Grants – Emerging Infectious Diseases’ is aimed in particular at early-career scientists wishing to undertake postdoctoral research into emerging infectious diseases.

The 2026 edition of this call was the first to be open to funding for postdoctoral grants.

The 2026 edition of this call was open to all disciplines and research approaches and to all emerging infectious diseases, with a priority given to arboviral diseases, viral haemorrhagic fevers and respiratory viral infections. The emerging or re-emerging nature of the diseases or pathogens under study had to be justified.

• Postdoctoral grants – HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis

The so-called ‘generic’ call for proposals on ‘HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis’ (editions 2026-1 and 2026-2) enables early-career researchers to undertake a postdoctoral project on the themes of HIV/AIDS, STIs, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Securing your first research chair

• PEPR MIE Junior Chairs (2025)

As part of the Priority Research Programme and Equipment for Emerging Infectious Diseases (PEPR MIE), Measure 2 of the national acceleration strategy ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases (MIE) and Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical Threats (MN)’, which forms part of the France 2030 plan, the ANRS MIE has launched its first call for applications for junior research chairs.

The aim of this call was to stimulate the development of innovative research within the scope of the PEPR MIE:

• Accelerating the acquisition of knowledge on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs);
• Organising and developing new treatments, vaccines and other tools for prevention, diagnosis and surveillance of EIDs;
• Enabling policymakers and society to cope with epidemic crises.

Five successful applicants received funding for their first research chair on arboviral diseases, totalling 4.6 million euros.

2025 Junior chairs of the PEPR MIE

Connect

The Start programme facilitates and supports a community of young researchers working on emerging infectious diseases through a range of networks, awards and mobility grants.

Joining ANRS MIE networks and bodies

• Start Network

The Start Network is a cross-disciplinary network aimed at young scientists supported by the agency, as well as anyone interested in the ANRS MIE’s areas of focus.

Its aim is to help build a scientific community by encouraging exchanges and collaborations across different disciplines and research areas.

The network relies on the involvement of young researchers, who are invited to share their ideas and needs in order to enrich and co-create the initiatives put in place.

There are also two thematic networks that complement the Start network:

1. The AMYB Network (ANRS MIE Young Basic Research Community Network)
2. The Network of Young Social Science Researchers on HIV/AIDS (RJCSS HIV/AIDS)

• The AMYB Network (ANRS MIE Young Basic Research Community Network)

Founded in 2021 on the initiative of four young researchers funded by ANRS MIE, its aim is to bring together young scientists engaged in basic research on HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, tuberculosis and emerging infectious diseases.

Support for the publication of articles, as well as mobility grants to facilitate participation in international conferences, are, for example, offered in collaboration with this network.

Contact: amyb.pwc@anrs.fr

• The Network of Young Social Science Researchers on HIV/AIDS (RJCSS HIV/AIDS)

Established in 2008, this network aims to pool information and expertise, provide support in responding to calls for proposals, and promote scientific exchange on topics related to HIV/AIDS, and more recently to other conditions falling within the agency’s remit. It facilitates collective reflection on the political, ethical and operational implications of research work.

• Involvement in steering and evaluation bodies

With a view to integrating young scientists into the agency’s activities, ANRS MIE seeks and encourages their participation in the work and organisation of its coordinated initiatives, research networks and working groups.

Furthermore, young researchers are invited to join the scientific evaluation committees for the ANRS MIE’s various programmes and support schemes.

Promoting research

• Thesis prize in collaboration with the SFV

The coordinated actions (AC) of the ANRS MIE help to support early-career researchers: in particular, the agency and the French Society of Virology (SFV) have joined forces to award thesis prizes to young scientists whose doctoral research has made a significant contribution to the field through its high quality, originality and innovative nature.

These prizes cover various fields of virology:

1. The ‘Dominique Dormont’ prizes, named in honour of the professor of neurovirology at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) who passed away in 2003, recognise fundamental and translational research on HIV. The winners are selected jointly by the AC 41 of the ANRS MIE and the SFV.
2. Prizes for fundamental and translational research on viral hepatitis. The winners are selected jointly by the AC 42 of the ANRS MIE and the SFV.
3. The ‘Emerging Viruses’ prizes recognise fundamental and translational research into emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. The winners are selected jointly by the ANRS MIE and the SFV.

• IAS/ANRS MIE ‘Joep Lange & Jacqueline van Tongeren’ Prize

Since 2006, the International AIDS Society (IAS) and ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANRS MIE) have joined forces each year to recognise the work of young researchers for its quality, innovation and originality in the field of HIV/AIDS research.

This IAS/ANRS MIE prize was renamed the ‘Joep Lange & Jacqueline van Tongeren’ Prize in 2015, in tribute to the Dutch researcher Joep Lange and his wife, Jacqueline van Tongeren, who died in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 the previous year.

Participating in major international conferences

The ANRS MIE regularly funds mobility grants inviting young scientists to participate in and present their work at international conferences such as:

• the Francophone International Conference on HIV/AIDS, sexual health, hepatitis and emerging infections organised by the Francophone Alliance for the Fight against HIV (AFRAVIH);
• the International Conference on Antiviral Research organised by the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR);
• the European Conference on HIV/AIDS organised by the European Association for Clinical Studies on HIV/AIDS (EACS).