ICFO - Summer Fellowships 2026

The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), based in the seaside town of Castelldefels on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain, is devoted to research and education at the highest international level.

For a period of 3 months, between June and September 2026, ICFO will host its summer research fellowship program, providing a unique opportunity to undergraduate students to engage for approximately twelve weeks of full-time research in the research topics active at ICFO under the supervision and mentorship of ICFO Group Leaders.

The Program aims to give students an early exposure to frontier science and research, and offer outstanding undergraduate students the chance to experience first-hand the excitement and challenges posed by research projects within the variety of the ICFO research fields. While conducting a challenging research project, Fellows engage in a focused training program covering the basics and applications of the different research topics active at the institute.

Projects may be undertaken with any Research Group. Research lines include, but are not limited to:

• Atto-Science, Ultrafast Optics & Nonlinear Optics
• Photovoltaics, Thermal Photonics & Solar Fuels
• Optical Sensing & Optoelectronics
• NanoPhotonics & NanoMechanics
• Ultracold Quantum Gases
• Quantum and Low-Dimensional Materials
• Quantum Communications, Sensing & Simulation
• Quantum Optics & Quantum Information
• Nanophotonics, Condensed Matter Physics & Light-Matter Interactions
• Medical Optics
• Biophysics, Biophotonics & Super-Resolution Imaging

Interested students should browse the different research group profiles available on the ICFO website, https://www.icfo.eu/lang/research, to identify the groups that best match their interests.

The ICFO Summer Fellows Program is supported by the Fundacio Catalunya-La Pedrera Ignacio Cirac Program Chair @ ICFO.

In addition, internal Undergraduate and Master student opportunities might become available, for which we may retain candidates applying to this present call.

1st step: Submit your application
To apply for a fellowship, suitable candidates are requested to submit the following documents (in English):

• A presentation/motivation letter stating research group (s) of interest and answering the question: why this summer program will benefit your career?
• A Curriculum Vitae, including contact details, in English.
• A scanned copy of the academic transcripts for the undergraduate degree and postgraduate (if applicable), in English.
• Name and contact details of one potential referee who we may contact, should it be necessary.

The deadline for submission of the application material, is March 1, 2026.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to make sure all required application material (see above) is complete before submitting the application.

2nd step: Review process
In a first revision stage, applications will first be reviewed to assure that they meet the eligibility requirements and conditions and candidates will be notified accordingly.

Eligible applications will be evaluated and ranked by the Selection Committee.

Top-ranked candidates will then pass to a matching stage, in which he/she is invited to discuss their research interests and suitability for a potential project with ICFO Group Leader(s), as well as duration of the stay and other particular conditions. An interview, either in person or online, is a fundamental part of the procedure.

If the candidate and ICFO Group Leader(s) agree to a match, the candidate will receive an official fellowship offer from ICFO.

All applicants will be notified the decision in their case by the end of April 2026, at the latest.