“Working at the Vilnius University Medical Science Center, I see that the working conditions provided here are in many aspects no less advanced than those at famous foreign universities, and in some cases, you can receive even more support here. In Lithuania, we have an excellent molecular biology infrastructure and many international colleagues. Therefore, I encourage everyone considering a return to Lithuania not to hesitate,” shares Dr. Miglė Kazlauskienė, a recipient of the MJJ Foundation science grant, sharing her motivation for returning from Switzerland.

“Upon returning to the Life Sciences Center, I found a very high-level scientific infrastructure, a lot of support from my laboratory head and colleagues, and an international team,” says neuroscientist Dr. Nemira Žilinskaitė-Tranas, who returned to Lithuania after her doctoral studies at the prestigious University of Cambridge.

The foundation has already allocated over €1 million for the salaries of 45 researchers who won the competition between 2019 and 2024 and arrived from Japan, Canada, Italy, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the USA, the UK, Ukraine, and other countries. For scientists wishing to arrive from abroad in 2026–2027—selected by independent experts in targeted scientific fields and the MJJ Foundation board—the foundation will provide a monthly salary subsidy for up to two years to supplement the salary paid by the university, aiming to compete with European universities for the best minds.

Priority areas: physical, computer science, engineering, health, biomedical, personalized medicine, technological, and veterinary sciences. Additional points in the evaluation process are awarded to researchers working on applied research.

We invite you to submit applications by registering on the foundation’s website: https://mjjfondas.lt/kryptys/mokslas/

Eligible Applicants

The foundation’s salary grant is available to researchers who have defended their PhD abroad, seek to continue their career and research in Lithuania, and wish to share their knowledge in the foundation’s priority areas with students at Lithuanian universities. Registration can be completed either by the academic wishing to arrive (or who returned no earlier than 6 months prior to the publication date of this call) or by the university seeking to invite them (deans or vice-deans of faculties).

Applications are invited for submission until January 5, 2027.

Registration and Grant Procedures

Candidate registration along with an introduction is completed electronically in either Lithuanian or English by filling out the form on the foundation’s website: https://mjjfondas.lt/kryptys/mokslas/

The researcher’s salary grant is awarded in cooperation with the inviting university. The researcher receiving the grant agrees to represent the foundation’s name by adding it to their job titles.

Academics wishing to participate in this year’s selection must begin their academic activities in Lithuania in 2027–2028. The MJJ Foundation provides the funding for a period of one to two years.

Evaluation of Applications

Only fully completed and detailed applications will be submitted for evaluation. An expert evaluation of the detailed applications will be carried out by a panel of independent experts well-versed in the specific academic field and members of the MJJ Foundation board.

If you have questions about the return process or working at Lithuanian universities, you are welcome to write to kotryna@mjjfondas.lt. We will gladly introduce you to international scientists who received MJJ Foundation grants between 2019 and 2025 and have already returned to Lithuania, whose information can be found HERE.