The Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) — known in Greek as Ελληνικό Ίδρυμα Έρευνας και Καινοτομίας, abbreviated ΕΛΙΔΕΚ / ELIDEK — is Greece’s national competitive research-funding body. Researchers and administrators sometimes see it referred to under either name (English “HFRI” or the ELIDEK transliteration); both refer to the same organization, and its official site operates at elidek.gr. This guide covers what HFRI funds, its main grant and scholarship categories, how eligibility works for researchers based at Greek institutions, and how HFRI fits alongside Greece’s broader research-policy structure.
What HFRI (ELIDEK) is
HFRI was established by Greek Law 4429/2016 (“National Foundation for Research and Innovation and other provisions”) as an independent, public-interest legal entity dedicated to funding research and innovation “without thematic or geographic restrictions” — meaning it funds across all scientific disciplines and across Greece’s regions, not that it is open to applicants outside Greek institutions by default. Its founding mandate explicitly names support for early-career and doctoral researchers as a strategic priority, framed around reducing the outflow of researchers from Greece to funding systems abroad. HFRI is a grant-making and grant-administering body, not a research institute itself — it does not employ researchers directly or run laboratories; it runs competitive calls, evaluates proposals, and disburses funding to individuals and institutions.
HFRI’s main funding programs
HFRI organizes its calls around several standing categories rather than one generic “grant” mechanism. The specific budget, duration, and eligibility terms of any given call are set out in that call’s own text and change between funding cycles, so treat the categories below as the standing structure, and always confirm current figures against the live call announcement on elidek.gr before advising an investigator or budgeting a proposal.
- PhD Candidate Scholarships — funds the preparation of a doctoral dissertation at a Greek Higher Educational Institution (AEI). See the dedicated section below for figures from the most recently published call.
- Postdoctoral Researcher grants — project funding for researchers who hold a PhD and are conducting independent postdoctoral research, typically hosted at a Greek university or research center.
- Faculty Members & Researchers project grants — HFRI’s largest category by scope, funding research projects where faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, or other qualified researchers at Greek institutions serve as principal investigator.
- Research infrastructure / equipment funding — supports the acquisition of research equipment for universities and research centers, distinct from project-specific operating funds.
- Science & Society action grants — funds public-engagement and science-communication activity connected to research, rather than research itself.
- Start-up and innovation support — mechanisms aimed at translating research outputs toward commercialization and new ventures, aligning HFRI’s remit with “Innovation” as well as “Research” in its name.
Each category runs its own numbered call (“1st Call,” “2nd Call,” etc.) rather than a single continuously open program, so timing matters: a researcher planning around HFRI funding needs to track when the relevant category’s next call opens, not assume year-round rolling submission.
HFRI PhD Candidate Scholarships
HFRI’s PhD scholarship program is one of its most-used mechanisms and the one most frequently searched by name. Per HFRI’s own published call documentation, the scholarship has run at a monthly stipend of €900 for the PhD candidate, with a scholarship duration of 23 to 36 months depending on the stage of the doctoral thesis at the time of the award. Candidates must be formally registered in a doctoral program at a Greek AEI to be eligible — the qualifying criterion is institutional enrollment in Greece, not Greek citizenship. Because HFRI issues these as sequentially numbered calls (the program has run through multiple calls since its introduction), always check the specific numbered call’s eligibility annex rather than relying on figures from a prior cycle, since stipend amounts and duration bands can be revised between calls.
Eligibility for non-Greek and internationally based researchers
HFRI’s eligibility rules are built around institutional affiliation rather than nationality: what generally matters is that the applicant (or, for scholarships, the candidate) is enrolled in or employed by a Greek AEI or research center, not the applicant’s citizenship. In practice this means non-Greek EU and non-EU nationals who are admitted to a doctoral program, or hold a research post, at a Greek institution can generally be eligible for the corresponding HFRI call, subject to whatever specific conditions that call’s text sets — HFRI publishes detailed eligibility annexes per call rather than one static, permanent policy, so a research office advising an incoming international doctoral candidate or postdoc should verify the current call text directly rather than assume prior-cycle rules still apply. HFRI does not fund researchers based entirely outside Greece who have no Greek institutional affiliation; it is a national funder in that sense, comparable to how GAČR funds researchers affiliated with Czech institutions or NCN funds researchers at Polish institutions.
How HFRI calls are structured and evaluated
HFRI publishes each call as a standalone document specifying eligibility, budget ceilings, required forms, and deadlines, generally submitted through HFRI’s own electronic portal. Evaluation runs through peer review — proposals are assessed by researchers in the relevant field against published scientific-merit and, depending on the category, feasibility and impact criteria — with results published as ranking/eligibility tables once a call closes. This general shape (published call, electronic submission, external peer review, ranked results) is consistent with how most national research funders in Europe run competitive calls, though HFRI’s specific forms, portal, and review timelines are its own and should be confirmed against the live call rather than assumed from another funder’s process.
HFRI’s place in Greece’s research-funding landscape
It helps to separate two things that are easy to conflate: research policy in Greece is set at the ministerial level, principally through the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI, the successor body to what was formerly GSRT); HFRI is the operational, grant-disbursing body that runs competitive calls and pays out funding directly to researchers and institutions under that policy framework. A researcher does not apply to GSRI for a grant — GSRI does not itself run competitive research-grant calls in the way HFRI does. Researchers in Greece may also encounter EU-level funding channels such as the European Research Council (ERC) or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, which run independently of HFRI under Horizon Europe rather than through the Greek national budget; a Greek-based researcher’s overall funding strategy commonly spans both the national (HFRI) and EU-level tracks rather than relying on one exclusively.
Frequently asked questions
Is HFRI the same organization as ELIDEK?
Yes. “HFRI” is the English-language name (Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation); “ELIDEK” is the transliterated abbreviation of the Greek name (Ελληνικό Ίδρυμα Έρευνας και Καινοτομίας). Both refer to the same organization and the same official site, elidek.gr.
When was HFRI established?
HFRI was established by Greek Law 4429/2016.
How much does the HFRI PhD scholarship pay?
Per HFRI’s published call documentation, the PhD Candidate Scholarship has run at a monthly stipend of €900, for a duration of 23 to 36 months depending on thesis stage at award. These figures apply to the calls as published and can change between numbered calls, so check the current call text before relying on a specific figure.
Can non-Greek or non-EU researchers receive HFRI funding?
Eligibility is generally based on being enrolled in or employed by a Greek higher-education or research institution, not on citizenship — so non-Greek nationals affiliated with a Greek AEI or research center can generally apply, subject to the specific conditions of that call. HFRI does not fund researchers with no Greek institutional affiliation.
Is HFRI a government ministry?
No. HFRI is an independent, public-interest legal entity established by statute to administer research funding; national research policy is set separately, principally through Greece’s General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI).
Related CASRAI resources
For the broader grants-lifecycle vocabulary referenced throughout this guide, see the Grants Management & Research Funding pillar, the Principal Investigator (PI) dictionary term, and comparable national-funder overviews for the Czech Republic’s GAČR, Poland’s NCN, and Colombia’s Minciencias.
