Frequently
Asked Questions

Eligibility

We offer courses tailored to different career stages in life science research. If you are in doubt, please get in touch via the contact form here and we can help you select the right course.

EMBO Lab Leadership for Group Leaders

The Group Leader course is designed for established life scientists who lead their own research groups (NB: not only ‘wet lab’ research, but any research team); laboratory managers who take on a significant share of staff development; or senior postdocs who have secured group leader positions or manage independent teams within larger groups. These courses run for 4 days in person or 3 days online. A key benefit is the valuable exchange of ideas and insights among peers at similar career stages.

EMBO Lab Leadership for Group Leaders

The Postdoc course focuses on preparing postdoctoral researchers for future leadership roles, as well as for dealing with the leadership roles they have at present in regards to students or others they may be supervising for their lab head. The course is open to scientists with at least 6 months of postdoc experience. The 3-day course (both online and in person) covers the same essential leadership skills as the group leader course, but excludes some of the modules that are mainly of benefit once you are responsible for hiring/performance/firing decisions.

Negotiation

These courses are open to both group leaders and postdocs.

Self-Leadership

These courses are open to both group leaders and postdocs.

Project Management

These courses are open to postdocs and second or third year PhD students

Applying Design Principles to Schematic Figures

These courses are open to group leaders, postdocs and PhD students.

Registration Info
  • By registering for a course, you are agreeing to our data protection guidelines.
  • It is recommended you apply now to avoid disappointment as these courses are extremely popular and fill up fast.
  • We implement a strict first come, first served policy.
  • You will be informed within 15 working days whether you’ve been accepted onto the course.
  • We regret that we are unable to offer discounts or fee waivers.
Cancellation Policy

Participant Cancellations

We never want to keep your money without delivering any value to you. However, as we get closer to a course, we do have financial commitments that we cannot undo on short notice. Our refund policy is therefore generally applied as follows, and it is always good to contact us and talk it through with us so that we can find a good solution:

Up to 60 days before a course

  • Full refund for all payments made to us (we will not reimburse your travel).
  • Or you can defer your attendance and join a later course.

59 to 15 days before a course

  • Refunds are not generally available for cancellations in this period.
  • You may be able to defer your attendance to a later course depending on the number of participants registered on the course you are cancelling.
  • In the case that you cannot attend, if you can find a replacement participant who can use the funds you have already paid us, then we are happy to take that participant in your place. Note that we will not refund your money and take a new payment from them; they will need to use your payment.
  • If you do need to cancel in this period, it is always better to contact us and talk it through with us, we can often find a good solution with you.

14 to 0 days before a course

  • Refunds are not available for cancellations in this period or no-shows.
  • You may not defer your attendance to a later course.
  • In the case that you cannot attend, if you can find a replacement participant who can use the funds you have already paid us, then we are happy to take that participant in your place. Note that we will not refund your money and take a new payment from them; they will need use your payment.
  • If you do need to cancel in this period, it is always better to contact us and talk it through with us, we can sometimes find a mutually satisfying solution.

All cancellations must be submitted through our contact form or via email

Course Cancellation by EMBO Solutions GmbH

Because we require a minimum number of participants for each course, if this minimum is not met, your course may unfortunately be cancelled. If the course is to be cancelled, you will receive at least 4 weeks’ notice. You will then be offered a full refund or the opportunity to join an alternative course at your convenience. We cannot take responsibility for any unrecoverable costs you may have incurred, so we recommend always booking flexible travels tickets and/or taking out travel insurance. We only cancel 1 or 2 of the approx. 100 courses we deliver each year, so it is very rare.

Invoicing & Payment Info

About Our Business Model

The courses are delivered by EMBO Solutions GmbH, a wholly-owned, not-for-profit subsidiary of EMBO. You can see our impressum for more details on the company.

EMBO Solutions sells its courses on a business-to-business basis under German law (B2B). This means that individuals cannot register for the course as private persons, but must arrange their attendance through their employer. It is the employer who will be billed for the course, not you.

Once you have registered for a course, your organisation will therefore be invoiced by us subject to the following:

  • Payments by bank transfer only (no credit card or cheque payments).
  • Payments must be in EURO.
  • Payment must be made within two weeks of invoice date.
  • Payee is responsible for all bank charges.

Notes on invoicing:

  • Invoices will be issued by EMBO Solutions GmbH (not EMBO or EMBO Lab Leadership).
  • Our invoice number (see the top left of the invoice) must be included with the payment transfer so that we can link the payment with your registration.

Please ensure that you have the permission of your employer to register for the course and that they will be able to comply with the above, as well as the VAT/tax notes below. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

VAT Rules by Region

The cost of training delivered in person in Leimen is not subject to VAT, but the handling package will be subject to the current German VAT rate.

Training online is considered to take place in the location of the recipient, meaning that VAT/sales tax must be handled by your institute in your country. This means that:

German Organisations

  • Standard German VAT applies (according to §13b UStG)
  • EMBO Solutions GmbH VAT ID: DE 264471047

EU Organisations (Outside Germany)

  • Business-to-business VAT rules apply
  • VAT will be handled under the EU’s Reverse Charge rule
  • Your organisation’s VAT ID must be included on our invoice

Non-EU Organisations

  • Business-to-business rules apply
  • We will not add German VAT to the invoice
  • Your organisation’s VAT/Tax ID must be included on our invoice
  • Your organisation must handle the sales tax appropriately in your country
  • Standard international business rules apply

Administrative Notes

  • Special invoice requirements must be mentioned during registration
  • All prices and VAT rates are subject to change
  • Inform your finance team to set up EMBO Solutions GmbH as supplier
  • Ensure that your finance department understands EMBO Solutions GmbH is not the same organisation as EMBO (sometimes EMBO is already in their system and so they make this mistake).
EMBO Young Investigators, Installation Grantees, and Global Investigators

EMBO Young Investigators, EMBO Installation Grantees and EMBO Global Investigators are entitled to a fee waiver for a course of their choice. Please select the appropriate option on the online registration form; the waiver will then be confirmed when you receive notification of acceptance (we liaise with the appropriate EMBO programme on your behalf). If for some reason the fee waiver is declined by EMBO, you will have the option to withdraw your registration or pay for yourself.

Please note that for in-person courses, the funding from EMBO covers the registration fee and course accommodation, but you must cover your own travel costs.

Our standard cancellation policy applies and if you cancel with less notice than 60 days, you will unfortunately lose your entitlement to the fee waiver for a future course. The exception to this is if you can find another eligible YIP, IG, or GIN to take your place. If you are going to cancel, we suggest you reach out to the relevant EMBO programme office to discuss options.

EMBO Fellows

EMBO Fellows are entitled to attend the courses specifically convened by the EMBO Fellowships office. You should have received information about the opportunity directly from the programme. Should you have specific questions or you cannot find the offer, please contact the EMBO Fellowships office directly.

Online Courses

All our online courses are delivered via Zoom and usually run over a 3-day period (unless otherwise stated on the course info). The majority of sessions are scheduled in Central European Time (CET/CEST, adjusting for daylight saving), so please account for time zone differences if you’re joining from outside Europe. Two sessions per year are scheduled to be convenient for the ET/EST time zone.

To get the most from your learning experience, we recommend finding a private, comfortable space where you can work alone without interruption for the entire duration of the course. You will need to run Zoom from a laptop or desktop computer as mobile devices are unable to cope with the way that we will use the platform and other digital tools throughout the course.

To fully participate in the course, you will need an internet connection with a minimum download speed of 3 Mbps (5 Mbps or higher recommended) and a minimum upload speed of 0.5 Mbps (1 Mbps or higher recommended). To check your connection speed, visit speed.io using the computer and WiFi network you plan to use for the course. Please inform us if your internet speed falls below these requirements.

Hotel & Course Venue for In-Person Courses

Hotel Villa Toskana
Hamburger Strasse 4-8
D – 69181 Leimen
Germany
Tel: +49 6224 8292 0
website | email

If you requested hotel accommodation at the time of registration, we will automatically book you a single room for the duration of the course (check-in the day before the course starts and check-out on the last day of the course). These nights are included in the course fee. Dinner is not included on the first night of the course, but is included on all other nights for which you have accommodation for the course. On the first night, you can still eat at the hotel, but you will need to pay directly.

Should you wish to extend your stay before or after the course dates, please let us know: we can help arrange the additional nights directly or put you in touch with the hotel. Any extra nights will need to be settled directly at reception upon check-out (i.e. will not be paid via us). The 2025 rate for a single room is €128 per night, which includes breakfast, access to the wellness and fitness facilities, and parking.

More info about how to get there can be found here.

Local Participants

If you’re a local resident of Heidelberg, you can opt out of accommodation during registration by selecting “no accommodation required.” Your reduced course fee will still cover lunch and dinner on the course days, training sessions, course materials, and VAT.

Waiting Lists

Once courses are full, a waiting list will be available, though we cannot guarantee places will become free. You may join only one course waiting list, as we are unable to accept multiple registrations for the same person.

Language

The language for all our courses is English. Our trainers understand that English may not be your first language (for many of them it is also not their first language), and we all work hard together during the course to be sure that everyone understands and is understood.

Travel

We’ve provided some useful information and tips to help you plan your trip for your in-person course in Germany here.

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