News

We are pleased to announce that applications for the 5th cohort of the GOARN Berlin Fellowship Programme are now open to experts working at a GOARN partner institution and technical network.

During this six-month fellowship, public health professionals work on a project to build their expertise in public health surveillance, epidemic control or emergency preparedness and bring these skills back to their home institutions.

Fellows benefit from mentorship and the broad expertise available at the Robert Koch Institute, WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

Building on insights from previous cohorts, the 2026 fellowship introduces two track options, offering greater flexibility in location and programme structure. This approach allows selected fellows to tailor their experience to their professional goals and individual needs.

Participants can choose from the following two fellowship tracks:   

• Berlin track: Fellows implement their projects while based at the WHO Hub and the RKI in Berlin.
• Country track: Fellows implement their projects while based in their home country or institutions.

Fellows of both tracks will participate in joint cohort trainings and activities in Berlin and Geneva. 

Application deadline: 16 March 2026, 17:00 CET   

For more information, please contact the GOARN focal point at your institution and click here to register for an online information session. 

Note that only candidates from GOARN partner institutions and technical networks are eligible to apply.   

The fellowship is jointly coordinated by  the Robert Koch Institute, WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

The 2026 fellowship will be supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health and Schmidt Global Health, a public health effort that is an expansion of the global network developed by the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid.