The EIPOD programme was developed in 2007 with the objective of making use of the excellent scientific environment available at EMBL to support an innovative fellowship programme focused on interdisciplinary research training for postdoctoral fellows. EI3POD is designed to enrich and significantly build upon the very successful EIPOD programme and bears a significant number of novel features for scientific collaboration as well as vocational skills training and career development. The I3 in EI3POD stands for:1. Interdisciplinary2. International/inter-institutional3. IntersectorialIt offers three different modules each focusing on one of the three “I’s” as an expansion and significant enrichment of the original EIPOD scheme. All postdoctoral candidates applying under the EI3POD scheme will be offered the choice from among these three specializations. The specialization process will be supported by a career development advisor and accompanied by a set of training requirements to prepare candidates for making informed decisions about their project direction and career goals.