The Hector Fellow Academy (HFA) is a community of 20 outstanding academics who are acknowledged by the Hector Foundation for their excellent performance and their merit in research and teaching within the natural sciences, informatics, mathematics, medicine/psychology and engineering. PhD students of the HFA get the opportunity to carry out a self-developed research project under supervision of one of the Hector Fellows while at the same time benefitting from the expertise and research network of their renowned mentor.