Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Sciences are one of the principal programmes of the Claude Leon Foundation. The Trustees of the Foundation seek to upgrade research at South African universities and technikons in the faculties of Science, Engineering and Medical Sciences by making awards to both South African and foreign postdoctoral scientists, who should increase the volume and quality of research output, transfer technical skills, and generally enhance the research culture.

Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis, taking the applicants' academic achievements and potential as researchers into account.