Predoctoral fellow

In the physical sciences, a predoctoral fellow ("pre-doc") refers to a researcher who has a bachelor's degree, but not a doctorate. As the name implies, predoctoral fellows often use their time as a fellow to develop their skills and resume before applying to graduate school. They differ from lab managers in that they primarily pursue research, rather than maintain the day-to-day function of a lab. Pre-docs are often able to apply for their own sources of funding.

In natural sciences a pre-doc is usually used from a student registered in a Ph.D. program who needs labs not available in his/her home university. In Mathematics typically a pre-doc is again somebody already registered in a Ph.D. program at a host university to work together with a professor in a different topic with respect to his/her topic.