The new PhD Scholarships for Researchers from the South is now available on offer for KU Leuven promoters for a 4 year PhD project. Students from developing countries are available to apply.

The aim of the scholarship is to strengthen the embedding of the research within the concerned country, a co-promoter affiliated with a university or research institute from that country must be involved.

KU Leuven is a research and educational institution with international appeal. All courses at this university are based on the innovative research of its scientists and professors.

Scholarship Description

• Applications Deadline: March 14, 2019
• Course Level: Scholarships are available to study PhD programme.
• Study Subject: Scholarships are awarded to study any of the subjects offered by the university.
• Scholarship Award: Financial conditions: an approval contains a doctoral scholarship at KU Leuven for 4 years, a predoctoral period of max. 12 months (if the doctoral committee advises to do so) and a one-off reimbursement of travel costs from the home country of the PhD student to Belgium at the start of the doctorate (max. €1000 and based on proof of expenditure). The PhD student is exempt from the tuition fee at KU Leuven. In case a predoctoral period is imposed and the predoc is not successful, the involved candidate can also claim reimbursement of travel costs for the return trip to the home country (max. €1000 and based on proof of expenditure).
• Nationality: Students from developing countries are available to apply.
• Number of Scholarships: Each year a maximum of 5 ‘PhD scholarships for researchers from the South’ can be funded at KU Leuven.
• Scholarship can be taken in Belgium

Eligibility for the Scholarship

Eligible Countries: Students from developing countries are available to apply. (“developing country” refers to a country on the OECD DAC-list from the categories “Least Developed Countries”, “Low Income Countries” of “Low Middle Income Countries”).

Entrance Requirements: Applicants must meet the following criteria:

The KU Leuven applicant and (optional) co-promoter meet the conditions to be a promoter or co-promoter of a project under Internal Funds. The applicant will also be the promoter of the doctorate at KU Leuven.

The foreseen doctorate must meet the KU Leuven requirements for the attainment of a doctoral degree (see regulation doctoral degrees and guidelines joint doctoral degree). The following additional conditions apply:

• There is a co-promoter in the concerned developing country. This co-promoter should have the necessary scientific expertise to supervise the project and is an authority in the field and the institute. This co-promoter should play an active role in the project, remotely or as host during short stays;
• The research should be conducted at KU Leuven. Short stays or missions to the concerned developing country and/or other foreign stays are allowed, but they must be described in the original application. In case of approval of the application, these stays must be reported to the Research Coordination Office and must be in line with the original application;
• The dissertation should be defended within the period of 4 years. The KU Leuven promoter must confirm that this is feasible and that they will do whatever is necessary in order to make sure the doctorate can be finished within the foreseen time period.
• The PhD candidate must in principle still complete the whole doctoral trajectory. It is possible that the PhD candidate has already started a predoc or a doctorate at KU Leuven, but no longer than 8 months (incl. the predoctoral period) on the deadline date of this call;
• The PhD candidate has not applied for a Global Mind PhD Scholarship.

Application Procedure

How to Apply: The application must mainly contain the following elements (see digital application form for further specifications):

• Authorization from the doctoral committee to enroll as a PhD researcher. (This authorization is academic and does not guarantee the funding of a PhD scholarship!)
• An identification of the KU Leuven promoter and (optional) co-promoter with their CV and a description of the supervision of the PhD student;
• An identification of the co-promoter at the university or research institute in the developing country with CV and a description of the supervision of the PhD student;
• The project description and work plan of the doctoral project, demonstrating the academic strength of the proposal, as well as the relevance in a developmental context and the potential impact, and the local embedding and the potential to increase the local capacity. In the work plan, any planned foreign stays must explicitly be described (max. 5p);
• The curriculum vitae of the candidate, including a motivation about the stay at the KU Leuven research group and its relevance for the home country (max. 3p);
• A detailed description of the collaboration and the supervision of the doctorate (max. 1p);
• A motivation letter from the KU Leuven promoter containing (a) a clarification of the scientific added value of the project, (b) the relevance for the development of the country concerned, (c) a description of the aimed for (or current) collaboration with the foreign co-promoter, and (d) a formal confirmation to fulfill the supervising and logistic task in order to enable the completion of the doctorate within the foreseen time period.

Scholarship Link