PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries 2020 Belgium

Applications are invited for Fully Funded “PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries 2020 – Belgium” at Ghent University, Belgium.

Details

With support from its “Special Research Fund” (BOF), Ghent University grants under title “PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries in Belgium” who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University and half in a university in a developing country.

Ghent University wishes to support university research groups or research centers in developing countries (‘South’) in their aim to grow into excellent research centers by upgrading local academic personnel. Therefore, Ghent University grants PhD Scholarships to promising PhD students from developing countries who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University (‘North’) and half of their PhD research in a university in a developing country (‘South’). 

These Scholarships take the form of a so called sandwich scholarship, 

The following mobility scheme is mandatory:

• Students need to start and end with a research stay of minimum 3 up to maximum 12 months in Ghent.
• The first research stay in Ghent needs to start between 1/10/2020 and 28/02/2021.
• At least 24 months of locally funded research stay in the South must be scheduled in between the first and last research stay in Ghent.

About Ghent University Belgium

Ghent University is a top 100 university and one of the major universities in Belgium, founded in 1817. Our 11 faculties offer a wide range of courses and conduct in-depth research within a wide range of scientific domains. We are a pluralistic university that is open to all students, regardless of their ideological, political, cultural or social background. Our credo is ‘Dare to think’. https://www.ugent.be

Eligible countries under PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries in Belgium

• Country list of developing countries_2020.pdf 

Benefits under Belgium Scholarship

Successful applicants will receive the following benefits:

• PhD scholarship at Ghent University  (24 months).
• 24 months of PhD research will be executed at the partner university in the South, for which no funding is provided through this scholarship. This part of the research (24 months) must be funded (e.g. local PhD scholarship or salary) at the partner institution in the South.
• The Ghent University promoter receives a bench fee of €310/per month of research in Ghent + €8000 travel budget to cover (part of) the operational costs, as well as part of the travelling costs of the student and both the Ghent University and the local promoter.

Eligibility criteria for PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries in Belgium

• The proposals must be jointly submitted by applicant, a promoter (supervisor) at Ghent University and a supervisor at the partner university
• No restrictions are imposed on the field of research, nevertheless  preference will be given to topics that are relevant for development
• Applicants need to come from – and have the nationality of – a developing country (see country list)
• There must be a guarantee that the applicant will be able to work full-time on the PhD project for a period of 24 months at the partner university in a selected developing country (South). This implies that the following conditions needs to be fulfilled
• There must be a local PhD supervisor at the partner university or research center in the South
• A written statement is requested stating that the candidate will be/is either a funded full-time PhD student or a staff member at this partner university and will be sufficiently exempted from teaching or other assignments as to be able to fully concentrate on the PhD research in the South. Applicants can dedicate maximum 10 % of their time (fulltime appointment) to other tasks (teaching and other tasks)
  This statement should also mention that the applicant receives a local PhD scholarship or salary for a period of 24 months when working on the PhD at the partner university in the South
• This cofunding is only open for students who intend to obtain a (joint ) PhD degree at Ghent University

Application

Prior to their scholarship application all applicants need the explicit commitment of a Ghent University professor who will act as their personal PhD supervisor.

If you need to approach a Ghent university professor please browse the list of faculties and research topics available on our research directory.

All international PhD applicants need to complete  an admission procedure during which the academic aspects (equivalence of your degree, research proposal, and language skills) will be evaluated. This admission for a doctoral study does not guarantee any funding so it can be started after the result of the scholarship application is known.

• Applications must be submitted on the application forms provided for this purpose under PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries in Belgium

The Research Council makes a selection of the applications based in part on the recommendations obtained from members of the Council for Development Cooperation.

• Selection criteria:

Please note that this call is highly competitive. The success rate for this call is 19% (based on the results of the previous calls 2017-2019). One of the main selection criteria in this call are the study results of the applicant (both Bachelor and Master Level).

• the qualifications of the applicant;
• the relevance of the research topic for development & capacity building, including the scientific/scholarly potential of the promoter’s research group(s); the partnership between Ghent University and the local institute; the scientific/scholarly potential of the local institute.
• the doctoral project (including the scientific/scholarly potential of the promoter’s research group(s); the partnership between Ghent University and the local institute; the scientific/scholarly potential of the local institute).

Last date to Apply (Deadline): February 04, 2020

Scholarship Apply link (Apply here)