University of Ghent is offering doctoral scholarships in Belgium. Scholarships are awarded to PhD students from developing countries who wish to carry out their PhD research at Ghent University. Half of the PhD research is carried out in the university and half in a developing country (home country). For the remaining part of PhD Research student must prove that they will be financed at their home country (e.g. local scholarship or salary). The scholarship is offered for 24 months and will be divided into several periods within a span of 4 years. Students are advised to stay for long periods in Ghent (e.g. 1 year). Application should be submitted till March 4, 2014.
Study Subject (s): No restrictions are imposed on the field of research, nevertheless preference will be given to topics that are relevant for development. Relevance for development measures the degree in which the action of development corresponds with the expectations of the beneficiaries, the needs of the country, global priorities and the policies of partners and donors.
Course Level: Scholarships are available for PhD students who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University and half at a university in a developing country.
Scholarship Provider: University of Ghent, Belgium
Scholarship can be taken at: Belgium and Developing Countries
Eligibility: To be admissible for this call, all of the following requirements must be met:
- Candidates need to come from – and have the nationality of – a developing country.
- There must be a guarantee that the candidate will be able to work on the PhD project at the partner university in a selected developing country. This implies that there must be a local PhD supervisor at the partner university or research center. Also a written statement is requested from that supervisor or the university authorities stating that the candidate is either a student or a staff member of this university and will be sufficiently exempted from teaching or other assignments as to be able to fully concentrate on the PhD research.
- This statement should also mention that the candidate receives/received a local scholarship or salary when working on the PhD in the home institute.
Scholarship Open for International Students: The students of developing country (Afghanistan, Kenya, Armenia, Brazil, Angola, Korea, Dem.Rep., Belize, China, Bangladesh, Krygyz Rep., Bolivia, Colombia, Benin, South Sudan, Cameroon, Cuba, Bhutan, Tajikistan, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Burkina, Faso, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Burundi, Egypt, Jordan, Cambodia, El Salvador, Mexico, Central African Rep., Fiji, Peru, Chad, Georgia, Suriname, Comoros, Ghana, Thailand, Congo, Dem. Rep., Guatemala, Tunisia, Djibouti ,Guyana ,Uruguay, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, South Africa, Eritrea, India, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Gambia, Iraq, Guinea, Kosovo, Guinea-Bissau, Marshall Islands, Haiti, Micronesia, Fed. States, Kiribati, Moldova, Laos, Mongolia, Lesotho, Morocco, Liberia, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Nigeria, Malawi, Pakistan, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Mauritania, Paraguay, Mozambique, Philippines, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Swaziland, Niger, Syria, Rwanda, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Sao Tome & Principe, Turkmenistan, Senegal, Ukraine, Sierra Leone and Uzbekistan) can apply for the scholarships.
Scholarship Description: With support from its “Special Research Fund” (BOF), Ghent University wishes to support university research groups or research centres in developing countries in their aim to grow into excellent research centres 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 and half in a university in a developing country. These grants take the form of a so called “sandwich” scholarship: the candidate obtains a scholarship for 24 months to work within a span of 48 months on an alternating basis on the PhD at Ghent University and at the university or research centre in a developing country. Only for the periods the scholarship holder works at Ghent University the scholarship holder will receive a monthly income. The rest of the PhD research is done in the partner university, for which no funding is provided through this scholarship. For this part of the PhD research students must prove that they will be financed at their home university (e.g. local scholarship or salary).
Number of award(s): Not Known
Duration of award(s): The candidate obtains a scholarship for 24 months which must be divided into several periods within a span of 4 years. Students are obliged to divide the scholarship into minimum 2 different research stays in Ghent and need to return at least once to their home university for 1 long research stay in between (=‘sandwich- schedule’). Due to all practical arrangements (visa, housing, contract …) students are advised to stay for long periods in Ghent (e.g. 1 year).
What does it cover? The candidate receives a “sandwich” type scholarship for a total of 24 months. Within a span of 48 months, the candidate needs to work on the PhD project both at Ghent University and the partner university. Only for the periods the scholarship holder works at Ghent University the scholarship holder will receive a monthly income. The rest of the PhD research is done in the partner university for which no funding is provided through this scholarship. The partner university has to provide a salary or local scholarship for the period the candidate works there. The value of the scholarship at Ghent University depends on, a.o., the researcher’s family situation and is approximately €1.830. The Ghent University promoter also receives a bench fee of €15.440 to cover (part of) the operational costs, as well as the travelling costs of the student and both the Ghent University and the local promoter.
Selection Criteria: The Research Council makes a selection of the applications based in part on the recommendations obtained from members of the Council for Development Cooperation. The recommendation is based on:
- the qualifications of the applicant;
- the doctoral project;
- the relevance of the research topic for development;
- 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.
Notification: Not Known
How to Apply: The mode of applying is by post or email.
Scholarship Application Deadline: The application deadline is March 4, 2014.
