Developing Countries Special Research Fund (BOF) – Doctoral Scholarships 2014

Under support of “Special Research Fund” (BOF), Ghent University offer doctoral research scholarship 2014 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 doctoral research scholarship 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. This international scholarship can be taken at Belgium and Developing Countries.

CLOSING DATE: March 4, 2014

 Field of Study(s):

No restrictions are imposed on the area 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.

Target Group:

International students of developing country can apply for the scholarships. Some of the country listed here: 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, Guinea, Kosovo, Guinea-Bissau, Marshall Islands, Haiti, Micronesia, Fed. States, Kiribati, Moldova, Laos, Mongolia, Lesotho, Morocco, Liberia, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Philippines, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Swaziland, Niger, Syria, Rwanda, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Sao Tome & Principe, Turkmenistan, Central African Rep., Fiji, Peru, Chad, Georgia, Suriname, Comoros, Ghana, Indonesia, Gambia, Iraq,  Pakistan, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Mauritania, Paraguay, Senegal, Ukraine, Sierra Leone and Uzbekistan, Thailand, Congo, Dem. Rep., Guatemala, Tunisia, Djibouti ,Guyana ,Uruguay, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, South Africa, Eritrea, India, and Ethiopia.

Eligibility:

Applicants of this Doctoral Research Scholarship 2014 must meet all the following requirements:

• Applicants need to come from – and have the nationality of – a developing country
• There must be a guarantee that the applicant 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 applicant 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 applicant receives/received a local scholarship or salary when working on the PhD in the home institute.

What does it cover:

• The applicant receives a “sandwich” type scholarship for a total of 24 months. Within a span of 48 months, the applicant 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 applicant 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.

How to apply:

Before applying the doctoral research scholarship, students need to find a professor from Ghent University who is willing to act as the supervisor (‘promoter’) of their doctoral research and who agrees to support their application. The best way to do this is by browsing the list of faculties and research topics available on our research directory.

• The applicant applies to Ghent University jointly with a promoter of Ghent University and a supervisor at the local institution.
• The promoter at Ghent University has to fill in a separate document (‘promoter’s advice’- only available in Dutch) with advice on the applicant, stating the promoter’s opinion on the potential of the applicant as a future researcher.
• The Research Council will make 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 doctoral project;
  • the qualifications of the applicant;
  • the relevance of the research topic for development;
  • the scientific/scholarly potential of the local institute
  • the scientific/scholarly potential of the promoter’s research group(s);
  • the partnership between Ghent University and the local institute

Application form and other important documents can be found at http://www.ugent.be/en/research/funding/phd/bof/dos

Source & further information on Doctoral Research Scholarship 2014/2015:

Official Site of Universiteit Gent

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