Ghent University Special Research Fund – Doctoral Scholarships 2025

With support from its “Special Research Fund” (BOF) Ghent University grants PhD “sandwich” scholarships to promising PhD students from Global South countries who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University (‘North’) and half at a university in the Global South (‘South’). Ghent University only finances the part of the research that will be carried out in Ghent (24 months). The candidate must have full-time funding for the other 24 months of research to be carried out in the South.

Funding of Special Research Fund

• PhD scholarship at Ghent University  (in total 24 months).
• The Ghent University promoter receives a bench fee of € 310/per month of research in Ghent + € 8.000 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.

Co-funding

Co-funding is mandatory with this scholarship.

In general, the following conditions must be guaranteed by the partner in the South:

• There must be a local PhD supervisor at the partner university or research center in the South;
• A written statement from the partner university is requested stating that the candidate will receive a fulltime local PhD scholarship or salary for a period of 24 months when working on the PhD at the partner university in the South 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).

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Eligibility for Special Research Fund

• Candidates need to come from – and have the nationality of – one of the selected Global South countries (see country list);
• The proposals must be jointly submitted by a candidate, a supervisor (promoter) at Ghent University and a supervisor at the partner university (South);
• No restrictions are imposed on the field of research, nevertheless  preference will be given to topics that are relevant within the North-South context;
• Only degree students (students who intend to obtain a (joint ) PhD degree at Ghent University) can apply. Exchange students cannot apply for this scholarship;
• This program is meant for students at the beginning of their PhD. To a limited extent, PhD students are allowed to have already completed preliminary research. At the time the fellowship starts (1/10/2025), a minimum of 36 months of doctoral research must still be required to complete the PhD;
• Ghent university wants to encourage more female researchers to apply for this scholarship. That is why a Ghent University supervisor can support maximum 2 candidates per call on condition they are both of a different gender.

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Application

Application forms must be submitted (in English) electronically to [email protected].

• In addition to the application form, the Ghent University supervisor must also submit the following 2 documents:
  • An advice on the candidate, stating the supervisors opinion on the capability of the candidate as a future researcher.
  • An advice on the ethical and biosafety context of the proposed research project.

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