Special Research Fund - Doctoral Scholarships for Candidates from Developing Countries
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).
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.
The
proposals must be submitted by a candidate, a promoter at Ghent University and
a supervisor at the local institution.
Before
applying 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.
Duration
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 (approx. 1 year) 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).
§ This
scholarship call does not intend to support students who plan only 1 research
stay in Ghent. Students who have
already started their PhD and will be in the final phase of their PhD are
advised to read the call for finalizing PhD grants.
Who can apply?
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 (see country list);
§ 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.
How does it work
The
candidate 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 candidate, stating the promoter's
opinion on the potential of the candidate as a future researcher.
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.
How much funding is involved
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.
Deadline
Deadline
: 4 March 2014
Reach Oxford Scholarship
Students should note they must apply for admission to the
University before they can be considered for a Reach Oxford Scholarship. The
University is unable to consider any scholarship applications from
students who have not been offered a place at Oxford. The University is not
responsible for the content of external sites advertising the scheme and would
encourage applicants to read the following details to check their eligiblity.
A number of Reach Oxford scholarships (formerly Oxford
Student Scholarships) are offered to students from low income countries who,
for political or financial reasons, or because suitable educational facilities
do not exist, cannot study for a degree in their own countries.
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