Chinese Academy of Sciences - World Academy of Sciences President’s PhD Fellowship Program 2019, China

CAS-TWAS President’s PhD Fellowship Program

According to an agreement between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries, up to 200 students/scholars from all over the world will be sponsored to study in China for doctoral degrees for up to 4 years.

This CAS-TWAS President’s Fellowship Programme provides students/scholars that are non-Chinese citizens an opportunity to pursue doctoral degrees at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) or Institutes of CAS around China.

Under the terms of the CAS-TWAS agreement, travel from their home countries to China will be provided to the fellowship awardees in order to begin the fellowship in China (one trip only per student/scholar). TWAS will select 80 awardees from developing countries to support their international travel, while CAS will support the other 120. Visa fee will also be covered (once only per awardee) as a lump sum of USD 65 after all the awardees are on site in China. Any awardee on site in China, the host country, at the time of application will NOT be eligible for any travel or visa reimbursement.

Thanks to generous contribution of CAS, fellowship awardees will receive a monthly stipend (to cover accommodation and other living expenses, local travel expenses and health insurance) of RMB 7,000 or RMB 8,000 from CAS through UCAS/USTC, depending on whether he/she has passed the qualification test arranged by UCAS/USTC for all doctoral candidates after admission. All awardees will also be provided tuition and application fee waivers.

Any fellowship awardee who fails the qualification test twice will face the consequences including:

• Termination of his/her fellowship;
• Discontinuity of his/her doctoral study at CAS institutions;
• Being provided with a certificate of attendance for the period of study undertaken in China but not a formal doctoral degree.

All the procedures will adhere to UCAS/USTC regulations and rules.

The funding duration of the fellowship is up to 4 years WITH NO EXTENSION, divided into:

1. Maximum 1 year study of courses and participation in centralized training at UCAS/USTC, including 4 months compulsory courses in Chinese Language and Chinese Culture;
2. Practical research and completion of degree thesis at colleges and schools of UCAS/USTC or CAS institutes.

General conditions for applicants:

Applicants must:

• Be maximum age of 35 years on 31 December 2019;
• Not take up other assignments during the period of his/her fellowship;
• Not hold Chinese citizenship;
• Applicants for doctoral study should also:
• Meet the admission criteria for international students of UCAS/USTC (criteria of UCAS/criteria of USTC).
• Hold a master degree before the beginning of the fall semester: 1 September, 2019.
• Provide evidence that he/she will return to their home country on completion of their studies in China according to CAS-TWAS agreement.
• Provide proof of knowledge of English or Chinese language.

 Please note:

• Applicants currently pursuing doctoral degrees at any university/institution in China are NOT eligible for this fellowship.
• Applicants CANNOT apply for both UCAS and USTC simultaneously.
• Applicants can ONLY apply to ONE supervisor from ONE institute/school at either UCAS or USTC.
• Applicants can only apply to one TWAS programme per year, therefore an applicant applying to the 2019 CAS-TWAS President’s fellowship call will not be eligible to apply for any other TWAS fellowship in 2019.

STEP BY STEP GUIDELINE

In order to successfully apply for the CAS-TWAS President’s Fellowship, applicants are requested to follow a few key steps that are indicated below:

 1. CHECK ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

You should verify that you are eligible and meet ALL the eligibility criteria specified in the “General conditions for applicants” section of this call (e.g. age, master degree, etc).

 2. FIND AN ELIGIBLE HOST SUPERVISOR AFFILIATED WITH COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS OF UCAS/USTC, OR CAS INSTITUTES THAT AGREES TO ACCEPT YOU.

You must contact an eligible supervisor and get his/her approval before applying for the CAS-TWAS President’s Fellowship. Please send him/her an explanatory e-mail together with your CV, research proposal and any other required documents when establishing the contact with the supervisor. 

 3. FILE YOUR FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION FORM VIA THE ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM. 

A. Visit our official website for the fellowship online application system.

Create your own account, and follow the instructions to finish the online application form.

B. Prepare and upload the following supporting documentation to the fellowship online application system:

• Your regular passport which has at least 2 years validity (only pages showing personal and validity details are needed);
• Complete CV with a brief introduction of research experience;
• Original copy of the certificate of university degrees held (both undergraduate and postgraduate; graduates having just completed or about to complete their degree should provide an official pre-graduation certificate showing their student status and stating the expected graduation date);
• Proof of knowledge of English and/or Chinese;
• Original copy of transcripts of both undergraduate and post-graduate education;
• Detailed research proposal;
• Photocopies of all the title pages and abstracts of maximum 5 published academic papers;
• Foreigner Physical Examination Form (Attachment 1- find this at the bottom of this page)

C. Acquire TWO reference letters:

You must ask two referees (NOT the host supervisor, preferably TWAS members, but not a mandatory requirement) familiar with you and your work to

1) upload their scanned reference letters (signed, dated and on official headed paper with contact phone number and email address) to the fellowship online application system and

 2) send the original hard copies to the UCAS/USTC fellowship office before deadline.

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.