As one of its contributions to development cooperation, KU Leuven offers scholarships every academic year to exceptional students from developing countries to course their PhD in the largest university of Flanders, Belgium. The programme is organised and managed by IRO, the University's Interfaculty Council for Development Cooperation - https://www.kuleuven.be/english/international/development-cooperation/iro/home.
Over the past ten years, the IRO Doctoral Scholarships Programme has supported over a hundred PhD graduates. Having obtained their doctoral degree from KU Leuven, the PhD holders are now utilising their expertise back in their home countries either at a university (by doing academic research), government bodies, civil society organisations or in various sectors of the industry.
KU Leuven is situated at about twenty kilometers from Brussels, the capital of both Belgium and Europe. It is the oldest university of the Low Countries. As such, it has a long-standing tradition of hospitality towards students and scholars from abroad. Currently, almost 7,000 international students (about 15% of the total number of students at KU Leuven) have found their home away from home in Leuven.
General Eligibility Conditions
- The applicant must be a citizen of one of the countries on the OCDE DAC table - http://www.kuleuven.be/english/international/funding/iro/countries that are considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries or Low Middle Income Countries.
- The applicant may not possess a citizenship from an EU country. The applicant may not posses a long-term EU residence permit.
- The candidate's latest master’s degree must have been awarded no more than ten years prior to October 1st, 2016 (including the ongoing calendar year).
- The candidate must hold an academic qualification at least equivalent to a high distinction. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second class second/lower division will not be taken into consideration.
- Excellent academic quality of the research project, focusing on the development relevance of the proposal.
- The candidate must demonstrate a development-oriented motivation.
- The candidate must be supported by a local co-promoter at the candidate's home country to ensure embeddedness of the research within the country's context.
- The candidate must be supported by excellent recommendations from relevant referees.
- The candidate must follow the application procedure http://www.kuleuven.be/english/international/funding/iro/application-procedure and complete his file before November 9th 2015. Please make sure to fill up the application form with the following instructions:
- First name and last name as written on the passport.
- Status: Doctoral Programme - http://www.kuleuven.be/english/admissions/statuses/doct-noneea (diploma contract) or Predoctoral programme - http://www.kuleuven.be/english/admissions/statuses/predoc-noneea.
- Academic year: If you apply between September and October 2015, you must select 2015 - 2016; Starting from November, you must select 2016 - 2017.
- Is this application also intended as a scholarship application? Yes.
- Name of the scholarship agency: IRO Doctoral Scholarship
Please do not submit your application unless it fulfills the conditions enlisted above. Incomplete or late applications will not be taken into consideration without exception.
Research topics
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Have their own formal doctoral research topic proposal. The research proposal must be original and innovative. Moreover, it must be clear, goal-oriented and its completion must be feasible within a maximum period of four years.
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Have the support and agreement on the doctoral research proposal by a professor at KU Leuven; namely, have a promoter at KU Leuven. Please visit the websites of the Doctoral Schools at KU Leuven to find out about the research topics of each of the professors:
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"Humanities and Social Sciences" - http://ghum.kuleuven.be/phd
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"Science, Engineering and Technology" - http://set.kuleuven.be/phd/
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"Biomedical Sciences" - http://gbiomed.kuleuven.be/english/phd
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Alternatively, you may also visit the websites of the faculties or departments - http://www.kuleuven.be/english/faculties_schools in order to look for a promoter with one of the faculty members having similar research interests. The professors’ contact information is provided accordingly.
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Have the support and agreement on the doctoral research proposal by a local co-promoter back at the applicant’s home country or where most of the research will be carried out and which must be one of the countries on the OCDE DAC table that are considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries or Low Middle Income Countries. This ensures embeddedness of the research within the country’s context. The local co-promoter must be affiliated with a university or research institute and must possess the scientific knowledge required to supervise the project as a promoter would do; therefore, being an authority in the matter and the institution itself, according to the rules and regulations proper to the researcher’s university or research institute.
Applications without the previously mentioned requirements will not be accepted under any circumstance.
The IRO PhD scholarship programme does not provide additional funding for the local co-promoter. Nevertheless, we do offer the possibility to apply for the IRO mobility programme for visiting experts.
Application procedure
Follow accurately the online application instructions. you must pay special attention to the following conditions:
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Before submitting the online application form, make sure to have the following fields correctly filled in:
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Your first name and last name must be written exactly as they appear on your passport.
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The status must be either “Doctoral programme (diploma contract)” or “Predoctoral programme”.
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If the application is submitted between September and October 2015, the academic year must be 2015 – 2016; starting from November, the academic year must be 2016 – 2017.
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The answer for the question “Is this application also intended as a scholarship application?” is “Yes”.
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The name of the scholarship agency is “IRO Doctoral Scholarship”.
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Make sure to upload all the core documents. Please follow the instructions about uploading PDF documents and pay special attention to the following guidelines:
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The bachelor’s degree diploma must be saved as IROdiplomaB_your last name.
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The bachelor’s degree transcript must be saved as IROtranscriptB_your last name.
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The master’s degree diploma must be saved as IROdiplomaM_your last name.
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The master’s degree transcript must be saved as IROtranscriptM_your last name.
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The English proficiency certificate must be saved as IROenglish_your last name.
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The scanned copy of your passport must be saved as IROpassport_your last name.
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The thesis proposal must be saved as IROproposal_your last name. The document must include the electronic signature of the KU Leuven promoter and the original signatures of the applicant and local co-promoter. Only the official IRO format must be used.
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Your CV must be saved as IROcv_your last name.
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The motivation letter must be saved as IROmotivation_your last name. The document must include the electronic signature of the KU Leuven promoter and the original signatures of the applicant and local co-promoter. Only the official IRO format must be used.
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Additionally you must upload the following:
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The CV of your local co-promoter; it must be saved as IROlocalcopromoter_your last name.
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Only if you are currently living in one of the EU or EEA countries, you must upload your residence permit and save it as IROrespermit_your last name.
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Only if you are applying for a doctoral programme in either economics or applied economics, a GMAT or GRE score (for a GMAT score, please contact GMAC [code JQH7X51] and arrange for an original score card to be sent directly to the International Admissions and Mobility by ETS or GMAC, respectively, before November 9th 2015.
INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS OR APPLICATIONS WITHOUT THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED PARAMETERS CORRECTLY FILLED IN WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED, WITHOUT EXCEPTION
Please note that the system only accepts one application form per faculty. Even though your research topic may be different and your prospective promoter may be different within the same faculty, you still can submit only one application for the first research topic and promoter, and you will have to send an email to irocandidates@kuleuven.be with your guest account number on the subject of the email to inform that you want to apply for a second topic with a different promoter within the same faculty.
2. Submission of physical documents:
Every package must include your guest account number on the envelope.
- Your research proposal signed by you, your local co-promoter and your KU Leuven promoter.
- Applicants who are already enrolled in a doctoral programme at KU Leuven will only need to prepare a detailed progress report as defined by their Doctoral School. The report must be signed by the KU Leuven promoter and the members of the doctoral student’s examination committee.
- Your motivation letter signed by you, your local co-promoter and your KU Leuven promoter.
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Two recommendation letters by relevant referees; only the official IRO format must be used; neither your local co-promoter nor your KU Leuven promoter can provide such letters; both letters must be sent in sealed envelopes by your referees before November 9th, 2015 to:
IRO selection committee - your guest account number
International Admissions and Mobility Unit
KU Leuven
Atrecht College
Naamsestraat 63 – bus 5410
B-3000, Leuven
Belgium
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.kuleuven.be/english/international/funding/iro/