2025 - BOF DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP
Research
Funding organisation:
Bijzonder OnderzoeksFonds
What?
The BOF programme ‘Doctoral Scholarship’ involves funding for starting personal mandates with a PhD finality for promising candidate PhDs at the start of a doctoral trajectory.Applications within the Doctoral Scholarship Programme have the classic form of 2 x 2 years. However, applications for a 2-year funding are possible in case of:
- cofinancing by another institution, which offers 2 years of funding and the PhD leads to a joint PhD with a double degree;
- cofinancing by another institution, which offers 1 year of funding, the PhD leads to a joint PhD with a double degree and a 4th year of funding is provided by internal means of the Research group or faculty;
- cofinancing by a non-universitary institution, which offers 2 years of funding and the PhD leads to an UHasselt PhD;
- cofinancing by a non-universitary institution, which offers one year of funding, the PhD leads to an UHasselt PhD and a fourth year of funding is provided by internal means of the Research group or faculty
These types of applications with cofinancing are only admissible when the PhD at the other institution hasn’t started yet.
Who?
- This programme is open to all applicants* without restriction to gender, nationality or age;
- All prospective doctoral students are eligible, provided that they are admitted to the PhD by the relevant faculty within Hasselt University.
- Note that an appointment as a bursary student (“doctoraatsbursaal”) requires the applicant to work in Belgium during the total duration of the PhD.
- Check the website regarding PhD salary scales.
*This call is open to candidate PhD students, without restriction to gender, nationality or age. Since this concerns mandates in the scholarship statute, the circular of the Belgian Ministry of Finance regarding the exemption conditions of doctoral scholarships applies. This states, among other things, that employment contracts may not be replaced by a doctoral scholarship.
Submission obligations
- Each applicant has to submit a parallel application for FWO PhD fellowship Fundamental Research (FO), a FWO PhD fellowship strategic basic research (SB) or another externally funded scholarship, if the prospective doctoral student is eligible according to the rules of the financier.
Should the applicant be granted an FWO fellowship and be selected for a BOF scholarship as well, the candidate is obliged to accept the FWO fellowship.
- It will be compulsory from the 2025 call onwards to reapply to the FWO when you have received a BOF doctoral fund scholarship. This reapplication should be done within the period when one is still eligible to submit, i.e. either in the next call or in the call thereafter (eligibility criteria to be checked on the FWO website). BOF funds will therefore be granted conditionally. If no reapplication is submitted to FWO, the granted BOF-funding will be invalidated.
Exclusion criteria (check the decision tree for eligibility)
Regardless of the type of appointment or financing under which the PhD research is executed, candidate PhDs that already started their PhD research (for example, but not limited to, having started a doctoral file or having an appointment as “doctoraatsbursaal”) are excluded from applying for this call. However, persons that have started their doctorate as Voluntary Scientific Researcher (VWM statute for max 1 year ongoing at the deadline if no paid professional activity on the side is exercised - persons don’t receive funding to execute the doctorate) and who haven’t been granted a BOF BILA, are allowed to submit a proposal within the doctoral scholarship programme.
A person can only be appointed as a PhD fellow (“doctoraatsbursaal”) for a maximum period of 48 months in total across all Belgian universities; should you have been appointed as "doctoraatsbursaal" at a Belgian university in the past, you're are excluded from applying in this call.
In case of a joint PhD with one of the preferred partners of UHasselt (being Maastricht University, ULiège or UNamur) the applicants must be submitted in the call for Euregional doctoral grants when the Euregional call is opened in the domain of the application. In that case, an application within the BOF doctoral scholarship programme, is inadmissible.
Candidates on the list of effective or reserve candidates that will have been appointed as “doctoraatsbursaal” before the start date of the BOF scholarship, will be excluded from the BOF funding. The BOF funding will then be proposed to the following candidate on the list.
Candidates that are appointed as fixed term contract researcher (“navorser”) without having started a PhD, are not eligible to apply if the appointment as researcher has started before 01.11.year X-2 (i.e. the appointment as researcher can’t have started more than 2 years before the start date of the scholarship).
In addition, according to the legislation, a position as researcher can never be terminated to start a position as “doctoraatsbursaal”. As a BOF scholarship needs to start on 01.02.year x+1 at the latest, the foreseen contract of the researcher needs to end, the latest on 31.01.year x+1 (without any intervention to terminate the researcher’s contract in order to start the position as “doctoraatsbursaal”).
Application?
- The proposals must be submitted by the doctoral candidate, together with a promoter who is affiliated with Hasselt University and can act, in accordance with the doctoral regulations, as promoter at Hasselt University. https://www.uhasselt.be/information-for-current-PhDstudents
- Each promoter can only be involved in maximum two applications per call. If the candidate has submitted an application to the FWO simultaneously, the BOF application has to be submitted with the same promoter (no switch between promoter and co-promoter possible).
- The proposals must be submitted using the application forms.
- The completed application forms are electronically submitted to BOF@uhasselt.be.
- A recommendation letter by the promoter can be included in the application (not mandatory).
- Each applicant has to submit a parallel application for FWO PhD fellowship Fundamental Research (FO), a FWO PhD fellowship strategic basic research (SB) or another externally funded scholarship, if the prospective doctoral student is eligible according to the rules of the financier.
- Applications are submitted in English.
Timing
- March 1st (23h59): deadline submission of application. If this is a Saturday, Sunday, or a public holiday, the closing date is moved to the next working day at 23h59;
- April-May: selection procedure with internal selection and interview round;
- End of June: announcement selection;
- November 1st: start of the mandate.
Regulations?
More information?
Contact Hasselt University:E-mail: elke.bos@uhasselt.be
Tel.: +32 11 26 90 53
Support with regard to the application form will be guaranteed up to 3 working days before submission date.
Deadline
01.03.2025
Contact Hasselt University?
E-mail elke.bos@uhasselt.be
Tel. +3211269053