2023 - 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 PhD’s 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 years 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.
Within this programme, doctoral candidates who have submitted an FWO PhD Fellowship application (FO or SB) or doctoral candidates who weren’t eligible to submit an FWO Fellowship application (cf. FWO regulations concerning PhD Fellowships), can request an additional bench fee of up to up to € 8,000 per year. These funds must be applied for within the application, using the templates provided.
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.
*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.
Exclusion criteria
Regardless the type of appointment or financing under which the PhD research is executed, candidate PhDs that already started their PhD research (i.e. having started a doctoral file or having an appointment as “doctoraatsbursaal”) are excluded from applying for this call.
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.
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 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.
- The applicants can only submit their application within 1 of the BOF doctoral funding programmes: Euregional doctoral grants (with either ULiège, UNamur or UM) or UHasselt doctoral scholarship programme.
Deadline
1 March (if this falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it is moved to the next working day at 5 pm).
Planning
- March 1st (5:00 pm): 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 5:00 pm;
- April-May: selection procedure with internal selection and interview round;
- End of June: announcement selection;
- November 1st: start of the mandate.
Support with regard to the application form will be guaranteed up to 3 working days before submission date.
Regulations?
Deadline
01.03.2023
Contact Hasselt University?
E-mail elke.bos@uhasselt.be
Tel. +3211269053