KU Leuven Global Minds doctoral scholarships

As one of its contributions to development cooperation, every academic year KU Leuven selects exceptional students from developing countries as a doctoral scholarship candidate to obtain their PhD from the largest university in Belgium. The Global Minds Programme is managed by IRO, the university’s Interfaculty Council for Development Cooperation.

Eligibility:

1. The applicant must be a citizen of one of the countries included in the VLIR-UOS scholarship country list.
2. Candidates who have citizenship of the EU will not be selected. The same applies to applicants with a long-term EU residence permit.
3. The candidate must have been awarded an academic grade equivalent to High Distinction or higher. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second class second/lower division will not be taken into consideration.
4. The research project must be of excellent academic quality, with a special focus on the development relevance of the proposal.
5. The research project must have a clear time frame that indicates how the research periods at KU Leuven and at the home institution will alternate (a maximum period of 12 months at the home institution should alternate with a maximum period of 12 months at KU Leuven).
6. The candidate must be formally affiliated to a university in the home country as an employee. In case the candidate has no such affiliation yet, he/she is eligible to apply to this scholarship programme but will only be granted the scholarship once such an affiliation is obtained. All parties involved in the PhD proposal (candidate, KU Leuven promotor, local co-promotor and the home university of the candidate) should be able to comply with the stipulations contained in the scholarship contract, which can be consulted here.
7. The applicant’s home university must demonstrate sufficient support for the doctoral project, guaranteeing that the candidate can dedicate himself/herself sufficiently to conducting doctoral research during the periods spent at the home institution. Candidates who are not yet affiliated with a university in their home country do not yet have to demonstrate the support of the home university. However, the scholarship will only be granted once the candidate is formally affiliated to a university in the home country and when, consequently, that university can demonstrate sufficient support. All parties involved in the PhD proposal (candidate, KU Leuven promotor, local co-promotor and the home university of the candidate) should be able to comply with the stipulations contained in the scholarship contract, which can be consulted here.
8. Candidates who are already enrolled as PhD-students at KU Leuven and who are financed by KU Leuven are not eligible for this programme. However, they might be eligible for PhD Scholarships for Researchers from the South.
9. Candidates who have been employed before in an EEA country other than Belgium are not eligible for this scholarship. They may be eligible for the PhD Scholarships for Researchers from the South though.
10. Etc.

Click the following to access the scholarship application site.