Doctoral Scholarships for Candidates from Developing Countries at Ghent University 2025

With support from its “Special Research Fund” (BOF), Ghent University grants PhD scholarships to promising Ph.D. students from developing countries who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University and half in a university in a developing country.

Eligibility Criteria of the Scholarship:

• Applicants must be nationals of selected Global South countries.
• Applicants must have just commenced their PhD program at the University.
• Applicants intending to obtain a joint PhD degree at the university only can apply.
• Applicants identified as exchange students do not qualify for the scholarship. 
• Applicants must submit the proposal along with the supervisor (promoter) at Ghent University and a supervisor at the partner university (South).

Application Process:

The application should include the following components:

• Completed online applicaton form to BOFapplication@ugent.be;
• Records of study results;
• A written statement from a lawful representative of the partner institution concerning the co-financing of the candidate’s PhD research at this university.

The Ghent University supervisor must submit the following documents: 

• An advice on the candidate, stating the supervisors opinion on the capability of the candidate as a future researcher
• An advice on the ethical and biosafety context of the proposed research project

Value of the Scholarship: 

The successful candidates can avail of the following benefits:

• PhD scholarship at Ghent University;
• The Ghent University supervisor gets a monthly fee of €310 for research in Ghent, along with a travel budget of €8,000. This budget helps pay for some of the operating costs and part of the travel expenses for the student and both the Ghent University and the local supervisor.