Global Minds Doctoral Scholarships Programme at KU Leuven

Brief description:

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

The aim is to give students the opportunity to conduct PhD research in a ‘sandwich’ system, which means that 50% of the research takes place at KU Leuven and 50% at the home institution of the scholar, supported by a local co-promoter. The PhD degree is awarded by KU Leuven.

Host Institution(s):

K.U. Leuven and your Home Institution

Field(s) of study:

 PhD Research Degree in development-related topics

Number of Scholarships:

Not specified

Target group:

Citizen of one of the countries included in the scholarship country list:

Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Palestinian Territories, Vietnam

Latin America: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru

Scholarship value/inclusions:

The scholarship covers tuition fee, monthly allowance, insurance, travel costs, research allowance, etc. For the full benefit list, refer to this link.

Eligibility:

1. The applicant must be a citizen of one of the eligible countries (see above 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’s latest Master’s degree must have been awarded no more than ten years ago, so not before 2015.
4. 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.
5. The research project must be of excellent academic quality, with a special focus on the development relevance of the proposal.

READ THE FULL ELIGIBLITY CRITERIA AT THIS LINK.

Application instructions:

The application procedure entails two steps: (1) first the candidate should obtain admission to a doctoral or predoctoral program. Applications from candidates who have started the application procedure for admission to a doctoral or predoctoral programme too late may not be evaluated in time – so please start this procedure as soon as possible (2.5 months before the deadline). (2) Only once this admission has been obtained, can the candidate apply for a Global Minds PhD scholarship. The scholarship application deadline is 28 February 2025 at 5:00PM GMT.

It is important to read the application procedure and visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Website:

Official Scholarship Website: https://www.kuleuven.be/english/international/development-cooperation/funding-possibilities/research-possibilities/phdcalls