Doctoral Scholarships in the framework of the Interfaculty Council for Development Co-operation (IRO)
Welcome to the IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme!
As one of its contributions to development co-operation, KU Leuven offers each academic year scholarships to deserving students from developing countries to do their PhD in the largest university in Flanders, Belgium.
Also commonly referred to as the IRO scholarships (IRO in Dutch stands for Interfacultaire Raad voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking), this scholarship programme has supported more than sixty Ph.D. graduates over the past five years. After obtaining their doctorates at KU Leuven, these Ph.D. holders are now valorising their degrees in their home countries either in university academic research or in various sectors of industry.
Essential to the application for the IRO scholarship and to completing a doctoral programme successfully is the choice of a good doctoral research topic and supervisor. New applicants are now provided two alternatives: either by selecting amongst the faculty research topics offered by the doctoral schools or by submitting their own personal research proposal.
KU Leuven, which is situated at about 20 kilometers from Brussels, the capital of both Belgium and Europe, is the oldest university of the Low Countries. As such, it has a long-standing tradition of hospitality towards students and scholars from abroad. At present, almost 4,000 international students (about 10% of the total number of students at KU Leuven) have found their home away from home in Leuven.
Faculty Research Topics
Faculty research topics for the IRO scholarships are proposed by the three doctoral schools:
Humanities and Social Sciences
Science, Engineering and Technology (Arenberg doctoral school)
The mission of these doctoral schools is
to organize the international recruitment and placement of doctoral students.
to organize a doctoral training programme by which doctoral students develop their personal and academic skills, broaden their horizon and to interact with top-level scientists while discussing and conducting cutting edge research.
to promote the career perspectives of doctoral students through the training they provide, and also through the networks the schools have with organizations, industries and other universities.
Applicants for the IRO scholarship who do not yet have a particular research topic in mind may select a particular topic that interests them out of the faculty research topics. Also, you will need to include a one-page, written motivation explaining how the topic you chose can be approached and treated in a manner relevant to development co-operation.
The print-out of the research topic and your motivation need to be included in your application file. (New faculty research topics for the selection round 2013-2014 will be available by November 2012.)
Personal Research Proposal
Applicants for the IRO scholarships who already have a specific research topic in mind may submit their own, personal research proposal along with their application file, instead of one of the priority research fields.
Your first step is to contact a professor at KU Leuven to discuss the opportunities for pursuing doctoral studies with your proposed personal research topic. Within the websites of the three Doctoral Schools, namely "Humanities and Social Sciences", "Science, Engineering and Technology (Arenberg doctoral school)" and "Biomedical Sciences", you can find out which KU Leuven professors do research on which topics. Alternatively, you may also visit the webpages of the faculties or departments in order to get an idea of the faculty members' research interests. The contact information for each professor is provided accordingly.
Your next step is then to fill out the following form, indicating the name of the prospective professor-supervisor, the title, outline, tentative bibliography, provisional objectives, methodology and time-frame of your research. The form simply provides the basic structure of the proposal. The proposal itself may, of course, be longer than the two pages provided. In addition, you will need to include a one-page, written motivation explaining how the topic you chose can be approached and treated in a manner relevant to development co-operation. Lastly, the prospective supervisor has to endorse your proposal by appending his or her signature.
Applicants for the IRO scholarship who are already enrolled in a doctoral programme at KU Leuven will only need to prepare a detailed progress report of their research, instead of a research proposal. The report must also be signed by the student’s supervisor.
General Eligibility Conditions
At the level of the applicant
The applicant must be a citizen of a developing country recognised on the list of the Flemish Interuniversity Council for University Development Cooperation. Citizens of Eastern European countries and former Russian republics are not eligible. In addition, it must be financially impossible for the applicant or his or her family to pay for studies abroad.
The age limit is 35 years of age. Priority is given to young students under 30 years of age.
The applicant must demonstrate having achieved excellent academic results.
The applicant must also demonstrate one's "embedness in the South" by submitting the certificate of professional engagement, signed by a person or an institution confirming that, after the doctoral studies, he or she will be accepted for a specific position or job in one's country of origin or in another developing country.
The applicant must demonstrate willingness to contribute to development cooperation by submitting a one-page, written motivation that answers the following key questions:
a) How will your research contribute to sustainable development in your country or another developing country via direct intervention or critical reflection?
b) How will the results of your research have an impact on sustainable human oriented development?
c) How will your research contribute to the quality and and the capcity-building of the organisation where you will work in the South?
Women are encouraged to apply for the doctoral scholarship. With all things being equal in terms of academic background, evaluation and ranking by the faculty and the IRO Council with regard to two or more applicants considered for the scholarship, preference would be given to the female candidate.
Applicants who have already been enrolled in the predoctoral programme and/or doctoral programme at KU Leuven can only be granted the IRO scholarship until their fifth year of studies. However, this condition does not nullify the general rule that all doctoral scholarships granted by KU Leuven cannot, by law, exceed a maximum of 4 years.
At the level of the doctoral research topic
In case one submits a personal research proposal, it must be original and innovative. Moreover, the proposal must be clear, goal-oriented and feasible, meaning that it must be possible to complete the research within a maximum of four years. The applicant needs to include a one-page, written motivation explaining how the research proposal can be approached and treated in a manner relevant to development co-operation.
In case one selected a topic amongst the faculty research topics, the applicant will need to include a one-page, written motivation explaining how the chosen topic can be approached and treated in a manner relevant to development co-operation (see nr. 5 above).
Further Info: http://www.kuleuven.be/iro/index.html
0 Comments