Ghent University’s Special Research Fund (BOF) awards about 15 “sandwich” PhD scholarships each year to candidates from a listed set of Global South countries.
The PhD spans 48 months: 24 at Ghent University, starting and ending there with stays of 3–12 months, and 24 at a partner university or research centre in the South. Ghent pays only the Ghent months; the partner must fund the rest. The degree is a Ghent PhD, single or joint.
Benefits & funding
- About €2,850 a month during the 24 months at Ghent (call document), on a research contract.
- Your Ghent supervisor receives a €310 monthly bench fee and an €8,000 travel budget, which covers part of your travel and both supervisors’.
- Nothing is paid for the 24 months in the South.
- Granted once and not renewable; Ghent can reclaim it if you take a single PhD from another institution instead.
Eligibility
- You must come from, and hold the nationality of, one of the listed countries (below).
- You must intend to earn a Ghent University PhD (single or joint); exchange PhD students cannot apply.
- Early-stage PhD only: on 1 October 2027 at least 36 months of doctoral research must remain.
- A Ghent University professor must agree to supervise you, plus a PhD-holding supervisor at a partner institution in a listed country.
- The partner side must give you a full-time scholarship or salary for 24 months and leave at least 90% of your time for the PhD; fee waivers, bench fees, paid leave or projects with Ghent as a partner do not count.
- Not open if you already hold a PhD scholarship at Ghent.
- Any field, but the call requires the proposal to be relevant to the North-South context.
Application process
- 1Secure both supervisors and the partner’s signed co-funding statement; a Ghent supervisor can back at most two candidates per call, and they must be of different genders.
- 2Need an exception to the mobility or funding scheme? Email the exception form to BOF@ugent.be by 15 January 2027.
- 3Email the application form in English, with its annexes as separate PDFs, to BOFapplication@ugent.be by 9 February 2027, 23:59 Belgian time, copying your Ghent supervisor.
- 4Your Ghent supervisor separately sends an advice on you and an ethics and biosafety advice by the same deadline.
Program timeline
deadline for exception requests
15 January 2027
application deadline (23:59 Belgian time)
9 February 2027
results published online
From 12 May 2027
first Ghent stay must begin
1 October 2027 – 28 February 2028