General Eligibility Conditions

At the level of the applicant

  1. 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.
  2. The age limit is 35 years of age. Priority is given to young students under 30 years of age.
  3. The applicant must demonstrate having achieved excellent academic results.
  4. The applicant must demonstrate willingness to contribute to development cooperation 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.