New scale for FRIA and FRESH Doctoral Grant
The Walloon Government's decree of May 16, 2019 "relating to the granting of a subsidy to the National Fund for Scientific Research, in particular the associated fund FRIA - Fund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture, so that it can finance researchers in the field of research in industry and agriculture" indicates an increase in the budget allocated to the FRIA intended to align the FRIA scales with those of FNRS Aspirant grantees: "The FNRS-FRIA applies a single scale for Aspirant grantees (ASP) to the researchers financed".
Within the framework of the 2019-20 sectorial negotiation on social programming in education, the Government of the Federation Wallonie Bruxelles has also committed itself to "aligning the amount of FRESH, FRIA and FSR doctoral scholarships of the universities with the amount of the FNRS Aspirant scholarship".
As a consequence, the FRIA Board of Directors decided on December 8, 2020, thanks to the financial support provided in this context by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the Walloon Region, to adapt the scale for all new FRIA and FRESH scholarship holders as well as for current and former scholarship holders until September 30, 2020. The application of this revaluation will have to be made with retroactive effect as of October 1, 2019, in accordance with the decree of the French Community and the order of the Walloon Region. This retroactive revaluation will therefore be carried out to the benefit of the scholarship holders, taking into consideration the FNRS Aspirant scale in force during the periods concerned.
The amount of the scholarships is therefore as follows
- 1st scholarship : 27.836, 40 € (gross annual)
- 2nd scholarship: 29.158, 56 € (gross annual)
The adjustment of the scale will therefore be effective as of this month of December and the December payment will include the increase for the month of December 2020 as well as the retroactive adjustment for the period between October 1, 2019 and November 30, 2020 (for the Fellows in function at this period) with the Aspirants' scale in force at the periods concerned.
