SofinaBoël Fellowships 2027

Détails du financement

Scope and objective

• The objective of these Fellowships is to enable talented PhD students to undertake a 6- or 12-month research and/or training stay abroad.
• Candidates may go abroad to a host institution of their choice in all countries worldwide except the United States of America (for which another mobility scheme with the BAEF exists).

Fellowships support 

• Fixed allowance of 1.650 €/month. Top-up funding that may be used for accommodation, daily living expenses, expenses related to the research or training undertaken in the course of the Fellowship, and local transportation.
• Travel costs: a lump sum of 1.000 € covering one economy class return ticket.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must be PhD students with a fully paid affiliation at a Belgian University at the deadline of the call and when leaving for the research stay.
• Applicants are expected to maintain their paid affiliation at a Belgian university for the entire duration of their stay.
• Applicants must have obtained a MA or MSc after November 1^st, 2022.
• Applicants must have been affiliated to a Belgian university for at least one full year (paid or unpaid) prior to the submission deadline.
• Beneficiaries of clinical PhD fellowships, as well as applicants from the Royal Military Academy, are eligible.
• The stay abroad will last either 6 or 12 months and should fall within the academic year 2027-2028.
• Applicants who have already obtained a SofinaBoël Fellowship in the past are not eligible. 

Evaluation 

An independent Panel, appointed by the FNRS and the FWO, will evaluate all applications according to the following evaluation criteria:

• Candidate (50%)
• Project (40%)
• Sustainable Development Goals (10%)

The final decision will be made by the Board of Trustees of the Fund SofinaBoël for Education and Talent, based on the recommendations of the FNRS/FWO-appointed independent Panel.

Call timeline

• Call opening: 1 September 2026
• Call deadline: 26 October 2026
• Panel meeting: March 2027

How to apply? 

Applications, written in English, must be submitted electronically to prix@frs-fnrs.be by 26 October 2026 at the latest. 

The requested documents are:

• The duly completed application form. 
• A detailled curriculum vitae (including a list of publications).
• A letter of reference by the applicant’s PhD supervisor.
• A personal motivation letter.
• An invitation letter from the foreign host institution.
• A detailed curriculum vitae (with list of publications) of the head of the foreign research group.

Call documents 

The complete regulations are available here.  
The FAQ with relevant additional information pertaining to the call is available here.  
The list of the previous laureates is available here.

Contact 

Questions about the Fellowships should be adressed via email to prix@frs-fnrs.be.