PhD fellowships

In a recent communication to the Flemish Government, several important measures were announced that will affect future candidate fellows. These measures can be found via this link (in Dutch). The FWO will implement these changes as of the fellowship call opening in December 2026, provided the necessary amendment to the executive decision is adopted in time.

The adjustments focus on faster progression to the labour market, ensure balanced treatment across application types, and simplify administrative procedures. Specifically, the measures entail the following:

• Introduction of quotas during the pre-selection phase for two application types: 'final-year master's students' and 'graduated masters'. This provides equal opportunities for final-year students, who until now had a lower success rate in this first phase.
• Simplification of the seniority rules: the current seniority requirement (3 years degree seniority and 1.5 years scientific seniority) will be replaced by a single clear limit of two years degree seniority.
• Differentiation in fellowship duration: applicants with a substantially funded prior track record in scientific research (for example through project funding or a bridging mandate), will henceforth only be eligible for a three-year fellowship instead of four years. In this way, the FWO aims to limit the duration of the doctoral trajectory for this group of applicants.