Doctoral students are students (third cycle) who are enrolled at the University of Antwerp. This means it’s possible to do a PhD even without funding. In practice, however, most doctoral research is funded, meaning PhD students have resources and an income at their disposal.
Schools of Arts
The Schools of Arts fund the majority of all artistic research. You can find out more about the organisation of the application rounds on the 'How to apply' page. You can also contact the coordinators at the respective Schools of Arts:
- Sint-Lucas Antwerp: Ruth Loos
- Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp: Els De bruyn
- Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp: Kevin Voets
Please note that you can't apply at more than one School of Arts at the same time.
FWO
An important source of external funding is the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). You can find further information about application procedures, deadlines, criteria and so on on their website.
PhD students can also apply for a travel grant from the FWO for research activities abroad.
Of the three Antwerp Schools of Arts, you can only do a PhD with external funding at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. The timeline for admission is the same as the one for the mandates financed by the Conservatoire.
BOF
The University of Antwerp’s University Research Fund (BOF) also funds PhD research. ARIA PhD students who started in the academic year 2019-2020 or later can submit a one-off application for 3000 euros for operational expenses from the BOF. The resources are allocated as a BOF research project, with the supervisor of the PhD research as the supervisor of the project.
OJO
The Antwerp Doctoral School launches an OJO call (a grant to support young researchers (“subsidie Omkadering Jonge Onderzoekers” - OJO)) every autumn, via email, to all researchers affiliated with the University of Antwerp to submit proposals for initiatives that address training needs and support of young researchers.
Educational credit
PhD researchers who are enrolled at the University of Antwerp and who are following the complete doctoral study programme are entitled to receive educational credit worth 1500 euros in total during their PhD. The educational credit is available until the end of the academic year in which the public defence takes place.
For research activities abroad, PhD researchers can use their educational credit only when an FWO travel grant is not granted.
Read all about the educational credit on the website of the Antwerp Doctoral School.