- The PhD researcher must be enrolled as a PhD student in the doctoral study programme at the time of the activity AND of the reimbursement application.
- Check whether your activity is eligible for reimbursement via 'eligible and non-eligible costs'.
- The activity must have already taken place at the time of the reimbursement application.
- Only reimbursements (to PhD researchers) will be considered. Please note: a specific procedure exists for StatUa and Linguapolis courses. The Antwerp Doctoral School does not pay the organisation of your activity directly.
- The supervisor has to be informed of the reimbursement application but it is the PhD researcher's responsibility to manage their budget correctly. You can check the current credit balance in your SisA Self-service student account.
- Applications should be submitted by academic year. The deadline for submission is always the last day of the academic year (at the end of September). Activities undertaken in previous academic years will not be taken into account, so make sure to submit your reimbursement applications regarding summer schools or summer conferences in a timely manner. Reimbursement for activities (e.g. conferences) that start in the current academic year and end in the next academic year, can be requested in the next academic year.
- Employees of the University of Antwerp have to submit their application via iExpense, see Reimbursement procedures.
- If you are not employed by the University of Antwerp, your application needs to be done via your financial secretariat via Third Party Expenses, see Reimbursement procedures.
Rules for activities abroad
- To maximally stimulate the use of external funds for international mobility, PhD researchers need to apply first for an FWO travel grant for activities abroad if possible, before they can use the educational credit for international transport and accommodation costs. This flowchart clarifies which procedure needs to be followed depending on the situation: Flowchart educational credit for activities abroad.pdf
All PhD researchers who are eligible are required to apply first for an FWO travel grant for activities abroad. This application must be submitted at the latest three months before travelling, in English and online via the FWO E-loket. You don't need to have the official proof of acceptance of your presentation (poster or oral communication) in case of participation in a conference at the time of submitting your application. You can provide the FWO with the documents afterwards. All regulations, conditions and procedures regarding FWO travel grants can be found on the website of the FWO. The International Collaboration Committee (CIWC), who decides on the applications, meets monthly, with exception of August. To receive a quick response regarding FWO travel grant applications, take into account the deadlines of the CIWC.
Only when an FWO travel grant is not granted, PhD researchers can use their educational credit to get their international transport and accommodation costs reimbursed. This can only be done after the activity. This new rule applies to costs that can be covered by an FWO travel grant (all international transport costs; accommodation costs for stays abroad with a duration of more than seven days).
PhD researchers who have an FWO PhD fellowship (fundamental research or strategic basic research) are required to use their FWO bench fee for all short stays abroad (including conferences and workshops/courses) in Europe (member states of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). For all other activities abroad (short stays outside Europe and all long stays abroad), they are also required to apply for an FWO travel grant if they are eligible. Only if an FWO travel grant is not granted, PhD researchers can use their educational credit to get their international transport and accommodation costs reimbursed. This new rule applies to costs that can be covered by an FWO travel grant.
Registration fees and accommodation costs (but not the transport costs) for stays abroad (courses, workshops and research stays) with a maximum duration of seven days can always be reimbursed from the educational credit, since these costs cannot be covered by an FWO travel grant anyway.
Registration fees and accommodation costs (but not the transport costs) for conferences abroad, regardless of the duration, can always be reimbursed from the educational credit, since these costs cannot be covered by an FWO travel grant anyway.
There are a few exceptions to the aforementioned rules. All these exceptions need to be motivated in the reimbursement application and where necessary proof needs to be added to the reimbursement application.
Exceptions:
- If there is a clear reason why the application for an FWO travel grant is impossible (e.g. the activity was announced less than three months beforehand), then the educational credit can be used without application for an FWO travel grant. Deciding less than three months beforehand that you will participate in an activity abroad is not a valid reason to use the educational credit without application for an FWO travel grant;
- PhD researchers who don’t have an FWO PhD fellowship are required to apply for an FWO travel grant for a conference within Europe (member states of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) only if they already have one accepted peer-reviewed publication (see conditions of the FWO);
- All PhD researchers are required to apply for an FWO travel grant for a conference outside Europe only if they already have three or more accepted peer-reviewed publications (see conditions of the FWO);
- PhD researchers are not required to apply for FWO travel grants in the first year of their PhD trajectory (to be counted from the first date of enrolment), unless they already have a publication;
- PhD researchers who have paid their journey with FWO means and encounter unexpected additional transport costs (e.g. because of a strike) that the FWO does not want to reimburse, can use their educational credit for these unexpected transport costs;
- PhD researchers who have already been awarded the maximum number of FWO travel grants for a given calendar year, can use the educational credit for an additional activity abroad in that calendar year.
- PhD researchers who received a fixed daily allowance from the FWO as part of an FWO travel grant can use the educational credit for a (partial) reimbursement of the accommodation and per diem costs, in case the fixed allowance from the FWO was insufficient to cover all costs that were made. The maximum amounts as determined by UAntwerp should as always be respected. In this case, you need to add the completed financial report of the FWO with a listing of all costs that you made to your application for reimbursement of (partial) accommodation and per diem costs from the educational credit. PhD researchers can request reimbursement from the educational credit of the difference between the amount of money that was spent on accommodation and per diem costs and the amount of the fixed allowance from the FWO, if the maximum amounts as determined by UAntwerp were not exceeded.