Grant for a short study visit abroad

This travel grant supports researchers who wish to spend maximum 1 month abroad to perform research.

Status

Permanent call

Objective

This grant supports researchers who wish to spend a short period abroad to perform research in a non-Belgian organisation, to specialize in specific research techniques, to perform archive research and/or fieldwork abroad, under the condition that it concerns (strategic) basic research. In this way, the FWO aims to encourage mobility and international contacts between research groups.

Features

Stay abroad of at most 1 month (31 days).
The grant covers:
- travel expenses Brussels – venue of short study visit (return trip);
- a fixed allowance of € 66, with a maximum of €1.650, per day for stays with a duration of more than 7 days.
Submission: online in English no later than 3 months prior to the departure date.
Announcement of results: via e-mail.
Success rate 2020: 61%
Flight- or train tickets in the frame of an FWO grant, can onlybe booked through a travel agency authorized by the FWO (Uniglobe South West Travel and Omnia Travel). Bookings through another travel agency will not be reimbursed by FWO.
How to book your travel?

Be aware: For any travel towards a higher-risk destination, the FWO (travel) grant can only be used in case of a positive advice of the concerned host institution. Please make sure to request this advice at the responsible advisory body of your host institution.

Profile and conditions

- Throughout the entire period of your stay abroad, you are affiliated to a university or university hospital in the Flemish Community or to a federal or Flemish scientific institute (see regulations for more detailed information).
- Attention: for applications with a departure date from the 1^stof October 2016 onwards there is no longer a nationality requirement for predoctoral candidates. Nevertheless, as a PhD student you should have obtained a master degree in one of the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland* (see regulations for more detailed information). There are no degree or nationality requirements for candidates from postdoctoral level onwards.
*You can have your certificate, awarded outside EEA and Switzerland, recognized by NARIC, as being on the level of a Flemish master degree OR (new) provide the FWO, in the application phase, with a declaration in which the administration of your university confirms that you will be allowed to prepare a doctoral thesis with a start of your PhD-track before your departure abroad. This also applies to diplomas awarded in the UK.
- You have at least one peer-reviewed publication. Remark: in case you cannot comply with this requirement, you should clearly motivate this in the appropriate section in the online application form. In this case, you need to cleary indicate the reasons for not having at least one peer-reviewed publication, and outline why, based on other relevant achievements, you qualify for this travel grant.
- In case you already receive a bench fee within a granted mandate or fellowship, you cannot apply for a travel grant for a conference, short study visit or participation in a workshop/course in one of the member states of the EEA or Switzerland or the United Kingdom, since this bench fee can be used for these purposes.
- For short study visits, workshops/courses and conferences, a maximum of two grants per person and per civil year can be awarded.

Procedure

- You submit your application (in English) online through the FWO E-loket no later than 3 months prior to the departure date. You will immediately receive a confirmation by e-mail when the application has been submitted successfully. If this is not the case, you need to contact interprog@fwo.be. Please note that it is also important that your personalia in in your E-loket profile are up-to-date (including publication list), among other things for the payment of the FWO funding in case of approval.
- You attach the invitation of the host institution abroad.
- Your application is submitted to the International Collaboration Committee (CIWC). Consult this time schedule to see when your application will be evaluated and when the result will be communicated.
- Advice, selection and evaluation criteria
  Here you can find all advice, selection and evaluation criteria for a ‘Grant for a short study visit abroad’ at FWO.
- If you as a researcher are not part of the senior academic staff (ZAP), your supervisor or the head of your research unit will be asked for a recommendation letter. This recommendation letter of the head of the research unit is also required for researchers affiliated to a Flemish or federal scientific institution who do not hold a permanent statutory appointment. In case of belated submission of this recommendation letter, the application for a travel grant will be declared ineligible.