FRS-FNRS Doctoral Fellowships (FRIA / FRESH / ASP)

FRS-FNRS Doctoral Fellowships (FRIA / FRESH / ASP)

Funds doctoral fellowships at French-speaking Belgian universities across scientific disciplines.

FRS-FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique) is the public research funding agency for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, the French-speaking community of Belgium, and operates as the counterpart to the Flemish FWO. The doctoral fellowship portfolio covers six distinct streams matched to the career stage and discipline of the candidate. FRIA targets doctoral candidates in sciences, engineering, and agriculture, structured as a 27-month initial fellowship renewable for a further 21 months (four years total). FRESH covers doctoral research in humanities and social sciences under the same 27+21-month structure. ASP (Aspirant) is the general fundamental research stream for candidates outside the disciplinary scope of FRIA and FRESH, offering a two-year mandate renewable once for a maximum of four years.

Télévie provides doctoral fellowships specifically for cancer and biomedical research, with the same two-year renewable structure (maximum four years). The CSD (Doctoral Specialist Candidate) stream is designed for clinical doctors simultaneously pursuing a specialised master's degree alongside a PhD, structured as part-time mandates of up to two years each, renewable up to three times for a maximum of eight years. SD (Doctoral Specialist) is for approved medical specialists pursuing a PhD part-time, structured as two-year mandates renewable once to a maximum of four years. All streams require the doctoral candidate to be hosted at one of the five French-speaking Belgian public universities: ULB, UCLouvain, ULiège, UMons, or UNamur.

Applications for all doctoral streams are submitted through the annual Grants and Fellowships call via the e-space portal at e-space.frs-fnrs.be. Exact stipend amounts are defined in regulation PDFs published on the e-space portal and are not displayed on the public overview pages. No explicit nationality restriction applies, but the requirement for a French-speaking Belgian public university host institution effectively limits eligibility to researchers who have secured or can secure an academic supervisor at one of those institutions. Investigators should identify a willing promoter before beginning the application process.