F.R.S.-FNRS Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - Fellowship for a Medical Doctor Applicant to an MSc and a Ph.D.

What the CSD fellowship gives you

A fellowship is funded research time. With this one you stay employed full-time in a hospital, and the F.R.S.-FNRS pays your hospital back half the yearly cost of your post. That buys you half your working time to do a PhD and an Advanced Master. The reimbursement covers your salary plus all direct and indirect wage costs, but not on-call duty, up to a yearly cap. The caps are 58,700 EUR per year for a temporary doctor and 77,400 EUR per year for a permanent doctor. This money goes to the hospital, not to you. The fellowship starts with up to 2 years and can be renewed up to three times, each for up to 2 years, for a total of up to 8 years. It is funded by the F.R.S.-FNRS, the research funding body of French-speaking Belgium.

Who can apply

• Your profile: You are a medical doctor and hold the degree by 1 October of the year the fellowship starts.
• Your job: You work full-time in a hospital in Belgium and are in ongoing specialist training recognised by the French-speaking Community of Belgium, usually in a recognised Belgian university hospital.
• Studies: You are enrolled in an Advanced Master and doing a PhD at a university of the French-speaking Community of Belgium.
• Field: You work in one of these health fields: medicine, biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, dentistry, public health, motor (sport) sciences or veterinary science.
• Supervisor: You have a promoter (your academic supervisor) who holds a permanent post at a French-speaking Belgian university with a full faculty of medicine.
• Nationality: All nationalities can apply.
• Attempts: You can apply at most three times. You cannot apply if you already held this fellowship.
• Timing: You can start at any point of your specialist training. The fellowship must end no later than 4 years after your training finishes.

How to apply

You apply online through the e-space platform. For the 2026 call you must validate your application by Tuesday, 17 February 2026 at 2 p.m. (Brussels time). Your promoter and rector then validate it in the following weeks. Two external experts review your file, a Scientific Commission draws up a ranking, and the FNRS Board of Trustees makes the final decision in June 2026. Funding starts on 1 October 2026.

You can find more scholarships in our guide Scholarships in Belgium.