Fund for Scientific Research – FNRS - Fellowship for a Clinical Master Specialist Applicant to a Ph.D

What you get

Whilst undertaking your PhD, you will continue to work part-time as a specialist doctor in a hospital, and the F.R.S.-FNRS will cover half the costs. Your university hospital will continue to pay your salary, and the FNRS will reimburse the hospital for half of your annual full-time costs. For call for applications 2026, this reimbursement is capped at 58,700 EUR per year for a fixed-term contract or at 77,400 EUR per year for a permanent contract. The fellowship (the funded PhD post) has a duration of up to 2 years and may be renewed once, bringing the total duration to up to 4 years. The F.R.S.-FNRS is the leading public research funding body in the French-speaking part of Belgium.

Who can apply

• Your degree: You must have obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree and a specialist qualification by 1 October of the funding year.
• How recent your accreditation is: You obtained your specialist status (the authorisation to practise your specialism in Belgium) no more than 3 years ago, calculated up to 1 October of the year of application. This period is extended for parental or care-related reasons: by 15 months per birth for the person giving birth, by 12 months per birth for the other parent, by 12 months per adoption and by 12 months in the case of long-term care. These extensions may be cumulative.
• Field: Your Ph.D. is in a health field, such as medical, biomedical or pharmaceutical sciences, dentistry, public health, sport and movement science, or veterinary science.
• Where you work and study: You carry out your clinical work at a university hospital and conduct research at a university in the French-speaking part of Belgium (UCLouvain, ULB, ULiège, UMons, UNamur) which has its own medical school. Your supervisor must be permanently employed at one of these universities.
• Nationality: Any nationality can apply.
• No earlier FNRS funding: You have never received an SD, CSD, Research Fellow, FRIA or any other F.R.S.-FNRS grant.
• Attempts: You may apply a maximum of 3 times.

How to apply

You apply online through the e-space portal, in French or English. For the 2026 call you must validate your application by 17 February 2026 at 2 p.m. Brussels time. Your supervisor and your university then validate it in the following weeks. The F.R.S.-FNRS Board of Trustees decides in June, and funding starts on 1 October.

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