Institute of Tropical Medicine - Individual PhD Sandwich Scholarship Programme ITM-DGD

What you get

You will receive a fully funded PhD scholarship of 48 months, which will be shared between your home institution and the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium. During your stay in Belgium, you will receive a living allowance of 1,750 EUR per month for a total of up to 24 months. During your stay at your home institution, you will receive a monthly living allowance based on the local PhD student salary, capped at 1,500 EUR. The scholarship also includes a research budget of up to 6,000 EUR per year, a supervision allowance of up to 300 EUR per month, insurance cover of 60 EUR per month, a one-off logistics allowance of 700 EUR, one return economy-class flight per year, and your enrolment fees for the PhD programme (approx. 1,182 EUR for 2026–2027). The scholarship initially runs for 18 months and will be extended by 30 months following a positive progress review. It is funded by the ITM in collaboration with the Belgian Directorate-General for Development (DGD). This is a scholarship, not a job: during your stay in Belgium, you will be considered a student, not an ITM employee.

Who can apply

• Degree level: You are just starting your PhD or are already undertaking it. Your project is supervised jointly by your home institution, the ITM and the university, which will award the doctoral degree.
• Field: Your project falls under one of the following four themes: preparedness for epidemics and pandemics; combating and eradicating tropical infectious diseases; sexual and reproductive health and rights; and support for health policy.
• Link to ITM: You have an ITM Master's diploma, an ITM short-course certificate worth at least 5 credits, or a research stay at ITM of at least 3 months. Alternatively, you are based at a partner institution of the 2027-2031 DGD programme.
• Nationality: You are a national of a country eligible for the DGD programme, such as Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda or Vietnam. There are still a few places available for some other low- and middle-income countries.
• Residence: Your main place of residence is in a low- or middle-income country.
• Work history: In the 3 years prior to the expiry of the deadline, you did not work in a high-income country for more than 1 years.
• Not ITM staff: You are not on the ITM payroll.
• English: You can demonstrate your English language proficiency through the TOEFL iBT 79–93, the IELTS 6.5 or an equivalent CEFR level B2–C1.
• Commitment: You work full-time in research and devote no more than 8 hours a week to other tasks.
• Age: No age limit.

How to apply

You must apply online to ITM by 15 September 2026, 17:00 Belgian time. You must submit a research proposal for your PhD of up to 15 pages, your personal statement, your CV, your degree certificates and academic transcripts, your English language certificate, and letters of recommendation from your supervisors. The ITM PhD Committee will first review the written applications. If you pass this stage, you will be invited to an online interview on 16 October 2026, and you will be notified of the result by 30 November 2026.

How realistic are your chances?

As part of the 2026 call for applications, the ITM is awarding 4 to 6 PhD scholarships. As there are only a handful of places available for applicants from more than 25 countries, competition is fierce.