1) Aim of the mandate
The research mandates are intended for university graduates who will perform a research project aimed at obtaining a doctorate, under guidance from a promoter at the concerned university and a co-promoter at VITO.
Financing opportunities:
- the doctorate student will receive a doctorate grant from the university in question.
VITO will establish a financing agreement with the involved university, where VITO will provide an annual subsidy that is commensurate with the net remuneration received by an assistant, supplemented by administrational costs. The concerned university will then pay a doctorate grant to the selected doctorandus, which is consistent with the above mentioned net amount.
- VITO will make an agreement with the doctorate student who is awarded the status of employee. VITO will be responsible for the social legislation to which the employee is subject.
The doctorate student will receive the following gross amount:
1st year 3023.54 EUR/month
2nd year 3112.31 EUR/month
3rd year 3201.08 EUR/month
4th year 3289.85 EUR/month
The amounts will be indexed whenever the salaries of VITO personnel are indexed.
The following additional benefits will be offered: contribution towards train subscription and a De Lijn bus subscription, as well as a monthly transport allowance that is paid to VITO personnel.
Financing for the doctorate is limited to a consecutive period of 48 months.
2) Degree requirements
People who comply with one of the degree requirements below qualify as candidates:
- Holder of a 2nd-cycle degree from a Flemish university in the study area of sciences, applied sciences, agricultural and applied biological sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, veterinary medical sciences, medicine, dentistry and biomedical sciences;
- Holder of a university 2nd-cylce degree from the French-speaking community in Belgium, which is regarded as an equivalent to one of the degrees mentioned in sub a);
- Holder of an international degree that is recognised as being equivalent to a degree mentioned in sub a);
- Holder of a long-type higher education degree (HOLT) or a final degree from an international university or international institute for academic institute that has been exempted from the entry requirement to prepare a doctorate thesis in one of the study areas mentioned in sub a);
Holders of an international degree, a HOLT degree or a university degree from the French-speaking community in Belgium must also possess a declaration from the university where the doctorate will be carried out (at least at faculty level), which states that degree requirements have been sufficiently complied with and that the person in question has been admitted to the concerned faculty to carry out doctorate activities.
Final-year students in courses that result in one of the degrees mentioned above are also entitled to apply under the rescinding condition that the candidate achieves the final degree in the year of application.
3) Award conditions
Candidates must comply with the following conditions:
- Grade requirement
The candidate must have achieved the above mentioned 2nd cycle basic degree, with a minimum grade of "first", or with an equivalent grade.
- Maximum period after achieving the 2nd-cycle degree.
The candidate is entitled to submit a grant application within 5 years (at the latest) of achieving the 2nd-cycle degree. If a candidate possesses more than one 2nd-cycle degree, this rule only applies to the study area involved in the doctorate proposal. In this case, the 1st 2nd-cycle degree must have been completed no later than 10 years prior to the grant application.
- The candidate must have an exceptional record of conduct;
4) Project-related conditions
- The topic
Considering that doctorate research is part of its strategic research, the topics will be defined in advance by VITO and an agreement will be made in advance between VITO and the concerned promoter. The topic and the promoter will be announced in advance on the VITO website. Based on this topic, the candidate must submit, in consultation with the promoter and VITO co-promoter, a detailed design for the doctorate programme, with accompanying work plan and a scientific approach strategy aimed at completing the doctorate in maximum four years.
- Guidance
The research project must be carried out under scientific guidance from a member of Independent Academic Personnel (ZAP) at a Flemish university and a member of staff at VITO
- Research location
In principle, doctorate research will take place at the site of VITO and, if necessary, partly at a university or college. With regards to activities carried out at VITO, the doctorandus must comply with security and access procedures in place at VITO. Doctorandi may, under certain conditions and if supported by their promoter and VITO co-promoter, be allowed to stay abroad if this is necessary to support their doctorate thesis.
5) Characteristics of the mandate
- Statute
In general, the doctorandus must have the status of a grant student at the concerned university. However, for a number of mandates, it has been determined that the doctorandus must be a member of personnel at VITO. In this case, the classic recruitment procedure at VITO will be followed.
- Accumulation
Considering that the mandate system aims to complete the doctorate in 4 years, accumulation with other assignments and other subsidies or allowances is, in principle, not permitted. Potential exceptions must be presented to VITO and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
- Interruptions
The research mandates can only be interrupted in case of force majeure (medical reasons) or upon mutual agreement. Any case of force majeure that results in the grant being interrupted, must be immediately, and preferably in advance, reported to the university and VITO, who will decide about changing the award modalities for the mandate.
- Training courses
Considering the aim of the mandate system is to create an original thesis that will allow the title of doctor to be achieved, the doctorandus is entitled to follow specific training courses after special dispensation from VITO and the university. This dispensation will be given under the condition that the course in question is useful for preparing the doctorate thesis, irrespective of whether the courses result in a post-graduate degree that differs from the doctorate. In order to achieve the mentioned dispensation, the candidate must submit a reasoned request to the university and VITO.
6) The application
- Time of the application
There are no fixed announcement times for available doctorate topics. Candidates can register for an open mandate at any given time.
- Online registration
Registration for the grant application takes place online at the VITO website (http://www.vito.be/). It enables the applicant to submit relevant personal details and information about his/her scientific curriculum.
- Application file
The candidate must compile an application file in consultation with the VITO co-promoter and the university promoter. The file must consist of a doctorate plan and an administrative section.
- Doctorate plan
The following topics must be addressed in the doctorate plan in the following order:
- Problem identification
contextualisation of to-be-addressed problem, including a description of the international state of affairs, with a reference to scientific literature (max. 1 page);
- Objective
brief and clear formulation of concrete technical-scientific objectives for the project, with explicit reference to innovative aspects and a clear framework for the research unit’s research activities (max. 1 page);
- Project description
detailed description of work packages (experiments/activities that will be carried out), justification of their implementation and the way in which the relationship between work packages will result in the objectives being realised (max. 10 pages, including figures and tables and excluding references);
- Planning
identification of the milestones in the project and a graphic diagram of how work packages will progress each month, over the 4 grant years (max. 1 page);
- Application possibilities
a description of possible use for the intended research results in the industrial or service sectors (max. 1 page);
- References
The project design must allow the doctorate to be completed in a maximum of four years. When describing the project, emphasis must be placed on the first two-year term, although it must be clearly stated how later objectives will be realised. The length of the detailed description will be determined by the complexity of the project and the number of sub-tasks but, under no circumstances, must it exceed 15 pages (including the title sheet and table of contents and excluding references). Please use font size 12 when compiling this document.
- Administrative section
The documents below must be included in the administrative section in the displayed order:
- The candidate’s curriculum vitae.
- The thesis or dissertation being presented to achieve the degree, as well as a summary of the thesis. For final-year students, a summary is sufficient under the rescinding condition that the thesis is submitted in the application for the mandate;
- A copy of the degree that entitles candidate to submit an application;
- Provisional approval from the promoter and the VITO co-promoter for the design of the doctorate programme.
- If applicable: declaration from the university, which shows that the candidate will be awarded access to the concerned faculty to perform his/her doctorate work.
Applications must be compiled in Dutch and submitted to VITO. Part of the file can potentially be written in another language, if approval has been received from VITO. The registered headquarters of VITO are located at Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol.
The Board at VITO will evaluate the completeness and conformity of applications using the award criteria.
Candidates with an admissible file will be subjected to a verbal examination in front of a jury, which will be compiled by VITO, in relation to their scientific knowledge, their doctorate programme and their work plans.
7) Award
Mandates will be awarded by the Board at VITO. As part of a prior agreement established between VITO and the concerned university, an appendix must be compiled that mentions the name of the candidate and the start date. The award will be made based on the application file, the jury report and potential criteria established by the Board of directors at VITO.
Upon approval, the candidate must, in consultation with the VITO co-promoter and the promoter, register as a doctorate student at a university. The doctorandus must comply with the doctorate regulations that are in effect at the university in question.
The start date will be mutually agreed after consultation between VITO, the university and the selected doctorandus. The mandate will be terminated as soon as the beneficiary has achieved the doctorate for which the mandate was awarded or after four years.
8) Follow-up and support
During the course of his/her mandate, the doctorandus must agree to work on the programme for which s/he has been awarded the research mandate. The mandate can be withdrawn at any given moment if the doctorandus no longer complies with the award criteria for the research mandate.
The annual procedure below has been outlined with regards to follow-up:
- Each year, the doctorandus will be informed by VITO about the date of the jury presentation and the deadline for submitting the file.
- The doctorandus must present a file to VITO, which consists of a progress report, a brief overview of the main realised results, advice from the university promoter, a proposal for further planning and potential modifications.
- The doctorandus must explain these activities in front of a jury, which consists of VITO members of staff. This jury will compile a reasoned recommendation concerning how the doctorate mandate will proceed thereafter.
Based on this recommendation, VITO will decide about further financing the mandate in accordance with stipulations in the financing agreement established with the university.
