Université Libre de Bruxelles
One-year (renewable) post-doctoral Khaled al-As'ad fellowships for refugees holding a PhD
Deadline for application: 15 February 2016

L’Université Libre de Bruxelles offers 10 postdoctoral fellowships to refugees holding a PhD. The fellowship programme is in memory of Khaled al’As-ad, the Syrian professor and Former Director General of Antiquities and Museums in the city of Palmyra who was publicly beheaded by Daesh in August this year. 

Eligibility
The applicant:
• must have refugee status or, at the moment they apply for the fellowship, have submitted an application for refugee to the immigration office of a member state of the European Union;
• must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Belgium for
more than 24 months in the 3 years immediately preceding recruitment (mobility rule).

Applications 
Applications must be sent by email to Angélique Greindl (agreindl@ulb.ac.be) by 15 February 2016 at the latest.

Applications must include:
• A research plan describing the scientific framework, the questions to be addressed and the
methodology.
• A copy of the PhD diploma or proof that the candidate successfully passed all exams related to the PhD programme. If these documents cannot be provided, applicants will have to provide a clear career description proving that they have at least four years of full-time research experience by the time of the call for applications.
• A CV, including a list of publications.
• Two letters of reference from scientists working in the same field including, if possible, one
from their PhD supervisor.
• A letter of acceptance from a member of ULB academic staff confirming that the candidate, if successful, will be welcome in their group and be offered the appropriate scientific environment.
• A copy of the applicant’s passport, a copy of the document confirming refugee status if this has already been granted, and, if the applicant is already in Belgium, a copy of an official document confirming date of entry to Belgium. In the event of a successful application, the fellowship will be awarded subject to the obtaining of refugee status.

The Research Department (agreindl@ulb.ac.be) and the International Service in the ULB’s External Relations Department can help candidates identify and contact members of ULB academic staff working in their field, in order to complete their application and design their research project.

Selection procedure
End February/early March, applications will be submitted to the Board of the Research Council, comprising members of academic staff from the main research domains (Human and Social Sciences, Science and Technology, Life Sciences) and expanded to include the Vice-Rector for International Relations and the Vice-Rector in charge of the coordination of the ULB’s actions in favour of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The panel members will receive a copy of all applications at least two weeks before the panel meeting. They will be asked to make their selection by ranking applications on the basis of the following three criteria: 
• the quality of the applicant
• the quality of the research project
• the quality of the scientific environment.

• Announcement on the ULB website.