Fully Funded PhD Scholarships for African Students from EPFL 2021

EPFL is offering PhD scholarships in all disciplines that are taught at EPFL within its doctoral school. The program is open to science and engineering graduates who have an outstanding academic track record and wish to complete a PhD at an African higher education institution.

The UM6P/EPFL EXAF 100 PhDs for Africa program is one of the three pillars of the Excellence in Africa initiative. It is designed to fund science and engineering graduates intending to complete a PhD at an African higher education institution.

PhD candidates benefiting from a UM6P/EPFL EXAF 100 PhDs for Africa program will be jointly supervised by a professor employed by their African home institution and by an EPFL professor. They may spend short time periods at the EPFL in the laboratory of their EPFL co-supervisor, but will chiefly conduct their doctoral studies and their thesis research in Africa. Their degree will be solely awarded by their home institution.

The program awards funding of a maximum of 80,000 Swiss francs in total for a period of at most 54 months. Funding will be disbursed on a periodic basis, starting from the beginning of the program and ending when the PhD thesis is awarded, at the latest.

Eligible costs include and are limited to:

Living allowance:

• A living allowance for the PhD fellow; the amount of this allowance must be in line with the standard documented practices of the home institution and will be a function of the cost of living in the country of the host institution.

Tuition fees:

• Tuition costs may be included in the budget if there is written confirmation from the home institution that tuition fees apply for all PhD candidates at the institution; in such a case the tuition amount should be justified with documentation. An applicant may be denied a PhD program on the sole ground that tuition fees are deemed too high; the home institution may therefore grant tuition waivers to the recipients of UM6P/EPFL EXAF 100 PhDs for Africa scholarships.

Research costs:

• Consumables and direct costs for the use of infrastructure at the home institution or at EPFL.

• Open science costs: costs for data storage and for granting access to data (open research data) and open access publication costs.

Colloquia:

• Conference, summer school, and workshop costs for the PhD fellow, namely travel (economy class airfares, public ground transportation), lodging, visa, vaccinations, meals and (if applicable) conference registration fees, provided that the PhD fellow does a poster or an oral presentation at the event.

• During the PhD scholarship, PhD fellows must participate in two summer schools organized by UM6P at Ben Guerir Campus in Morocco. The duration of these events will be approximately one week. Travel costs to these summer schools will be covered by the present UM6P/EPFL EXAF 100 PhDs for Africa scholarship.

Costs related to joint supervision:

• Travel costs for the PhD fellow to and from EPFL (economy class airfares, public ground transportation).

• A supplementary living allowance for stay(s) at EPFL.

• Travel costs to and from the African home institution and EPFL for the supervisor and co-supervisor of the PhD fellow (economy class airfares, public ground transportation, lodging, and meals).

• Other costs incurred by the joint supervision (e.g., joint participation in a conference, other costs related to stays at EPFL)

• To be a national of an African country.
• To hold a Master’s degree awarded after the 1st of January 2018 or to be enrolled in the final year of the master study.
• To have an outstanding academic track record.
• To be enrolled in an African academic institution when the scholarship will start, and to reside in an African country for the duration of the PhD.
• To have the endorsement of a professor of an African institution willing to supervise the doctoral thesis for its full duration.

About EPFL:

EPFL is one of the world’s top institutes of science and technology. It brings together students, professors, and staff members from more than 120 countries. EPFL is a public institution endowed with three missions: teaching, research, and innovation. It collaborates with a wide array of partners, including other universities, middle and high schools, companies, political actors, and the general public, with the aim of having a real impact on society at both a national and a global level.

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