2021 Travel Award

Introduction

One of the missions of BELNUC is to promote research and development by young individuals. To that end, BELNUC is calling for applications for one travel award (€10.000) to support a promising young researcher to realize an internship abroad.

Modalities

  • The promising young researcher (“applicant”) has a paid full-time predoctoral research position in a Belgian research institution or hospital (“host institution”) with the aim of obtaining a doctoral degree (PhD or similar) from a Belgian university.
  • The applicant’s research topic is in the field of nuclear medicine, radiopharmacy, or nuclear medicine physics.
  • The applicant has not reached the age of 35 at the time of opening the call.
  • The application is submitted by the applicant and the promotor (“promotor”) who supervises the applicant’s doctoral program.
  • Both the applicant and the promotor are members in good standing of BELNUC at the time of opening the award call.
  • The travel grant (“award”) will be paid to the host institution that employs the applicant.
  • The award can solely be used to reimburse the applicant’s travel costs, local housing, local transportation, administrative expenses related to the research stay, or shipment of personal goods. The award cannot be used for wages, stipends, equipment, or consumables.
  • Avoidable overhead, administrative costs, or taxes will not be paid from the award.
  • To support researchers with limited resources, priority will be given to applicants who have not previously had the opportunity to go on an international research internship. Moreover, if applicants can demonstrate that they have been unsuccessful in securing travel funding from other funding bodies, this will be taken into account.
  • The winning applicant will submit a scientific abstract to an upcoming BELNUC meeting to present the research project results.
  • One year after the award is paid to the host institution, a complete financial reconciliation will be submitted to BELNUC. This overview will include invoices or other documents supporting the reimbursed expenses, the recipient of the reimbursement, and confirmation that BELNUC has paid the award to the host institution. If the award has not been used one year after receipt, BELNUC will be entitled to claim full reimbursement from the host institution. If the award has only been partially used after completing the research stay, the remaining amount of the grant will be reimbursed to BELNUC.
  • The research visit shall not have started before the opening of the call for applications for this award.

Assessment criteria

In addition to the modalities outlined above, each application will be assessed on the following criteria:

The benefit of the research stay to the applicant’s doctoral research project

The application needs to demonstrate how the lab visit abroad will benefit the applicant with the progress of their research project. Key points to note and incorporate into the application include:

  • How will the applicant participate in the visiting lab activities? Provide a brief outline of the current research project. This includes any pertinent information about techniques that will be particularly useful and any researchers that the applicants intend to network with during the lab visit.
  • How does the applicant plan to use the lab visit to advance their doctoral research project? This may include a statement on the anticipated deliverables that will result from the research stay. Give details of whether the aim is to form collaborations or further knowledge in an area that is not currently being pursued. Applicants should indicate what it is about this particular lab visit that is important for their career.
  • A workplan for the research visit should be included in the application.
  • The applicant should include any other achievements or outputs that are relevant.

The financial need for support

This refers to the applicant‘s current funding available for travel. Key points that should be incorporated in the application include:

  • Details of the applicant’s provision for travel in their doctoral program.
  • Why funds are being requested from BELNUC.
  • Justify why the level of support provided by the award is appropriate for the anticipated research stay by including a provisional budget.

Supporting letters

A supporting letter from the applicant’s local promotor and a statement from the supervisor at the institution visited are needed:

  • Demonstrate the potential of the applicant.
  • Show that the plans for a foreign research stay are concrete and realistic, including details on the institution visited, the intended period of the research stay, the commitment of the applicant and the institution visited to complete the research stay successfully.

Timelines

Deadline for submission of applications: 01/08/2021 at noon via secretary@belnuc.be using the application form: download here.

Notification of the results is planned for October 2021.