The scholarship program of the NWO Caribbean Research program has been received with enthusiasm: 126 interested parties submitted a letter of intent until June 2, 2025. This clearly shows that the program meets a need among Caribbean researchers who wish to pursue a PhD. The applications come from all scientific domains, from exact and technical sciences to social, humanities, medical, and health sciences.
Next Step: Develop Pre-Application
All applicants have now been notified that they may develop their letter of intent into a pre-application. Since July 15, the necessary forms have been available via the NWO website. Candidates now have two months to prepare a narrative CV, assemble a suitable supervision team, and obtain a signed embedding declaration from their intended university. The deadline for submitting the pre-application is September 15, 2025.
Support from NWO
To assist applicants effectively, NWO has sent all candidates an overview of points to consider when submitting their pre-application. For questions, candidates can contact the NWO support team via phd-caribbean@nwo.nl.
Selection and Follow-Up
After September 15, NWO will check whether the pre-applications meet all requirements. An independent assessment committee will then provide a positive or negative recommendation for each candidate regarding the possibility of advancing to the final phase: submitting a full application. A total of seven scholarships are available. To avoid unnecessary workload, NWO aims to admit 21 candidates to the final round.
More Information
For detailed information about the assessment procedure, selection criteria, and timeline, please refer to the full ‘Call for proposals’.