2022 DUO-Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels Fellowship Programme
DUO-Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels Fellowship Programme was established in 2014 with the aim of promoting exchanges of professors between Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels and 22 Asian countries on a balanced and permanent basis. In this respect, DUO-Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels requires that a PAIR (two persons) of professors be exchanged in the framework of a cooperative project.
The list of partner countries are: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Applicants must be member of the academic or scientific staff of an institution of a Wallonia-Brussels HEI or an Asian HEI (i.e. they must be remunerated by the HEI and it must be their main occupation).
However, the following groups are not entitled for a fellowship:
l Students and PhD students,
l Professors emeritus and honorary,
l Teaching assistants.
Exemptions are possible for the colleges of arts. The selection committee will assess on a case-by-case basis.
The exchange is done by pairs– one professor from a Wallonia-Brussels HEI is hosted by an Asian institution, whereas an Asian professor is hosted by a Wallonia-Brussels institution.
The exchange must necessarily take place between the two same institutions, but does not need to take place in the same time span, nor between two identical departments.
For the academic year 2022-2023, the DUO Wallonia-Brussels grants are awarded to a pair of professors for a project that should take place between August 1st, 2022 and August 31st, 2023. The total amount of the 2022-2023 DUO Wallonia-Brussels Fellowship Programme is 50,000€.
The duration and the amount of the grants enter these conditions:
l The duration of the exchange should be of at least three weeks and of maximum two months, per person*.
l The amount of the grant awarded to the pair of professors is a fixed amount of 5,000€ to be shared between the two professors according to a distribution key agreed in the convention.
l This amount is intended to cover the travel expenses and per diem capped at the amount of the grant.
l The grant will be paid off in instalments; the last instalment is paid after both professors have submitted a mission report (maximum 4 pages).
*N.B. In case of a trip of more than 30 consecutive days in the same calendar, the grant is subject to a tax imposition.
The applicants must meet all eligibility requirements:
l Applicants must be member of the academic or scientific staff of an institution of a Wallonia-Brussels HEI or an Asian HEI (i.e. they must be remunerated by the HEI and it must be their main occupation).
l The Wallonia-Brussels and Asian HEIs must be recognized/accredited by the competent authorities in the field of higher education.
l The Asian institution must be located in one of the following countries : Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
l The Wallonia-Brussels and Asian HEIs must signed a cooperation agreement or must have expressed the intention to sign one in the two following years.
l The citizenship of the professors is not a criterion for eligibility.
l The fellowship programme is open to all disciplines.
※ The duo could apply maximum twice for the same project and will receive maximum once the ASEM-DUO Wallonia-Brussels fellowship for the same project.
1.4 How to submit an application?
l The completed 2022 application form for the ASEM-DUO Wallonia-Brussels Fellowship Programme (the document is available online on both the website of the ARES and ASEM-DUO). The application form must be typewritten and submitted in PDF format. Electronic authenticated signatures of PDF documents are allowed;
l A copy of the academic cooperation agreement between paired institutions or, in the absence of an MoU, a declaration of intent, i.e. a letter co-signed (or two separate letters signed) by the authorities of the two institutions, or their representatives, mentioning the intention of both parties to sign an inter-institutional agreement within the next two years;
l The passport copies or the national identity card of the two applicants;
l A CV of no more than 5 pages for each applicant, emphasizing work experience relevant to the ASEM-DUO program.
1.4.2 Submitting the application
l Please note that the institution belonging to the Wallonia Brussels Federation applies for both partner institutions. In each higher education institution, a contact person must be clearly identified. The person responsible for the application is the one belonging to the Belgian institution and should ideally be the institution’s representative for international relations. This person is responsible for coordinating the exchange and for sending a complete application, including the documents for both applicants.
l Applications must be submitted between February 14th and April 28th, 2022. No application will be accepted beyond the deadline of April 28th, 2022.
l An applicant can submit several files, with different partners. In this case, a maximum of one file per applicant could be selected, as to know, the one obtaining the highest score from the jury.
l The application must be formally submitted by the institution belonging to the FW-B, as one single PDF document to the following address: international@ares-ac.be
l If the candidate is not able to send the application file by email, then it will have to be sent by mail to the following address:
Académie de Recherche et d’Enseignement supérieur — ARES
Direction des relations internationales
Laurence DALCQ
Rue Royale 180 – 1000 Bruxelles (Belgique)
l An acknowledgement of receipt is sent to the applicants within 3 days after the reception of the application. Without any response after that time, please contact Laurence DALCQ (laurence.dalcq@ares-ac.be).
l The applicants are informed of the outcome of the selection by July 1st, 2022.
1.5 Selection
l The administrative eligibility of applicant files is examined by ARES international relations department(DRI), and is validated by the president of the Committee for international relations(CRI) of the ARES.
l The eligible files are analysed and ranked by a jury composed of designated members of the CRI. The selection is based on selection criteria defined below. If necessary, the Committee for international relations may use the help of external experts.
l Following the selection criteria, applications are divided into three categories: A, B or C. Only applications that received an A by at least one of the members of the working group qualify for a grant. Subcategories(A- and A+) are possible for the A level.
l On the basis of the results, and of the available budget, the Committee for international relations proceeds to the ranking and the selection of applicants.
l The list of applicants selected by the CRI is sent to ARES Executive Board for validation.
ARES selects beneficiaries of the ASEM-DUO Wallonia Brussels Fellowship Programme based on the following criteria:
l The scientific, academic or artistic quality of the submitted project;
l The original character of the project;
l The scientific, academic or artistic quality of the applicants (e.g. publications, publications with the partner institution, research or artistic project, exhibitions, work experience, competitions, academic background, etc.);
l The expected impact of the grant on the work and professional career of the applicant;
l The expected impact of the grant on the applicant’s institution;
l The explanation for the duration of the trip;
l The quality of bilateral relations between the Wallonia-Brussels institution and the Asian partner;
l The relevance of financial support for the applicants.
1.6 Mission Report
No later than 2 months after the final return date, the beneficiaries undertake to submit a free-format report of 2 to 4 pages maximum, which will report on the results of the project in the target country, according to the following structure
ü A summary of the project,
ü The actions/research carried out during the visit and the results obtained,
ü The course of the visit,
ü The Impact of your visit on your institution,
ü The contribution of the ASEM-DUO program to this particular project,
ü Positive points and improvements to be made to the ASEM-DUO program.
l This document will serve as a documentary reference for future recipients
l The mission report will be sent by ARES to any academic, scientific and institutional partners participating in the programme.
l During the course of his stay, the recipient is asked to write a brief description of the project which will be published on the ARES website.
l The recipient agrees to be part of a database and to inform the ARES of its career path.
The visa application must be introduced by the recipient to the local Belgian diplomatic post. As per his request, he/she will receive a certificate from ARES attesting the granting of a fellowship in order to facilitate any administrative procedure.
1.8 Provisional Calendar
| DATE | ACTION | RESPONSIBLE |
| February 14th, 2022 | Publication of the opening of submissions | ARES |
| April 28th, 2022 | Deadline for submissions | |
| April 29th, 2022 | Verification of the eligibility of the applicants | ARES |
| Week of May 16, 2022 | Meeting of the jury | CRI |
| July 1st, 2022 | Information sent to the applicant | ARES |
If you have any questions, please refer to Frequently Asked Questions section available on the following link of the ARES website:
For any information related to this announcement, please contact:
Académie de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur – ARES
Direction des relations internationales
Laurence DALCQ
Rue Royale 180 – 1000 Bruxelles
T: +32-2-225-45-71