ETH4D provides grants for mentoring doctoral candidates from low- and lower-middle-income countries. The mentorship is a one-year appointment and comprises the following components:

Mentorship from one ETH professor, senior scientist or postdoc over a period of one year of the mentee’s doctoral studies. We suggest monthly meetings and clearly defined goals of the project, e.g., presentation at a conference, joint publication. ETH mentors are free to serve on the doctoral committee of the ETH4D mentee, but this is not a requirement. 

Research stay at the mentor’s research group (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) for 1-3 months during the mentorship period. 

Financial support for attending a conference and/or research material

ELIGIBILITY:

Eligible are doctoral candidates who are registered at a university or research institute in a least- developed, low- and lower-middle-income country according to the external pageOECD/DAC listcall_made. 

The application needs to be submitted by the ETH professorship hosting the doctoral candidate. Applications directly submitted by the doctoral candidate will NOT be considered.

Budget (Downloadtemplate budget (XLSX, 15 KB)vertical_align_bottom)

A single PDF contianing the following

Project description (see criteria document for points that need to be addressed)

Motivation letter of the doctoral candidate (1 page)

Most recent university transcripts 

CV of doctoral candidate (max. 2 pages) incl. publications

Two academic reference letters

Doctoral project proposal (if available)

Support letter of the hosting ETH professor, including any financial and in-kind contributions

Work plan for the stay in Zurich in the form of a Gantt chart

All application documents must be written in English submitted via the online application form. 

BENEFIT:

The grant covers expenses up to a maximum of 15k CHF and includes the following:

Economy roundtrip ticket (max. 2 kCHF) to and from Switzerland for the research stay

Visa fees

Travel allowance to attend an academic conference

Research material (e.g. lab equipment) (max 6 kCHF in total).

Fees for health insurance

Local transportation

Accommodation

Living allowance for the duration of the research stay at ETH Zurich