Overview
The Flemmish funding agency, FWO, evaluates PhD applications through a set of criteria (see PhD preselection score grid)* that fall into two big groups: (1) the researcher and (2) the research proposal.
The FWO application consists of two parts:
(1) project outline (pages 20-21 of the PhD example application form*)
(2) questions section (pages 8-19, 22-55 of the PhD example application form)
This guide offers suggestions on how you can use various items in the question section to demonstrate your eligibility for the PhD fellowship according to the FWO criteria.
The application consists of three parts. The first part is a small introduction (title, abstract, etc.). The second and third parts constitute the bulk of the application. Remember that the FWO experts give you a score that consists of two halves: one half goes for you as the researcher who will be undertaking this project and one half to the research project. Parts 2 and 3 of the application deal with these two halves, respectively.
Before you begin, please take note that there is a character limit for each answer. So do not forget to check the length of your text before submission. This guide indicates the number of characters allowed for each section in parentheses after its title. After each question, the FWO’s comment from the PhD example application form is provided, followed by our own remarks.
*This guide was written in September 2024, and the downloads were backed up at the same time; for updates, please visit the FWO website. Usually, we do not apply for the Interdisciplinary panel, so section 3. Level of interdisciplinarity does not apply to us.
Part 1. General information
Section 1. General
Our comment: In this section, you submit not only the English but also the Dutch text. So please assure that you submit the final version to us several days in advance so that we could help you with translation.
Question 1.1. Enter the English title of your research proposal. (240)
Question 1.2. Enter the Dutch title of your research proposal. (240)
Question 1.3. Complete the abstract of your research proposal – English version. (1500)
Question 1.4. Complete the abstract of your research proposal – Dutch version. (1500)
Question 1.5. Select up to five scientific disciplines that best characterize the proposed research.
Our comment: For my project on Chinese Buddhism in the seventeenth century, I selected “Study of Buddhism,” “Asian history,” “Early modern history,” “Religion and society,” and “History of religions, churches and theology.” I guess the FWO also uses this to see if the project fits into the expert panel where you apply. I was applying to CULT4 – Theology and Religious Studies, so it was important for me to have a lot of “Buddhism” and “Religion.” I also included references to the region “Asia” and time period “early modern.”
Question 1.6. Enter up to three English free-text keywords or concepts that best characterize the proposed research.
Question 1.7. Enter up to three Dutch free-text keywords or concepts that best characterize the proposed research.
—
Part 2. Assessment of researcher
Section 2. Personal Data
Question 2.1. Explain any career breaks. (2000)
FWO comment: Explain possible gaps in your CV in the input field below. Make sure your current position and previous appointments are well listed in the e-portal ‘Personal details’ section (Posts / Career”). If you have interrupted your academic career at any given point for at least three months (maternity leave, parental leave, full-time sickness leave, unconventional career paths such as leave because of activities in industry or other non-academic sectors, etc.) provide details about this below (reason, start/end date). This will allow the reviewers to fairly assess your career stage.
Our comment: Elsewhere on their website, the FWO advises you in particular to use this section to indicate any career breaks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The FWO commentary above mentions, among other things, “unconventional career paths such as leave because of activities in industry or other non-academic sectors.” Elsewhere on their website, the FWO states that it encourages the versatility of its researchers, i.e., the broadness of the scope of their professional experience. So do not fear if you are applying for a PhD after working beyond academia. At the same time, you need to have obtained your Master’s degree or equivalent no more than three years before the final submission deadline.
Section 3. Study results (Academic education)
FWO general comment: This section will be used by the experts to assess your potential as a PhD researcher, based on your past academic trajectory.
Our general comment: The project that you are proposing might be very good for the field, but are you the right person to carry it out? Have you received sufficient prior training, and do you have the knowledge and skills to produce high-quality research?
The FWO evaluates your capabilities from three sides. The first side is your formal academic training. It is supposed to show that you have excellent knowledge and skills to do the project. This is what Section 3 is all about. The second side is your commitment to the project, and the third side is your ability to do research, i.e., being a researcher in your own right rather than just a student who is taking courses and doing assignments. You will have a chance to demonstrate this in Section 4 below.
Question 3.1. Study narrative. (2000)
FWO comment: Show how your academic study trajectory has formed the ideal preparation for doing a PhD, in general and specifically on the topic of the proposed project Where appropriate, refer to you grades of relevant courses, your percentiles or relative ranking or other study results. You may also highlight specific programs or courses you took. If applicable, include additional information on your personal situation which you believe this may have affected your study results and should need to be taken into consideration during the evaluation.
Our comment: In its selection criteria, FWO expects the applicant to have an “Excellent grasp of their own field of research, knowledgeable in areas outside.” It is to your advantage that you have taken courses, written course papers, and done conference presentations on Buddhism, Asian religions, history, literature, and philosophy.
Introducing your linguistic skills is especially important here. This includes your main language as well as any additional languages. You may explain that some of them could be useful for studying primary sources, whereas others can be relevant for reading scholarship. For example, a lot of works on Chinese Buddhism are written in Japanese.
After Question 3.1., FWO asks you to provide percentile or ranking. For details, see pages 10-11 of the Example application form. You are also supposed to submit a declaration on your percentile or rank within your study group. There is also a free-input field (2000) where you can provide additional information on the marks you have received for specific courses and how these position you among your peers in your group.
Section 4. Motivation and competences
FWO general comment: This section will be used by the evaluators io assess your potential as a PhD researcher, based on your motivation, acquired scientific competences and scientific mindset.
Question 4.1. Write a motivation statement (3000)
FWO comment: Elaborate on your motivation and research interests to pursue an individual PhD trajectory. Elaborate also on how your scientific background and competences will allow you to start the PhD project. Provide a clear and substantiated overview of the skills you have already developed, and on the competences yet to be acquired and how you will acquire them.
Our general comment: We have mentioned above that the FWO evaluates you as a researcher from three sides. The first is your formal university training, which you have already described above. The second is your commitment, i.e., your profound interest in spending four years of your life doing research. They do not want you to drop halfway through the PhD just because you found something more amusing and less demanding to do. Accordingly, in answering this question, you need to show that you have a deep and long-lasting interest in your field of research. Below are some tentative suggestions on what you can discuss in your motivation statement:
How did you start to learn your main Asian language? Do you have a personal appreciation of the language, culture, etc. of the country? Maybe you have a hobby connected with the country, such as martial arts or calligraphy? How did you get interested in Buddhism? Have you ever been to a Buddhist monastery and interacted with Buddhist monks? Maybe you took part in the Woodenfish program, which takes students from all over the world to experience life in a Buddhist monastery? And so on.
In my motivation letter, I showed that I started to learn Chinese at secondary school. During the university time, I used the opportunity offered by exchange programs to go to China and get involved in the activities of a Buddhist monastery. I mentioned that after graduation I took additional courses at my own expense to broaden my language skills towards Japanese and Tibetan. I think that in this way I managed to persuade the FWO that I have a genuine interest in Chinese Buddhism and that my eagerness to study it stood up the test of time.
Question 4.2. Scientific activities, experiences and achievements. (3000)
FWO comment: In this input field you can further elaborate on first steps as a (potential) scientist. List relevant activities, experiences and achievements that may be relevant for assessing your potential to start a PhD. For mobility and awards, other dedicated input fields are available below.
– For (ongoing or finished) master thesis or equivalent (as well as dissertation advanced master): mention title, promotor, research group and host institution. If the thesis is related to your PhD topic, also specify initial objective, methodology used and (intermediate) results.
– For (PhD) research already started, specify initial objective, methodology used and (intermediate) results.
– If applicable mention (up to 5) publications and other achievements. Mind, do mention for each achievement item (publications and other achievements) your share and its nature, and those of other significant partners in the workload.
– For publications: list all authors, title of publication and journal name (without abbreviations) with volume, start/end page and year. Mention whether the publication was peer reviewed or not. For book publications, give all necessary bibliographic information (authors) or editor(s), book title, publisher, place, year, number of pages).
– Make sure your complete publication list is up to date in the e-portal ‘Personal details’ section (Publications).
– For other achievements: provide a short description, when it was undertaken and finalised and list all the relevant participants involved in it.
– List any other distinct research output that does not fit in the bibliographic publication list and that is meaningful in a broad sense with respect to this fellowship application, it may be constituted by a data base, surveys, a technical diagram, software, objects (maquettes, prototypes…), any other type of activity or output you consider to be relevant. Date the output where appropriate.
– Mention any relevant, past or concretely planned, experiences (internships, presentations, collaborations,…)
Our comment: The FWO is quite detailed in its commentary here. As we mentioned above, the FWO continues to probe if you are fit for doing a PhD. It has already discovered that you were an excellent student in a suitable program, that you are interested in doing your project, but are there any proofs that you can actually write academic stuff recognized by peer scholars, such as your master thesis or journal papers? Conference presentations also fall under this rubric as they show your ability to communicate your intermediate of final results to a scholarly audience.
In addition to dissertations and papers (so-called traditional academic output), the FWO also recognizes and even encourages other achievements. The FWO wants to see that, being a researcher at their expense, you will not only write traditional papers and dissertations but benefit broader society. It also wants to see that you are able to communicate with other people and build connections, which is very important for future development in academia.
According to our experience, in our area, this section may most likely include:
- organizing panels, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, etc.
- keynote lectures, guest lectures
- doing peer-review of journal articles
- book reviews
- translation of books or papers commissioned by academic publishers
- contributions to databases, encyclopedias, etc.
- production of datasets (e.g., from social network analysis, surveys, fieldwork)
- institutional responsibilities (e.g., governance, administration)
- involvement of the candidate as (co-)promotor in research projects
- non-academic lectures, interviews for the general audience
- running a blog, channel on social media, etc.
Question 4.3. Specify earlier mobility (research stays) in other organizations. (2000)
FWO comment: Indicate the research stays which have already been undertaken, prior to this project. If applicable, motivate shortly the added value of each stay to the project. Add details on the organization, type of organization, country, contact person, start/end date, function/activities.
Our comment: Elsewhere on their website, the FWO advises you in particular to use this section to indicate any hindrances to your academic mobility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
You are strongly advised to do research stays, go to summer schools, etc. This helps establish personal connections at other universities, and the FWO highly values this.
Question 4.4. Specify concrete mobility plans (research stays) within the FWO fellowship. (2000)
FWO comment: Indicate the research stays which are planned within the FWO fellowship. Motivate shortly the added value of each stay for the project. Include details on the organization, type of organization, country, contact person, start/end date, function/activities. See Programme Regulations Art. 4 §2
Our comment: The importance of research mobility for the FWO has just been underscored in our comment to the previous question. This is the follow-up on the same topic. The FWO wants to know if you are aware of the places where people conduct research that are close to your topic. Or maybe there are people with specific expertise whom you want to visit because their advice will benefit your research. Question 4.4 invites you to describe who these people are, why their research or expertise is important for you, and when you are planning to visit them. You are not taking on any obligations here, but simply demonstrating that you know about what is going on in the wider academic world and making some plans that can indeed be useful in the future (e.g., you might try to meet these people or their acquaintances during conferences and then arrange research stays through these connections).
Question 4.5. List any scientific awards. (600)
FWO comment: List prizes and awards, (e.g. best master thesis…). Specify the awarding body, title, date, amount and theme.
Our comment: These could include prizes in a language competition, prizes for papers and dissertations, and young scholar awards, such as those of the European Association of Chinese Studies or the World Association of Chinese Studies. This offers the FWO an objective proof of your knowledge and skills.
Apart from that, awards also mean funding that you were awarded to go to a workshop or summer school, and even the scholarship that you have received to cover your tuition fees at your own university. For the FWO, this means that other institutions before them have already noticed your exceptional achievements and decided to offer financial support to you.
Section 5. Host institution and promotor
Our comment: Here you indicate your prospective PhD supervisor (one of our professors) and Ghent University as your host institution. You may want to ask your supervisor specifically how to fill out the fields “Title,” “Current occupation,” and “Employment rate (%).” Our research unit is called “Department of Languages and Cultures,” and our address is “Blandijnberg 2” in Ghent.
This is followed by sections on co-promotors and co-funding, which you fill out according to your specific situation. If your PhD is an ordinary, not a joint one, you leave these fields blank or write NA (not applicable) if the FWO comment asks you to.
Part 3. Assessment of research project
Our comment: All that was above was concerned with the first half of the FWO score: assessment of you as a researcher. Now the application moves on to the second half, which is the evaluation of your research project.
At the start of this section, you upload your project outline, for writing which we offer you a separate guide.
Section 6. Project positioning and embedding
Our comment: Relevance and originality are among the criteria that the FWO uses to evaluate project proposals. It wants to invest its money in the production of cutting-edge research, which means that you will be contributing to the international state of the art. So the whole of this section is dedicated to showing how your project is relevant and able to produce new contributions for the academic community at Ghent University and in the world at large, as well as for the general public.
Question 6.1. Explain how this project fits into the research activities of the involved host institution(s). (2000)
FWO comment: Elaborate on the positioning and embedding of your project in the research group(s). If the project has already been initiated, please state the progress of your research.
Our comment: The FWO begins its investigation of the relevance of your project by making sure that Ghent University and, more specifically, its Department of Languages and Cultures as well as the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies within the department are the right places for carrying out the project that you have proposed. Accordingly, when designing your reply, you can consult the introduction of the research scope of the GCBS. You might also be willing to show your awareness of the work of some colleagues at Ghent that can be particularly relevant to you and the existence of some projects to which you might be able to contribute or which you might learn from.
I attach the paragraph that I wrote for my project on the Vinaya tradition in seventeenth-century China for your reference: “Vinaya studies is one of the major areas of scholarly interest at the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS), which makes my proposed project highly relevant to the research agenda of Ghent University as the host institution. I anticipate benefiting greatly from supervision by Professor Ann Heirman, who is an expert on Vinaya. In addition, the GCBS has recently hosted several projects that are thematically and/or methodologically relevant to my own, such as Anna Sokolova’s research into the formation of regional Vinaya traditions in mid-Tang China (755–845) and Nan Ouyang’s study of monastic life on Mount Jiuhua between 1949 and 1978. I have already established links with these two young scholars and hope for closer cooperation with them and other colleagues. I am eager to learn more and, if possible, contribute to the Ghent Database of Medieval Chinese (GDMC) project, led by Professor Christoph Anderl, which aims to produce high-quality, annotated digital editions of important medieval Chinese Buddhist texts.”
Question 6.2. Position the project in a national and international context. (1200)
FWO comment: Mention specific research collaborations planned in the course of this project, if appropriate, mention larger projects, programmes or networks your proposal may be part of.
Our comment: Now the FWO is asking whether, as you are working for their money, you will be producing in the course of your research something that is relevant to the broader academic community (not only at Ghent) and even contribute to larger international projects.
I attach the paragraph that I wrote for my project on the Vinaya tradition in seventeenth-century China for your reference: “My research into the history of the Vinaya tradition and Buddhist hagiography more broadly has already generated a number of entries in the UACBS’s “Encyclopedia of Hangzhou Buddhist Culture,” and I believe that the proposed project will enable me to make similar contributions to other databases, including the Buddhist Studies Authority and Place Database (coordinated by Professor Marcus Bingenheimer, Temple University), the China Biographical Database (CBDB, coordinated by Professor James Robson, Harvard University) and the more comprehensive Database of Religious History (University of British Columbia). I also intend to add XML/TEI markup to The Gazetteer of Baohua Mountain in the Digital Archive of Buddhist Temple Gazetteers and/or utilize this archive to supplement the biographical information in the aforementioned databases. For instance, at present, many important lay patrons who are named in the gazetteer do not feature in either the Authority and Place Database or the CBDB. Addressing these omissions via the addition of new entries might create a strong impetus for future research into social networks and other scholarly projects.”
Other projects that you might want to mention with regard to China are “Chinese Religious Text Authority,’ the Chinese Buddhist Canonical Attributions database (CBC@).
Question 6.3. Did you take the issues of gender and diversity into account while designing your research plan (e.g. selection of human participants and/or animals in experiments, relevance of research questions and/or results with respect to gender differences, …)? (1200)
Question 6.4. Did you or will you work with societal actors other than research partners in the whole or parts of the research process (from design of the application up to the execution of the research)? (1200)
Our comment: You first answer Yes or Not applicable, and if you answer Yes, then you provide further justification. If your research touches upon women, minorities, etc. in Buddhism, Question 6.3. is a suitable place to elaborate on this.
Question 6.5. Science communication. Indicate how the results of the proposed research will be communicated to a non-expert audience. (1200)
FWO comment: FWO encourages its fellows to disseminate the results of their research widely and valorise them where possible.
Our comment: Valorization is about setting up a start-up based on your research, so it is not very relevant to our fundamental studies. I attach my own paragraph for your reference. You can see that I mainly wrote on open-access publishing (as it is something that the FWO strongly advocates) and on participation in projects targeted at general audiences:
“Having worked as an independent researcher throughout my non-residential PhD program, I am deeply committed to open-access publishing. I strongly believe that it reduces piracy and enhances access to academic knowledge for underprivileged, independent scholars as well as students and faculty at less prominent educational and research institutions. This is why I will endeavor to publish my results in peer-reviewed journals with open-access options and reputable open-access collective volumes.
I will explore the possibility of organizing events aimed at wider audiences within the frameworks of lecture series organized by libraries, museums, and academic institutions. I also intend to create English-language Wikipedia pages for the key Vinaya figures and sites that I study. In addition, my ongoing contributions to the “Encyclopedia of Hangzhou Buddhist Culture” will help to communicate the history of Chinese Buddhism to a wider audience, especially as the project’s coordinators intend to make an expanded version of the encyclopedia freely available online.”
Section 7. Peer-review
Our comment: On the next step, you choose the panel to which you submit your proposal. Most of us submit to CULT4 – Religion and Theology. But you should consult your prospective supervisor about it.
Section 8. Ethics
Our comment: This is followed by a large section of questions with Yes/No answers about ethics. One relevant section here is conducting research activities in non-EU countries, which might be your fieldwork, visiting archives, libraries, and museums in Asian countries. It might be relevant if you are going to do interviews, which means that you have human participants and processing of personal data. Otherwise, it is mostly about ethics in medical experiments.
Section 9. Data Management Plan
FWO comment: Data management is an integral part of sound scientific research. It covers the description of data and metadata, their storage and long-term preservation, the designation of responsible persons, the handling of highly sensitive data, and the open access to and sharing of research data.
The FWO has made data management a key element of its policy for all support channels provided by the FWO. The FWO expects researchers to pay due attention to this dimension before, during and for at least five years after their research.
For background information on data management and the procedures regarding the Data Management Plan (DMP), which FWO expects from its applicants when applying for research funding, please see our website. Please note that the answers to the questions below and the Data Management Plan should cover the full project, including all (inter-) national partners involved in cross-institutional projects.
Our comment: Data has come over to us from sociology and the natural sciences. You do a series of experiments, record their results in long Excel spreadsheets, and then publish a paper based on these results. But the Excel spreadsheets do not go into the paper. So it is important that you safely store them somewhere in case someone has doubts about them. For us, it is relevant if you are doing interviews and store interview records, or if you do some digital humanities, such as social network analysis or use TACL. Then you also have spreadsheets that you can store on GitHUB. In regular humanities, however, we rely on printed books or their digitalized versions, such as CBETA, BDRC, etc., so there is no data that needs to be preserved separately.
I include my own answers under the questions in this section. On the whole, those of us who are not doing interviews are writing something along these lines.
Question 9.1. Describe the datatypes (surveys, sequences, manuscripts, objects…) you will collect and/or generate and/or (re)use during yaw research project. (700)
My answer: This project will be based on textual information gleaned from various printed and/or digitalized sources relating to the [subject of my research]:
- local gazetteers
- genealogies
- autobiographical texts by Buddhist monks
- the Buddhist canon
- digital databases
The project will generate partial or entire translations of texts, in particular those contained in the first three categories.
Question 9.2. Specify in which way the following provisions are in place in order to preserve the data during and at least 5 years after the end of the research. (700)
FWO comment:
Motivate your answer.
– Designation of responsible person (If already designated, please fill in his/her name.)
– Storage capacity/repository
— during the research
— after the research
My answer:
During the research, all active data will be stored on a shared network drive, provided by Ghent University IT Services. This will ensure automatic backups, safe storage, and controlled access. (Additional access will be given to the promoter of the research.) In addition, I will make daily backups of important files on an external hard drive. I intend to seek opportunities to publish my translations of primary sources in order that they are permanently preserved and readily available for academic researchers and the general public alike.
Question 9.3. What is the reason why you wish to deviate from the principle of preservation of data and of the minimum preservation term of 5 years?
My answer: NA
Question 9.4. Are there issues concerning research data indicated in the ethics questionnaire of this application form? Which specific security measures do those data require? (optional)
My answer: NA
Question 9.5. Which other issues related to the data management are relevant to mention?
My answer: NA