Since this week, NWO has opened the call for the PhD scholarship programme Mosaic 2.0. The programme is aimed at Dutch migrant graduates and/or children of migrants with a master’s degree. The aim is to stimulate the influx of this group into science by funding PhD positions.
The subject of the PhD research is completely free; any research topic can qualify. The candidate is himself an applicant and submits his own preapplication or full application. The application must be accompanied by a supervisor statement and be in agreement with the intended supervisor and daily supervisor. The total budget of this call is 4.3 million euros, of which NWO will fund a maximum of 348 thousand euros per application. NWO expects to award 12 applications in this round.
Graduates with migration background
The PhD scholarship programme ‘Mosaic 2.0’ is aimed at the group of graduates with a migration background from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America and Turkey, as well as natives of North America and Oceania, who are underrepresented in science in the Netherlands. The aim of the programme is to promote the inclusive working environment within Dutch knowledge institutions.
Final round of Mosaic 2.0
This just-opened call is the final round of Mosaic 2.0. So is Hestia, the programme for refugee academics living in the Netherlands and holding a temporary or permanent residence permit. So although the separate rounds will cease to exist after 2024, the incentive goals of these programmes will be anchored differently within NWO. For groups that are numerically lagging behind, NWO aims to give incentives a structural place in regular funding instruments by 2025.
Inclusive assessing grant applications
NWO announced earlier that Aspasia, the instrument to accelerate the promotion of female scientists to associate professor and full professor, will also be reshaped. The changes are in line with ambitions from NWO’s current strategy. The organisation is aiming for a leading position in Europe in the inclusive assessment of grant applications. Naturally, the quality of research proposals will always be leading. By integrating smaller funding instruments once set up as temporary incentives into the structural funding instruments, NWO is fulfilling its ambition to reduce the number of (small) instruments by at least 25 per cent between now and 2026 (the end of the current strategy period).
NWO expects to come up with more information on the new approach in the second half of 2024.
Source: NWO
