2025/26 DUO-Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels Fellowship Programme

1. General Description

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.

1.1 Who is this scholarship for and What are the Eligibility Criteria?

The applicants must meet all eligibility criteria:

● Applications must be submitted by a duo of two members of academic or scientific staff from higher education institutions, one of whom is from the FWB and the other from one of the Asia-Pacific countries covered by the programme;

● The Asia-Pacific 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 ;

● Candidates must be remunerated by their respective institutions and it must be their main occupation (full or part-time (50% minimum)), Priority will be given to candidates whose position within the institutions extends for a minimum of three years ;

● The Wallonia-Brussels and Asia-Pacific HEIs must be recognised/accredited by the competent authorities in the field of higher education ;

● Representatives of the Wallonia-Brussels and Asia-Pacific HEIs must sign a cooperation agreement or must have expressed the intention to sign one in the two following years ;

● The call is open to all disciplines. The two members of the duo do not have to belong to the same disciplines ;

● The citizenship of the candidate is not a criterion for eligibility ;

The following groups are not entitled for a scholarship :

● Students and PhD students;

● Professors emeritus and honorary;

● Teaching assistants.

Exemptions are possible for the colleges of arts. The selection committee will assess on a case-by-case basis.

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.

A candidate may submit several applications, with different partners. In the event multiple applications in the same year, a maximum of one application per candidate may be potentially selected, i.e. the one that obtains the highest score from the jury. A duo may apply no more than twice for the same project and may receive ASEM-DUO FWB funding no more than once for the same project.

If a candidate has already received other funding via the FWB ASEM-DUO programme, he/she must expressly mention this on the application form (type of funding, purpose, partner, year). Candidates who have received an ASEM-DUO scholarship within the past three years will be given lower priority.

If a candidate has already received funding for this project (from ARES or any other organisation), they must explicitly mention it in the application form (type of funding , purpose, partner, year). They should also clearly explain how an ASEM-DUO scholarship complements this funding.

1.2 What are the Financial Terms of this Scholarship?

1.2.1. Amount of the Scholarship

The amount of the scholarship awarded per "paired mobility” project is a lump sum of €7,000, to be shared between the two beneficiaries according to a distribution key set by them in the application form (for example €3,500 per person).

1.2.2. Conditions of Use of the Scholarship

● The scholarship is intended to cover international travel expenses and per diem capped at the amount of the individual scholarship ;

● The exchange is done by pairs: the beneficiary from the Wallonia-Brussels HEI is hosted by the Asian institution, and vice-versa ;

● Mobilities shall start no earlier than August 1st, 2025 and shall end no later than August 31st, 2026 ;

● The total duration of each person's stay is fixed at a minimum of 18 days and a maximum of 60 days (including travel days). This period may be divided into two stays;

● No later than 2 months after their final return date, the beneficiaries undertake to send back a report of their stay in PDF format using a form that will be sent to them at the same time as the agreement. This report will describe the results of the project in the partner country, according to the following structure:

» A summary of the project (10 lines),

» The actions/research carried out during the visit and the results obtained,

» The course of the visit,

» The impact of the visit on the scholarship holder's institution,

» The contribution of the ASEM-DUO programme to this particular project,

» Positive points and improvements to be made to the ASEM-DUO programme.

1.3 How to submit an application?

1.3.1 Documents to enclose

● The 2025/26 application form duly completed by both candidates (available on the ARES website and on the ASEM-DUO website). The form must be typewritten and in PDF format. Authenticated electronic signatures of PDF documents are allowed ;

● A copy of the academic cooperation agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) between the FWB institution and the Asia-Pacific institution or, in the absence of 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;

● The copy of the passport or national identity card of the two applicants;

● A CV of no more than 5 pages for each applicant, emphasizing work experience relevant to the ASEM-DUO programme.

1.3.2 Submitting the application

The application must be submitted as one single document in PDF format to ARES by the FWB institution applying, via the contact person indicated in the application form (e.g. the international relations officer) at the following e-mail address: asem-duo@ares-ac.be ;

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
Alexia VERCRUYSSE
Rue Royale 180 – 1000 Bruxelles (Belgique) ;

● Applications must be submitted between January 31st, 2025 and March 28th, 2025 at 12h. No applications will be accepted before or after these dates ;

● 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 international@ares-ac.be.

1.4 Selection

1.4.1 Selection criteria

ARES selects beneficiaries of the ASEM-DUO Wallonia-Brussels Mobility Scholarship Programme based on the following criteria:

● The impact of the exchange and of the project on the development or strengthening of ties between the higher education institution in the FWB and the institution in the Asia-Pacific region. Since the ASEM-DUO program aims to establish and enhance collaborations between institutions in the FWB and the Asia-Pacific region, applications demonstrating significant potential for developing collaboration between partner institutions will be given higher priority.

● the level of internationalisation of the project, i.e. opportunities for developing collaborations that go beyond the project itself (international collaboration opportunities, network development, long-term impact of the internationalisation project, diversity of beneficiaries (students, faculty, scientific or administrative staff), etc.) ;

● 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.) ;

● The complementarity of the projects submitted between the members of the duo (if the projects are different). The fact that the application involves two different projects is not restrictive; however, the complementarity of the projects is considered an added value for the evaluation of the applications ;

● The explanation for the duration of the trip of each applicant.

1.4.2 Jury and Selection Procedure

● The administrative eligibility of applications is examined by the International Relations Department (DRI) of ARES. Admissible applications are presented to a jury responsible for analysing and evaluating them with a view to selecting the beneficiaries. This jury is composed of 5 university representatives, i.e. one from each university of the FWB, 2 representatives of university colleges and 1 representative of art colleges.

● Admissible applications are evaluated by the selection panel on the basis of a score from 0 to 5 per criterion (0 being the least satisfactory and 5 the most satisfactory). On the basis of the scores obtained and the available budget, the jury proceeds to the ranking and selection of the applicants.

● The members of the jury do not decide on applications submitted by candidates from their own institution.

● Finally, the candidates will be informed of the results of the selection and will be invited to sign a tripartite agreement binding themselves and ARES.

1.5 Visa

Any 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 scholarship in order to facilitate any administrative procedure.

Beneficiaries are invited to consult the list of third countries whose nationals are subject to the visa requirement on the website of the Immigration Office in order to find out whether a short-stay visa is required for their entry into Belgium.

1.6 Provisional Calendar

In addition, you may find Reference to ARES, Privacy, Breach of Obligations, Force Majeure, and Competent courts in 10-12 pages on DUO-Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels 2025 General Description and Regulation. You may find the document on the following link.

2. Contacts and FAQ

If you have any questions, please refer to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section available on the following link of the ARES website: https://www.ares-ac.be/en/relations-internationales/asem-duo-scholarship

For any information related to this announcement, please contact:

Académie de recherche et d’enseignement Supérieur - ARES

Direction des relations internationales

Rue Royale 180 - 1000 Bruselles

T: +32-2-225-45-71

E: asem-duo@ares-ac.be or international@ares-ac.be