Scholarships for PhD students

Are you a PhD student at one of the six KNIR partner universities in the Netherlands and do you need to conduct research in Rome? Then you are eligible for a KNIR scholarship.

The scholarship consists of

Free lodging at the KNIR for a period of 10 weeks
Reimbursement of travel and additional costs should be provided by your home institution or the research project in which you participate.

PhD students can apply for a maximum of two KNIR scholarships during the period of their PhD trajectory. For additional weeks they can send in a request for paid accommodation at the Institute.

Application requirements

1. You are an affiliated PhD student at one of the following Dutch universities: University of Groningen, Leiden University, VU University Amsterdam, Utrecht University, University of  Amsterdam, and Radboud University Nijmegen
2. You can demonstrate that a stay at the KNIR will benefit your research

If you are not affiliated with one of the six Dutch universities associated with the Institute, you cannot apply for a KNIR scholarship, but you can send in a request for paid accommodation at the Institute.

How to apply?

You can now apply for a fall scholarship (Semester 1, cohort 1) for PhD Students via the button below. The deadline for the fall semester is 15 May 2026, 23:59 CEST.

This scholarship will be for 10 weeks, between 17 September and 26 November 2026.

You will be asked to provide/answer:

• the (provisional) title of your research project
• a short summary (max. 120 words)
• whether you already received a KNIR scholarship for this project
• if you receive other (research) funding for this project

And to upload the following documents:

• a research proposal form (download here)
• a recent academic cv (max 2 A4)
• a letter of motivation for this scholarship (max 1 A4)

When selecting applicants, we look at your motivation, the benefit of a stay at the KNIR for your research, the quality of your research proposal, your CV, and your contribution to the KNIR academic community. At KNIR we believe diversity enriches debate: different perspectives contribute to the quality of our work. We therefore value and highly encourage applications from students and researchers with diverse backgrounds and identities.

The results will follow no later than one month after the deadline. Please note that the decision of the selection committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into. If your scholarship is granted, you are asked to confirm acceptance of the grant and the conditions that come with it within 1 week.