Since its founding in 1920 by President Herbert Hoover, the B.A.E.F. has granted Fellowships to 4,370 Belgians and 1068 Americans for advanced study or research in the partner country.
The program of B.A.E.F. Fellowships for the academic year 2025-2026 comprises 110 new individuals, including 96 Belgian Fellows to study or perform research in the United States, and 14 American Fellows to study or perform research in Belgium, in all academic fields.
The main objective of the B.A.E.F. has always been to help young talented students to study towards a Master degree or PhD at a top US university. Among the Belgian Fellows who are departing, we count 11 bachelor students who will be studying towards an initial Master degree, 10 graduate students for an advanced Master degree, 7 LL.M. Fellows and 5 MBA Fellows.
This year we also count 8 young talented Master researchers who decided to take a gap year to conduct research before pursuing their master degree. They are remarkable bachelor students who join top US universities: such as Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Yale Medical school and UC Berkeley.
Additionally, 33 post-doctoral researchers and 3 doctoral researchers secured a research fellowship from the BAEF in order to finance a research stay at the best known US university labs or research centres. Often a longtime collaboration between the two institutions will start from there.
Unfortunately, the Music Selection Committee, under the chairmanship Gilles Ledure, Director General of Flagey, could not recommend a Music Fellow 2025.
Honorary Fellowships for 2025-2026 were granted to 12 individuals, who secured financial support outside the B.A.E.F.
Finally from the boat 2024, 6 initial Master students and 1 MBA student will be supported for a second year of study during 2025-2026.
The Fellowship Committee, that interviews all Belgian candidates personally, selects the Fellows competitively from a pool of brilliant applicants. The fellowship awards comprise a stipend ranging from $22,000.00 to $55,000.00, the payment of tuition fees varying between $50,000.00 to $ 72 000 for the 2-years Master Fellowship.
Among the Americans Fellows, a surprisingly higher number of candidacies were received. Among the 14 American Fellows we count 3 Master’s degree Fellows, 2 Master ‘s research Fellows, 5 doctoral researchers, 3 postdoctoral researchers and 1 musician at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.
- This year and thanks to the intercession of Maryan Ainsworth, we count a new cost-shared BRON – BAEF fellowship resulting from a partnership between BAEF, the City of Bruges and the BRON Research Centre at the Bruges Museums with particular focus on Early Netherlandish Painting originating in the 15th and 16th centuries.
We wish the new “Boat” of Belgian Fellows a prosperous journey and a fruitful stay in the United States. As for the 14 American Fellows, an interesting and enriching stay in Belgium.
