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 15^th and 16^th 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.

Since its founding in 1920 by President Herbert Hoover, the B.A.E.F. has granted Fellowships to 4,103 Belgians and 1031 Americans for advanced study or research in the partner country.

The program of B.A.E.F. Fellowships for the academic year 2022-2023 comprises 96 new individuals, including 86 Belgian Fellows to study or perform research in the United States, and 10 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 9 Bachelor students who will be studying towards an initial Master degree, 11 graduate students for an advanced Master degree, 15 LL.M. Fellows and 8 MBA Fellows.  

For the third time in a row, BAEF counts 3 young talented medical students from the KULeuven who will leave with a Master research level Fellowship to top US universities: such as Stanford U. School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School for a gap year to conduct research. They will resume their Master studies in Medicine upon return to Belgium.   

Additionally, 24 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 centers. Often a longtime collaboration between the two institutions will start from there.

Since 1998, BAEF also gives annually Fellowships to Musicians.  For the academic year 2022-2023 the Music Selection Committee, under the chairmanship Gilles Ledure,  Director General of Flagey,  selected only one Music Fellow,  for a Master in Composition at the Eastman School of Music.

Honorary Fellowships for 2022-2023 were granted to 12 individuals, who secured financial support outside the B.A.E.F.

Finally, 2 initial Master students 2021 and 6 MBA students 2021 will be supported for a second year of study during 2022-2023.

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 $20,000.00 to $50,000.00, the payment of tuition fees varying between $40,000.00 to $ 80 000 for the 2-years Master Fellowship.

Among the Americans Fellows we used to have a large majority within the Humanities, Arts, History, Philosophy as well as Music. We observed a recent evolution among disciplines of the American Fellows towards the STEM fields. This year we count 5 American Fellows in the STEM fields , 2 in Art history , 1 in Political science and 2 in Carillon performance.

We wish the new “Boat” of Belgian Fellows a prosperous voyage and a fruitful stay in the U.S.A. as well as an interesting and fruitful stay in Belgium to the 10 American Fellows.  

For the academic year 2021-2022, B.A.E.F. proudly sponsors 100 students and researchers in all academic fields. The present boat encompasses 89 Belgian Fellows (including one second year MBA 2020 Fellow) pursuing academic careers in the United States in addition to 11 American Fellows studying in Belgium.  

The Boat of 2021 uniquely includes 9 Fellows from the Boat of 2020 who postponed their Fellowship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Read more

Alumni Fundraising Drive

As every year, we are launching our annual fundraising campaign. The main objective is to have a large number of Alumni contributing, even a small amount.

In line with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we will again  allocate the funds raised to Fellows from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds.

The Alumni Fellowship 2021 was awarded to Alexandra Cooreman, a very young and talented violonist who just started her bachelor degree at the Curtis Institute of Music. 

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For the academic year 2021-2022, B.A.E.F. proudly sponsors 100 students and researchers in all academic fields. The present boat encompasses 89 Belgian Fellows (including one second year MBA 2020 Fellow) pursuing academic careers in the United States in addition to 11 American Fellows studying in Belgium.  

Belgian Fellows

The Boat of 2021 uniquely includes 9 Fellows from the Boat of 2020 who postponed their Fellowship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the talented graduate students, 24 Fellows pursuit a Master’s degree or PhD at top US universities. Our 2021 Fellowships include 2 Bachelor students to complete an initial Master’s, 7 graduate students for a complementary Master, 1 PhD candidate in African American studies, and 7 LL.M. Fellows. Of the 9 Fellows deferred from the Boat 2020, 2 are Maters’ Fellows and 7 LL.M. Fellows.

Among the 43 researchers, BAEF counts 3 Master’s level research medical students from the KU Leuven in order to gain research experience at top US Medical Schools: Harvard Medical School, Icahn School of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic.  Finally, a total of 32 post-doctoral researchers and 8 doctoral researchers secured a research fellowship from the BAEF to finance research in top US university labs and research centers. 

11 individuals of the Boat 2021 were granted Honorary Fellowships, earning financial support outside of the BAEF.

Popular Universities of choice among the Fellows include: Columbia U. (12), Stanford. U (11), Harvard. U (11), UC Berkeley (8), Yale U. (6), NYU (5), Georgetown U. (2), Georgia Tech (2), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2), Johns Hopkins U. (2), the Mayo Clinic (2), Northwestern U. (2), The University of Chicago (2), UCLA (2) and MIT (1), etc….

Music and MBA Fellows, this year’s Music Selection Committee awarded a Music Fellowship to a young violinist with several years of experience at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. Ms. Alexandra Cooreman started her undergraduate music studies in violin at the Curtis Institute. A second Music Fellow Jesse Dockx will follow his music graduate studies at the City College of New York, specializing in jazz and drums.

Thanks to the generosity of two former MBA Alumni, Alec de Changy and Benoit Duplat, BAEF Fellow Layla Kara now pursues business studies as the first “Changy & Duplat” MBA Fellow on Social Impact. Ms. Layla Kara, originally from the University of Liège, started her MBA in Strategy Consulting & Social impact at UCLA this year. Among the 5 other MBA Fellows they are 2 Fellows at Northwestern U.- Kellogg School of Management, 1 at Harvard Business School, 1 at Stanford GSB and 1 at Georgetown McDonough SB.

US Fellows

From a competitive pool of applicants, the American Selection Committee chose 11 skilled US Fellows for the Boat 2021.

Among the musicians,  one violinist Karen Su and a cellist Ari Evan complete their Artist diploma at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. Sarah Badlissi studies at the Brussels Conservatory and follows guitar performance studies under the guidance of professor Antigoni Goni. Lastly, a researcher in historical musicology continues his academic career at the KULeuven & the Alamire Foundation.

Within the STEM fields, we have a graduate student and three researchers. Two US Fellows pursue their studies at UGent, including a Master student in Mycology and parasitology and a PhD Fellow in Biochemistry at VIB.  One researcher is in Fluid Dynamics at the Von Karman Institute. Finally, a Master’s level research Fellow looks at hearing outcomes for users of auditory prostheses within the KU Leuven’s Faculty of Medicine.

In the fields of Human and Social sciences, BAEF sponsors two graduate students, one in European Studies at  KULeuven and another in Modern languages at Vesalius College. In affiliation with UGent, BAEF also supports a doctoral researcher in African languages and cultures.  

We wish the new Boat of Belgian and US Fellows 2021 a prosperous and fulfilling experience at their prospective universities and research labs.

Without the commitment and expertise of our numerous Alumni sitting on the various Selection Committees, this BAEF Fellowship program would not be made possible.  

Sometimes called the “Belgian Nobel Prize”, the 2020 Francqui-Collen Prize rewards Cédric Blanpain, from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Director of the Stem Cells and Cancer Laboratory, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine – ULB, Welbio investigator, Cédric Blanpain was awarded the Francqui-Collen Prize for his fundamental research in the fields of cancer and stem cell biology.

Cédric Blanpain is the 25th ULB researcher to receive the prestigious Prize.

On December 16, the King will officially give the Prize – renamed this year Francqui-Collen in honor of Professor Désiré Baron Collen, laureate in 1984 – at the Palais des Académies.

Cédric Blanpain – his award-winning research

Cédric Blanpain is full professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles and director of the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer. He is also a Welbio investigator, three times recipient of an “ERC Grant” (European Research Council); and created, two years ago, the spin-off Chromacure SA, which develops new anti-cancer drugs.

Cédric Blanpain studies stem cells during embryonic development, homeostasis and tissue repair as well as their connection with the development and progression of cancers.

He made several seminal discoveries – in particular related to breast and skin cancers – published in the most prestigious journals and he was awarded by numerous prestigious prizes.

Among these major advances:

His research group has identified the stem cells responsible for cardiac development as well as the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the specification of cardiac and vascular cells.

He also identified the mechanisms responsible for the development, maintenance and repair of the skin.

Cédric Blanpain’s laboratory has developed new tracing methods to identify the populations of stem cells in the mammary gland and prostate.

For the vast majority of cancers, the cells at the origin of the cancer are still unknown. Cédric Blanpain’s laboratory was a pioneer in the identification of cells at the origin of cancers. He discovered the cells at the origin of basal cell carcinoma, the most common cancer in humans. He identified the cells at the origin of the other most common skin cancers as well as breast cancers. These studies have discovered that the cellular origin of cancers influence the types of cancer that will develop, their ability to generate metastases and their resistance to therapy.

The existence of cancer stem cells has long been debated because of the methodology used to study them. Cédric Blanpain’s group provided the first experimental demonstration by lineage tracing and cell ablation of the existence of cancer stem cells in their natural environment and their importance in tumor growth. He also identified the importance of the vascular niche in the regulation of these cancer stem cells as well as the molecular factors that regulate their functions. His research group has identified the cell populations responsible for metastatic spread and resistance to cancer treatments and has discovered a new drug combination that eradicates this resistance in basal cell carcinoma.

Cédric Blanpain – his career

Graduated with a Medical Doctor from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1995 with summa cum Lauda, Cédric Blanpain specialized in internal medicine from 1995 to 2002; and at the same time, he performed a PhD thesis in medical sciences as an FNRS candidate in the laboratory of Prof. Parmentier (Prix Francqui 1999), at the ULB. After his doctoral thesis in medical sciences and his specialization in internal medicine, Cédric Blanpain decided to study stem cells. To acquire expertise in the field, he did a postdoctoral fellowship from 2002 to 2006 at Rockefeller University in New York in the laboratory of Elaine Fuchs, a world-renowned specialist in skin stem cells. For his postdoc, he initially received a fellowship of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF), which was key to initiate his postdoc in New York. He then received a long-term fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO). In October 2006, Cédric Blanpain was appointed FNRS qualified researcher and created his research laboratory at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His research group uses cell tracing methods and multidisciplinary approaches to identify and characterize stem cells in different tissues such as skin, mammary gland, prostate or heart during embryonic development, homeostasis and tissue repair. He uses the same developmental approaches to identify the cells of origin of cancers and the mechanisms that regulate cancer progression, metastatic spread and resistance to cancer treatments. Cédric Blanpain has been investigator of the Walloon excellence in life sciences and biotechnology (WELBIO) since 2011. He was appointed professor in 2011 and full professor in 2012. He became the director of the stem cells and cancer laboratory in 2017. In 2018, he created a spin-off, Chromacure SA, which develops new anti-cancer drugs.

Cédric Blanpain has received several prestigious awards.

He was selected by the journal Nature as one of ten scientists that matter in 2012. He received the Young Investigator Award from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2009, the Young Investigator Award from the company International Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2012, the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences in 2012, the FNRS Joseph Maisin Five-Year Prize for Basic Biomedical Sciences 2015, the 2019 Biomedical Research Prize of the Astra Foundation -Zeneca. He was elected member of EMBO in 2012, of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine in 2012 and of the Academia Europaea in 2015. Cédric Blanpain was awarded three research grants from the European Research Council (ERC): starting grant (2007-2012), consolidator grant (2013-2019) and advanced grant (2020-2025).

Université libre de Bruxelles

Since 1933, the Francqui Foundation has awarded the Francqui Prize – the most prestigious Belgian scientific prize – to a Belgian researcher under the age of 50 “who has made an important contribution to science whose value has increased the prestige of Belgium”.

Cédric Blanpain is the 25th ULB researcher to be awarded the Francqui Prize.

See more:

www.francquifoundation.be

blanpainlab.ulb.ac.be

We have been working together for around 25 years: the first ten years in various private equity ventures and the last fifteen ones in building up companies in the social sector: elderly care, learning disabilities and medical practices.

The social and care sector made us discover the importance of combining emotional intelligence, often undervalued, with the more academical logical/mathematical reasoning, leading to stronger organizations that are both value and procedure driven.

For us, the BAEF is a jewel, combining both intelligence and values:

• it helps intellectually bright young women and men grow academically
• in America, a culturally close but quite different environment, yet a country with most of the world’s top universities and where a majority of the world’s patents are registered.
• fostering close bonds between BAEF scholars (we recall fondly the annual dinner at Emile’s house in New Haven, and Charles Ullens’ presentation cocktails in Brussels)
• and above all, always in a climate of “bienveillance”/benevolence and gentleness.

The BAEF is also an institution managed with a healthy long-term vision, strict finances, mixing austerity but at the same time willing to innovate (in the past with company’s fellowships, today with a more social vision of its role).

The objective of this fellowship is not to just give back to the Foundation but also more simply a personal gift from two alumni to five future fellows in the next five years, five 5 persons we want to meet, create a bond with and be able to follow-up in their career.  As much as we feel we were privileged to be selected into the BAEF community, we wish them the same luck.

We therefore gave our own names to the fellowship, underlining this personal approach which differs from a company sponsoring or an anonymous gift.  We also have the hope this gesture will create similar vocations among the many other BAEF alumni.

The fellowship will be given to candidates selected by the BAEF selection committee – we won’t be involved in their selection – preferably to persons who shares the most similarities with us:

• Someone who has a social vision of business life and who aims at using, as we do, the tools of private enterprises to solve social issues
• An MBA or an MPA
• Someone interested in “bridging” the American liberal vision of the world and the European social one

Bon vent, fair winds !

For the first time, the BAEF selection committee has also pick up four very young talented bachelors in Medicine for a research stay at top US Medical University laboratories. They will spend a gap research year in the US before pursuing their Master studies in Medicine back in Belgium. 

The Music Selection Committee gave a Music Fellowship to a young pianist, student from Liebrecht Vanbeckenvoort, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and Alumni of the Foundation.

2020 marks the 100^th Anniversary of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F.).  Since its founding in 1920 by President Herbert Hoover, the B.A.E.F. has granted Fellowships to 3,930 Belgians and 1011 Americans for advanced study or research in the partner country.

Despite the Coronavirus outbreak, the program of B.A.E.F. Fellowships for the academic year 2020-2021 comprises 76 new individuals, including 63 Belgian Fellows to study or perform research in the United States, and 13 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 leaving, we count 1 Bachelor student who will be studying for his initial Master, 5 graduate students for an advanced Master, and 1 candidate for a PhD in Thermal Fluids Mechanics. Among the 13 selected LL.M. Fellows, 7 have decided to leave within this academic year for LL.M. degree although a large majority postponed their start to the Spring semester 2021.

For the first time, BAEF counts four young talented medical students from the KULeuven who will leave beginning of February 2021 for a Master research level Fellowship at top US universities: such as Duke Medical Center, The Rockfeller University and  the Johns Hopkins Hospital for a gap year to conduct already research.   Finally, a total of 36 post-doctoral researchers and a doctoral researcher secured a research fellowship from the BAEF in order to finance a research stay at the best known US university labs or research centers. Often a longtime collaboration between the two institutions will start from there.

Since 1998, BAEF also gives annually 2 Fellowships to Musicians.  For the academic year 2020-2021 the Music Selection Committee, under the chairmanship Gilles Ledure,  Director General of Flagey,  selected only one Music Fellow,  a pianist student of the laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and former BAEF Fellow, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort.

In addition, 4 Belgian Fellows receive a MBA (Master in Business Administration) Fellowship but at the end only one Fellow left for Stanford GBS.  Indeed due to the Covid US Business schools have postponed their admission and Harvard BS even postponed admission to two academic years to  two of our MBA candidates.  

Honorary Fellowships for 2020-2021 were granted to 6 individuals, who secured financial support outside the B.A.E.F.

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 $20,000.00 to $50,000.00, the payment of tuition fees varying between $40,000.00 to $50,000.00 and even up to $ 80 000 for the 2-years initial master Fellowship as well as coverage for health insurance.

Among the Americans Fellows we used to have a large majority within the Humanities, Arts, History, Philosophy as well as Music. We observed a recent evolution among disciplines of the American Fellows towards the STEM fields, such as  soft condensed matter physics,  or  fluids dynamics at the  von Karman Institute and as well as in the medical research field.  It is gratifying to see that brilliant American researchers also in the hard sciences who are presently looking forward to come to top Belgian research labs directed by former Fellows of the Foundation.  

Flemish Art  has been a permanent field of interest for the Foundation. Through the financial help of the Rubenianum Fund,  the BAEF grants an annual eponymous Rubenianum Fellowship to an American Art historian in the field of 16^th  – 17^th C Flemish Art.  

With the support of its various Benefactors in Belgium, BAEF is proud to support financially 55 highly qualified Belgian scholars and researchers to pursue their studies and research at top US universities. We wish the new Boat of Belgian Fellows a prosperous voyage and a fruitful stay in the U.S.A.