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.  

Call for study or research Fellowships to the USA for the academic year 2022-2023

Deadline 31^st October 2021 although the online system will run until November 1st at noon.

• Click here for Graduate study Fellowships for Belgians.
• Click here for Research Fellowships for Belgians.

Call for Music graduate study Fellowships to the USA for the academic year 2022-2023

Deadline 31^st October 2021 although the online system will run until November 1st at noon.

• Click here for Graduate study Fellowships for Belgians, then choose Music.

To Belgium

Call for Study or Research Fellowships in Belgium for the academic year 2022-2023

Deadline October 31st, 2021 :  send PDF application file to emile.Boulpaep@yale.edu
For more information, visit Fellowships for Americans.

BAEF deadline of Application May 1^st!