FAQ

  • Yes. You must have a maximum of 8 years of full-time research experience since obtaining your PhD. However, to ensure equality and fairness, periods such as maternity/parental leave, compulsory national military service, long-term sick leave, or family care leave can be deducted from this calculation. If specific exemptions might allow you to submit with a PhD obtained prior to November 1, 2017, you are encouraged to contact the IRIS project management team directly. 

  • No. To meet the mobility rule for an MSCA COFUND postdoctoral position, you must not have resided or carried out your main activity (such as work or studies) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline (October 31, 2025). Short stays, such as holidays, or time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, are not included in this calculation. Applicants are advised to use the mobility template provided to calculate their eligibility and upload it with their application. 

  • No. The 5000 EUR "Living allowance" is an indicative value that represents the total employment costs. This amount includes both the fellow’s gross salary and the employer’s and employee’s social security contributions. Fellows will be hired on an untaxed fellowship contract equivalent to an employment contract at either ULB or VUB, and contributions to the Belgian Social Security System (which covers health insurance, pension, family benefits, and other provisions) will be calculated from this total amount before the contract is signed. In addition to this, fellows are also entitled to a net Mobility allowance of 450 EUR/month, and a net Family allowance of 400 EUR/month if they meet specific family obligation criteria, with family status determined at the call deadline and not subject to revision during the fellowship.  

  • No. While all research projects submitted for the IRIS Postdoctoral COFUND must address at least one of the six societal challenges identified for the Brussels Capital Region (BCR), such as Climate & Energy or Mobility, the challenges are broadly understood to be relevant to urban settings across and beyond Europe.

  • No. The call for applications for the IRIS Postdoctoral COFUND closes on 31 October 2025 at 17:00 CET, and the online application system will be automatically closed at this time 

  • Yes, to a certain extent. The Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies (BrIAS), which is a joint initiative by ULB and VUB, offers fully furnished and equipped autonomous apartments to IRIS COFUND fellows for up to 3 months. These apartments are based on availability and fellows from outside the EEA+ area have priority. For information about the apartments and prices, please write to contact@brias.be   

  • No. Applicants are responsible for identifying suitable supervisors who possess the necessary expertise, infrastructure, and resources to oversee their fellowship. You must select a 'Home' or main host institution, which must be either VUB or ULB, and also identify a co-supervisor based in the Brussels Capital Region. This co-supervisor can be from ULB, VUB, another research organization, industry, an NGO, or a public body, and their role is to ensure interdisciplinarity and potential inter-sectoral collaboration. 

  • Yes.  Please write the IRIS PMT (IRIS@ulb.be or IRIS@vub.be) with an outline of your research proposal and key subject areas, and detail which steps you have already taken to identify suitable supervisors. The IRIS Project Management team can support you in contacting supervisors. 

  • No. While the IRIS Project Management team can support you in contacting supervisors, they can assist in making connections to ULB and VUB researchers and the Brussels Capital Region generally. The responsibility to identify suitable supervisors and confirm resources remains with the applicant. 

  • Yes. You can consult the pages of the associated partners for mentorship, secondment, and/or co-supervisors. Associated partners include Innoviris, Sirris, UNICA, BeWise, hub.brussels, Agoria, and the Joint Research Centre. 

  • Applicants need two supervisors. Applicants must identify a 'Home' supervisor based at your main host institution, which must be either ULB or VUB. Additionally, you need a co-supervisor based in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR); this co-supervisor can be from ULB, VUB, another research organization, industry, an NGO, or a public body, allowing for cross-institution work

  • No. For IRIS projects you are required to contact supervisors and confirm that they have the expertise, research infrastructure and capacity (time, etc) to supervise/co-supervise. You will enter their names and email addresses into the submission platform in order to create your account. No letter of agreement or support is required.

    However, a letter of recommendation from a previous supervisor is required (see the Guide for Applicants section 3.1.5)

  • You. The candidate is responsible for proposing and developing an interdisciplinary proposal that responds to one or more of the 6 societal challenges identified in the Brussels Innovation Plan. 

    You will contact a home and co-supervisor to ensure that there is sufficient expertise, research infrastructure and capacity to support your project if selected.

  • Yes. One of the main aspects of the MSCA program is international mobility. Researchers funded under IRIS MSCA COFUND need to move to Belgium for the fellowship period. Researchers can, however, organise secondments and research visits abroad.

  • IRIS requires that you have a maximum of 8 years of research experience. If you are not sure whether you comply with this rule, you can complete the Research Experience and Mobility Calculator. Please follow the instructions provided in the template to calculate your result. If you are applying to IRIS as an eligible candidate, you must submit this document along with the other required application documents.