Eligibility
A candidate applying for an NFP fellowship for pursuit of a PhD must:

• be a national of one of the 57 developing countries on the list;
• have been admitted unconditionally to the Dutch institution as a PhD fellow. This means that the applicant must have met all the academic requirements set by the Dutch university or institute;
• have completed an NFP PhD Study Application Form and have provided all the required  documentation;
• have completed a PhD research proposal in collaboration with the Dutch institution;
• offer proof that the PhD will be pursued according to a ‘sandwich' or ‘picnic' model, whichmeans that a large portion of the PhD research will take place in the candidate's home country. In a 'sandwich' model the greater part of the field research takes place in the home country. The start of the PhD study and graduation ceremony of the candidate usually take place in the Netherlands. In a 'picnic' model, the PhD candidate will do research in his or her own country for most of the time, and spend only a few short periods of time in the Netherlands to conduct research;
• be nominated by his or her employer, who pledges to continue paying the candidate's salary and to hold a job open for the candidate while he or she is in the Netherlands. Under certain circumstances, it may be acceptable that the employer states that at least part of the salary will continue to be paid, and that the organization complies with all the other formal NFP requirements if the fellowships is awarded. It should be realized, however, that the NFP allowances are not sufficient to support family members, either in the home country or in the Netherlands;
• provide statements explaining the motivation of both the applicant and the employer;
• not be employed by a large industrial, commercial or multinational firm;
• offer evidence that he or she is sufficiently skilled in speaking and writing in the language of  communication during the PhD, which may be English, French or Spanish;
• be available full-time to pursue the PhD without interruption, and be physically and mentally able to take part in the entire programme;
• declare that they will return to their home country immediately after the period of study and research in the Netherlands has ended.

The application and selection procedure

A candidate can apply for a PhD fellowship only after a research proposal has been agreed upon by both the candidate and the Dutch provider.

The application and selection procedure consists of the following steps:

Application for admission at a Dutch institution
1) Admission as a PhD student is granted on an individual basis. Senior academic staff or a specific PhD committee decide whether or not an applicant will be accepted. Usually the assessment is based on the research proposal submitted by the applicant.

Applications for a fellowship
2) After being accepted, the candidate submits a request for a PhD fellowship by presenting a completed NFP PhD Study Application Form to the Netherlands embassy or consulate in the candidate's own country, accompanied by the necessary documentation. The application form can be obtained from any Netherlands embassy or consulate and can also be downloaded.

Important news about the Embassies. Read more..

3) The embassy or consulate assesses the application against the criteria for eligibility listed above. Special attention is given to:

• the relevance of the proposed research for the candidate's organization and country;
• proof that the candidate's employer and the Dutch institution support the application.

4) The embassy or consulate forwards an application that meets all of these criteria to Nuffic, together with its own recommendations. Nuffic assesses the application against the criteria, paying particular attention to the Dutch institution's capacity for receiving PhD fellows and giving them appropriate supervision and guidance.
5) Nuffic selects the candidates who will receive PhD fellowships. Nuffic gives priority to applications which:

• propose that the research project be co-supervised by an institution in a developing country;
• have a proven link with other activities that are financed by the NFP, the NPT, or other Dutch government-funded activities;
• are submitted by female candidates;
• are submitted by candidates from sub-Saharan Africa;
• stem from agreements made with selected organizations in the pilot countries.