ETH4D Doctoral Scholarships

ETH4D Doctoral Scholarship Programme

The ETH4D Doctoral Scholarship Programme supports scholars from low- and lower-middle-income countries to conduct research at ETH, particularly on (but not limited to) innovations that have the potential to improve the lives of people in poorer regions of the world.
After their doctoral studies, fellows have excellent prospects of becoming leaders in sustainable development by taking up important positions in academia, policy or industry, or by putting research into practice through entrepreneurship.

The grant sum covers 200'000 CHF of salary and research costs towards a four-year PhD. ETH professors cover the remaining costs (typically amounting to the fourth year of the PhD).

Please refer to the Download Eligibility and Criteria document (PDF, 201 KB) before applying.

For more information about finding a supervisor, see this page.

The call for ETH4D Doctoral Scholarship concept note applications will close February 22, 2025.

The Download general entrance requirements (PDF, 1.2 MB) for doctoral studies at the ETH Zurich and the respective department must be fulfilled.
Experience in the selected research area is required.
Applicants should be citizens of least-developed, low-, and lower-middle-income countries according to the external page OECD DAC-2024-2025 list. Applications from least-developed and lower-income countries will be prioritized.

The doctoral supervisor must be an ETH professor and must have a guaranteed ETH position for the entire duration of the proposed project. Candidates may be co-supervised by advisors at at a Federal Research Institute (Eawag, Empa, PSI, & WSL), but they must also have an advisorship from a professor at ETH Zurich.
It is expected that the ETH Zurich professor supports the candidate in elaborating the full proposal, if the concept note should be selected, and to supervise the candidate, if the full proposal is selected for funding.
The supervisor confirms their commitment to the project by a letter of support, indicating their financial contribution to the project. Supervisors must contribute the remaining salary costs of a four-year PhD.

The research topic is within the thematic scope of ETH Zurich.
The proposal is a new doctoral project, not complementary funding to an on-going research.
Priority will be given to projects which develop methods, technologies, tools or products that generate a direct impact for underprivileged people in low-income countries, and which take into account the ecological, socio-economic, and cultural context.

Projects involving research partners from a low-income country must be based in the external page KFPE Principles for Transboundary Research Partnerships.
All partners are involved in project formulation and development.
All partners make a substantial in-kind or cash commitment.
The project is integrated in the general activities of the involved institutions.
Projects must include partners from countries on the external page OECD DAC-2024-25 list.

Submission of the Download Concept Note Application Form 2025 (DOCX, 38 KB) to the ETH4D programme office by e-mail to by February 22, 2025. Only concept notes fulfilling all indicated requirements will be taken into consideration. Please note that ETH4D is unable to provide matchmaking services between professors and potential scholarship applicants.

Application Documents

The concept note application must include:

Completed Download Concept Note Application Form 2025 (DOCX, 38 KB)
CV of the candidate
Excellent MSc degree from a recognised university and grade transcripts
Support letter of the supervising professor at ETH Zurich, stating financial contribution to cover remaining salary costs of the four-year PhD
2 reference letters from your field of research
Relevant own publications or documentation of relevant activities relating to the project
List of 5 independent reviewers (same field of research, but unknown to candidate and professor)
Bibliography