How to apply for a PhD position

The Council of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (School of Arts AP University College) is launching, in collaboration with ARIA (UAntwerp), a call for proposals for PhD Fellowships starting in September 2026.

The Royal Conservatoire Antwerp grants three PhD fellowships in 2026 (55% research assignment for four academic years, starting on 14/09/2026). 

Preconditions 

• The PhD candidate is an artist and holds a relevant Master's degree (or equivalent) in Music and Performance Arts or another relevant Master's degree. Applicants are expected to conduct research that explores issues or methodologies situated in or proceeding from their own artistic or design practice, with due sense of discursivity.
• The research must reflect the mission and vision of the Conservatoire, subscribe to it, develop it further, and connect to one of the four research groups at the Conservatoire. 
• The PhD proposal should correspond to the vision of ARIA. If the Schools of Arts organizes an artistic admission test, passing that test is an additional condition. 
• The applicant is in a position to be contractually employed by the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (AP Hogeschool) and committed to a 55% contractual employment for four academic years with effect from 14 September 2026.  For foreign doctoral candidates, this means that they have a work permit for Belgium. 
• The PhD proposal can only be submitted in Dutch or in English (see application form).   

Timeline, preparation, and formal requirements 

Applications submitted by March 1, 2026, at 12PM (noon) are expected to be embedded in one (or more) research group(s), to be supervised by two supervisors (University of Antwerp and Conservatoire) and to formally meet all requirements. 

To ensure the correct procedure, follow the steps and timeline below:

• By February 1, 2026 at the latest, you should have found one supervisor from the University of Antwerp and one from the School of Arts willing to support your application and research proposal.
• Submit your application no later than March 1, 2026 at 12PM (noon). Upon submission, a signature of your supervisor(s) (University of Antwerp and Conservatoire) is required for your application to be formally in order. Notify the coordinator of the relevant research group in advance to obtain their support and signature.

For practical information about how PhD programmes are organised at ARIA, please consult the roadmap. 

Specifically for doctorates in Music, there is the international doctoral programme docARTES (a collaboration between the Universities of Leuven, Antwerp and Leiden, the conservatories of Leuven, Antwerp, The Hague and Amsterdam and the Orpheus Institute in Ghent). 

Deadlines

• Agreement of supervisors and research group: before February 1, 2026
• Application deadline: March 1, 2026, at 12 PM (noon).
• Evaluation of selection committee: April 27 & 30, 2026 
• Decision by the Council of the Royal conservatoire: May 2026 (results communicated shortly thereafter)
• Start of mandates: September 14, 2026 

Additional information 

• Mission and vision of the Conservatoire
• Research groups at the Conservatoire
• Flemish research discipline list

Application Submission 

Applications should be made by using the PhD fellowship Application Form. For questions regarding the form or the procedure, please contact the head of research Kevin Voets: kevin.voets@ap.be. 

Submit your completed and signed form (Word & PDF) to kevin.voets@ap.be no later than March 1, 2026 at 12PM (noon).

Besides the remunerated PhD fellowships, at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp there is also the option of doing a PhD relying on external funding. In that case, your application is not in response to the call above but you do apply with the same form and follow the same timeline before the same deadline. The Schools of Arts may decide to limit the number of externally funded PhD places available. Find out what the options are before you begin. 

Timeline, preparation, and formal requirements 

Applications submitted by March 1, 2026, at 12PM (noon) are expected to be embedded in one (or more) research group(s), to be supervised by two supervisors (University of Antwerp and Conservatoire) and to formally meet all requirements. 

To ensure the correct procedure, follow the steps and timeline below:

• By February 1, 2026 at the latest, you should have found one supervisor from the University of Antwerp and one from the School of Arts willing to support your application and research proposal.
• Submit your application no later than March 1, 2026 at 12PM (noon). Upon submission, a signature of your supervisor(s) (University of Antwerp and Conservatoire) is required for your application to be formally in order.  Notify the coordinator of the relevant research group in advance to obtain their support and signature.

For practical information about how PhD programmes are organised at ARIA, please consult the roadmap. 

Application Submission 

Applications should be made by using the Phd fellowship Application Form. For questions regarding the form or the procedure, please contact the head of research Kevin Voets: kevin.voets@ap.be. 

Submit your completed and signed form (Word & PDF) to kevin.voets@ap.be no later than March 1, 2026 at 12PM (noon).

Do you want to do a PhD in the arts at Sint Lucas Antwerpen (KdG) & ARIA (University of Antwerp)?

The successful candidate receives a 50% assistant postion at Sint Lucas Antwerpen, starting in September 2026, and is admitted to the doctoral program of ARIA (University of Antwerp). The research duration is four years, starting with a 2-year contract that is once renewable upon positive evaluation.

For the 2025 call, there are four fellowships available. One of these is reserved for a pilot collaboration with Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The fellowship in collaboration with Jan van Eyck is thematically defined as follows:

We invite proposals in artistic research that explore the ways center, periphery, and margin are reconfigured through circulation in contemporary art. While artists deeply engage with local communities and infrastructures of resistance, they also navigate the temporality of residencies, exhibitions, and mobility. What happens to situated practice when it relocates? What traces, absences, or continuities does it leave behind? Combining theory and research-creation, the PhD project shall examine how dwelling, movement, and return shape artistic methodologies, aesthetics, and ethics.

Jan van Eyck Academie offers the selected PhD fellow:

• 3 months/year the possibility to join the Jan van Eyck community: the fellow will have a private studio space, will have access to Jan van Eyck advisers, can make use of the expertise of the Labs, and can join the (public) programme of the academy
• 1000€/year production budget

The due date for applications is 1 March 2026. Please indicate on the application form if you are specifically applying for the collaboration with Jan van Eyck Academy!

Applications submitted by the 1st of March 2026 are expected to have two supervisors (Sint Lucas Antwerpen and University of Antwerp). You can find potential Sint Lucas Antwerpen supervisors on this website, by filtering on 'Supervisors'. Check first if your research interests are compatible with theirs! 

You can find potential University of Antwerp supervisors on this page.

Please go to Sint Lucas Antwerpen website for the Application Form and all formal requirements. Also carefully read the ARIA PhD Roadmap.

Appendice: Flemish research discipline list​