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Purpose
The objective of The Foundation Blanceflor is to promote international exchange for Italian or Swedish citizens within scientific research and education granting individual scholarships for studies or research abroad.
The Foundation grants yearly a total of between 2 and 3 million SEK in stipends not exceeding 170.000 SEK each. The amount is fixed in SEK. It is possible to apply for a second year of scholarship within the same project for studies or research. A third year is not given.
The stipend aims to be used for personal expenses in connexion to studies or research while institutional costs are supposed to be covered by the receiving institution or other means. The stipends are individual and not granted to groups or associations.
The scholarships are by law exonerated from taxes in Sweden, but the fellows are suggested to inform themselves regarding the legislation in the country where they live and the studies or research are taking place.
Higher academic studies
The stipend is by preference given to PhD candidates or younger PhDs (doc- or post-doc), but sometimes also to master grade education. Scholarships are not given for basic academic education. The applicants usually should not be older than 33 years, while exceptions are made when justifiable reasons are presented, such could for example be childcaring or illness.
The Foundation Blanceflor sometimes privilege applicants that not already have studies several years abroad. The application should not aim to finance shorter visits, participation in seminars or similar activities.
Countries and subject matters
Studies or research should be made abroad in one or more of the following countries: Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom or USA. In the receiving country there is an institution that invites the applicant.
The subject matters for the scholarship are physics, chemistry, odontology, medicine, life-science, engineering and computer science, geophysics, geochemistry, astrophysics and close by areas of special value regarding international scientific exchange.
The Foundation does not give stipends form studies or research within other areas like for example economy, law studies, marketing, advertising, design, architecture, history, theatre, dance, psychology, astronomy, zoology, archeology or geology, just to mention a few.
Application and decision
The application is made entirely in English through a web form and uploaded documentation. The deadline is 1 February each year (or the following weekday in case that 1 February falls on a weekend).
The scholarship covers a maximum of 12 months. Stipends are not given retroactively, which means that the grant does not come into effect before 1 June the application year, even if the study/research period may have started before. Hwever, the period for the scholarship could begin later during the year, although not later than May the year following the application year.
The qualified applications are being revised and evaluated to the Board meeting in April. Decisions on scholarships are taken by the Board.
Applicants granted – and those turned down – are all being communicated before the end of April, that communication is made by e-mail. The Board does not hand out explanations neither for approvals nor refusals.
The Fellow
After confirming an agreement to receive the Scholarship and its conditions the fellows granted are being presented on The Foundation Blanceflor web site. The fellows should when called for and in accordance with instructions given from The Foundation Blanceflor also provide a short video with a personal presentation to be posted on the The Foundation Blanceflor web site.
The fellow commits to keep The Foundation Blanceflor well informed of all changes, for example concerning time schedule given in the application, changes at the receiving institution, changes in the research focus or any other change that might be regarded as important. The Foundation Blanceflor assess these changes from case to case.
Report
At the latest six months after finishing the studies or research The Foundation Blanceflor should receive a report together with the documented results, that could be a dissertation, a paper, a publication or similar. The Report should be uploaded through the correspondent web form with the required documents attached.
We expect that The Foundation Blanceflor will be given credit in the usual manner in dissertations and publications.
Before the Application
We suggest a thorough reading of this text, the web form for the Application and the Checklist we supply as a preparation for the Application, thus avoiding questions on what is already said. On the web site there is also a FAQ section. On the other hand, if any information still is unclear or missing, we welcome all suggestions to improve our information!