Scholarships

As part of your application for a grant (travel grant, international training grant or mobility grant), your personal data is processed by ARES, which acts as the data controller (located at Rue Royale 180, 1000 Brussels).

This data is processed in strict compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (GDPR)).

Any further information regarding ARES’s role as data controller can be obtained via the email address vieprivee@ares-ac.be.

The processing of your personal data is based exclusively on the consent you have given for one or more specific purposes pursued by ARES, in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR, as set out in point 04.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contactingvieprivee@ares-ac.be .

The processing of your personal data also falls within the institutional framework to which ARES is subject, as an actor in international cooperation and an accredited organisation, pursuant to the following legal and regulatory provisions:

1. The Act of 19 March 2013 on Belgian Development Cooperation.
2. The Decree of 7 November 2013 defining the higher education landscape and the academic organisation of studies.
3. The Royal Decree of 11 September 2016 on non-governmental cooperation.
4. The Ministerial Order of 4 February 2022 granting a subsidy to the Academy de recherche et d'enseignement supérieur (ARES) for the implementation of its 2022–2027 development cooperation programme, as well as any subsequent Ministerial Order extending the grant.

The processing carried out by ARES is limited to the collection, storage, provision and destruction of your personal data.

ARES processes your personal data in order to: 

1. Enable the administrative (and academic) assessment of your scholarship application and the possible award of the scholarship.
2. Facilitate your arrival in the country (in Belgium or abroad).
3. Manage your stay and the conclusion of your stay.
4. Comply with the budgetary and accounting controls to which ARES is subject, as well as those of the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.
5. To enable evaluation and statistical monitoring.

ARES does not process your personal data unless it is for at least one of the purposes set out above.

Only the personal data of data subjects who apply for an ARES scholarship is processed. Depending on the circumstances, these are:

1. Unsuccessful applicants who have applied for a scholarship.
2. Reserve candidates.
3. Scholarship recipients (inbound and outbound mobility).
4. Alumni.

If you have any questions, or if you are affected or believe you may be affected, you may contact the data controller and the data protection officer at the following email address: vieprivee@ares-ac.be.

ARES processes only the following categories of personal data relating to you:

1. For identification purposes:
   1. your surname and first name;
   2. your gender;
   3. your date, place and country of birth;
   4. your nationality;
   5. your identification details as provided by the relevant public authorities: passport or equivalent, or certificate of nationality, local identity card, etc.;
   6. your marital status;
2. For communication purposes:
   1. your personal and/or work email address;
   2. your home and work telephone numbers, as well as the telephone number of a third party to be contacted in an emergency;
3. For the purposes of processing your application for an ARES scholarship:
   1. education and training: your academic CV, your qualifications and academic transcripts, any publications, your personal statement and academic reference letters, any language proficiency certificates, and your preliminary research proposal;
   2. AMO status: information relating to the possible award of a study grant or AMO status;
   3. profession and employment: details of your current employment, your career, your professional qualifications, your professional experience (between 2 and 5 years), any certificates of employment, your cover letter and your professional reference letters;
   4. financial identification details: identification numbers and bank account details (solely for the purposes of managing travel grants).

Depending on your circumstances, if you deem it necessary, ARES may need to process other categories of personal data concerning you, subject to your explicit consent, in order to enable you to report a specific situation requiring an extension of the duration of the grant initially agreed: data relating to health and personal circumstances (political, security) demonstrating a situation of force majeure on your part.

Furthermore, as part of the follow-up assessment you are asked to complete, you may be required to provide other personal data, on an optional basis and subject to your explicit consent, such as your parents’ level of education.

If you have any questions, you may contact the data controller and the Data Protection Officer at the following email address:vieprivee@ares-ac.be.

As part of the data processing carried out by ARES, your personal data may be disclosed to the following categories of persons, strictly limited to the personal data necessary for the various processing operations carried out:

1. ARES staff members.
2. Academic and administrative staff at higher education institutions organised or funded by the French Community of Belgium;
3. External experts responsible for assessing applications.
4. Members of the ARES International Cooperation Commission.
5. The Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.
6. Where applicable, university-based NGOs.
7. The ARES service provider responsible for organising return journeys for grant recipients.
8. The Wallonia-Brussels General Delegations involved in publicising ARES grants across partner countries.

Each recipient shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the personal data accessed is processed confidentially and solely for one or more of the purposes set out in point 04. Such access is restricted to persons authorised to process this data, under the exclusive responsibility of the bodies concerned. They may only access the personal data of data subjects relevant to the processing they carry out.

If you have any questions, you may contact the data controller and the data protection officer at the following email address:vieprivee@ares-ac.be.

All personal data processed by ARES is retained for as long as is necessary for the processing operations carried out, in accordance with the purposes pursued.

In any event, ARES distinguishes between, on the one hand, the personal data of unsuccessful applicants and, on the other hand, the personal data of grant recipients:

1. Unsuccessful applicants: ARES deletes personal data no later than five months after the submission of the grant application to ARES.
2. Grant recipients: depending on the type of grant awarded (travel grant, international training grant or mobility grant), ARES will delete personal data no later than:
   1. within 15 months of the opening of the call for applications, in the case of travel grants;
   2. within 30 months of the opening of the call for applications, in the case of international training grants;
   3. within 4 to 6 years of the transfer of data by the relevant university, in the case of doctoral mobility grants;
   4. within 12 months of the transfer of data by the relevant university, in the case of post-doctoral mobility grants;
   5. within 6 months of the transfer of data by the relevant higher education institution or arts college, in the case of capacity-building grants.

In all cases, however, ARES retains a minimum set of personal data that allows for subsequent identification for the purpose referred to in point 04, 5°.

ARES ensures, in any event, that personal data which is no longer strictly necessary is destroyed or, where appropriate, archived following anonymisation.

As a data subject, you have the following rights in particular:

1. The right to information.
2. The right of access to data.
3. The right to rectification.
4. The right to restriction of processing.
5. The right to erasure (if, and only if, the data is no longer required by ARES to ensure proper processing).

ARES, as the data controller, facilitates the exercise of these rights.

If you have any questions or wish to exercise your rights, whether you are affected or believe you may be affected, you may contact the data controller and the Data Protection Officer at the following email address: vieprivee@ares-ac.be .

If you consider it necessary, you may also lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (DPA).

In the context of the processing carried out, ARES uses several data processors who are subject to the same security and confidentiality requirements as ARES.