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Faculty for the Future

Schlumberger Foundation · A university outside your home country

Level
PhD or postdoctoral research
Where
A university outside your home country
Money
A grant based on real costs
Fields
Engineering

In short

A grant for a woman from a low or middle income country to do a PhD, or postdoctoral research, in science, technology, engineering or mathematics at a university outside her home country. Sierra Leone is on the 2026–27 country list. It does not fund a master’s.

This is the engineering and science award, not a law award and not a clinical medicine award. A biomedical or public-health doctorate can fit if the host university treats it as STEM research. Read the eligibility note before you stretch the subject.

Who can apply

  • You are a woman and a citizen of a country on the Faculty for the Future list. Sierra Leone is on it.
  • Women are underrepresented in STEM in that country.
  • You are applying for a PhD or a postdoctoral post, not a taught master’s.
  • You have already applied to a host university abroad.
  • You are not also a citizen of a developed country.

Papers they ask for

  • The new-applicant registration on the Faculty for the Future site.
  • Proof of the host-university application, and the academic record the form asks for.
  • Reference letters submitted online by the referees. Your file is not complete until they send them.

What it pays

  • Tuition and bench fees
  • Accommodation and a living allowance
  • Travel to the host country, visa costs, and some conference costs

How to apply

  1. Apply to the host university first. The grant sits on top of that application.
  2. Register as a new applicant. The window for 2027 fellowships opened on 1 September 2026.
  3. Submit by 12:00 noon Central Standard Time (UTC−6) on 7 November 2026.
  4. Tell referees their letters are due by 14 November 2026, a week after your own deadline.

Read this before you file

  • The grant is built from real costs: tuition and bench fees, accommodation, a living allowance, travel, visa costs, and some conference costs. It is not a flat advertised salary.
  • The Foundation has to follow US and European sanctions rules. If a host country or a payment route is restricted, the grant cannot be paid. That is their rule, not something Lanbuk can waive.
  • A renewal applicant uses the same window, but a different form. Do not register as new if you already hold a grant.

Checked against the provider’s page on 11 October 2026. If this note and that page disagree, the provider is right. Lanbuk does not award this scholarship.