CALL FOR A SCHOLARSHIP FOR ICUSTA DOCTORAL REGISTRATION 2025
The International Council of Universities in the Spirit of Saint Thomas Aquinas (ICUSTA) has recently approved a multi-year strategic plan that aims, among other purposes, to promote research on topics relevant to the founding purposes of ICUSTA.
Within the framework of the actions planned to achieve this objective, it stands out that of offering financial aid to an academic linked to an ICUSTA university, who has not yet achieved the degree of doctor, and who wants to carry out doctoral studies – in some program doctoral program offered at a university belonging to the network – addressing its research topic in light of the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The ultimate purpose of this initiative is not only to promote progress in the knowledge of the angelic doctor’s thought, but also to deepen its inexhaustible potential to respond to problems that the human spirit faces today.
1. Object
Grant financial aid to an academic who, being linked to a university in the ICUSTA network, has not yet achieved a doctorate degree and intends to enroll in a doctoral program offered by an ICUSTA university with the purpose of carrying out doctoral research on to a topic that is analyzed in light of the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The scholarship must be used entirely to cover the annual cost of tuition in the doctoral program chosen by the beneficiary.
2. Requirements to be a beneficiary
People who meet the following conditions will have the right to request the aid covered by this call:
- Be a professor linked, for at least two years, to a university member of the ICUSTA network, full-time or, at least, part-time, with an indefinite-term contract.
- Not being in possession of a doctorate degree.
- Have completed the studies that qualify for access to the doctoral program on a date after December 31, 2017.
- Have admission to a doctoral program offered by a university in the ICUSTA network to begin your doctoral studies in the 2025/26 academic year.
- Propose carrying out doctoral research on a topic that aims to be addressed in the light of the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
3. Amount and duration of the ICUSTA doctoral scholarship
The ICUSTA Doctoral Scholarship will cover the cost of annual tuition in the doctoral program of the beneficiary’s choice up to a maximum of USD 2,000 and for a maximum period of four years.
4. Submission of applications
Those interested in this call will have to send, no later than May 31th, 2025, to the executive management of ICUSTA (rlafontaine@santotomas.cl) the following documentation:
- Duly completed form.
- Simple copy of the degrees that prove that the candidate has the necessary academic background to be admitted to the doctoral program of his or her choice.
- Simple copy of the academic certificates related to the bachelor’s (or degree) and master’s studies completed, containing a list of the subjects passed, the grades achieved in each subject and the general average obtained by the candidate.
- Updated resume.
- Service record, issued by the personnel department of the ICUSTA university to which the candidate is linked, indicating the start date and the regime of their contractual relationship with said university.
- Simple copy of the admission letter to the doctoral program of your choice.
The applicant will also have to ask the rector’s office (or the vice-rector’s office with research powers) of the university to which he or she is linked, to send a confidential report related to the candidate to the executive management of ICUSTA (rlafontaine@santotomas.cl). , which must be received before May 31th, 2025.
Only applications that include all required documentation will be considered in the selection process. Failure to present part of the documentation or the presentation of incomplete documents will be sufficient cause to reject the application.
Applications received after the established deadline will be automatically excluded from the selection process.
5. Evaluation and award procedure
The ICUSTA Executive Committee will analyze all the applications received and select the beneficiary, resolving this call no later than July 15th, 2025.
The communication of the resolution will be made in writing, through a letter addressed to the beneficiary of the aid that will detail the conditions of the scholarship and the procedure to make it effective.
Applicants who have not been beneficiaries will also be informed of this fact by written communication.
6. Rights and obligations of the beneficiary
- The beneficiary of the ICUSTA doctoral scholarship will have to sign a commitment letter in which their rights related to the scholarship and the obligations assumed in relation to ICUSTA will be reflected.
- The beneficiary will have the right to receive each year, and up to a maximum of four years, a bank transfer to the account indicated to the executive management of ICUSTA, for the amount corresponding to the cost of annual registration in the program of their choice, up to a maximum of 2,000 USD annually.
- he transfer referred to in the previous paragraph will be made at the end of each academic year after receiving:
- A bank receipt of annual tuition payment in the doctoral program of your choice.
- A report issued by the Academic Committee of the doctoral program chosen by the candidate, which certifies the good performance of the doctoral student in his doctoral studies.
- Once the doctoral studies have been completed, the beneficiary of the ICUSTA doctoral scholarship will have to send a copy of the thesis defense record to the executive management of ICUSTA.
- In any publication derived from the doctoral thesis funded with the ICUSTA doctoral scholarship, the beneficiary will be obliged to indicate that their doctoral studies have been carried out with an ICUSTA doctoral scholarship and to include the official ICUSTA logo.
- Any failure to comply with the obligations indicated in this section will result in the loss of the scholarship and the obligation to return the aid received.