For exceptional university graduates from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania and Venezuela, the Roberto Rocca Education Program offers fellowships to help fund studies towards the Ph.D. degree in specific fields of study that include Materials Science, Mechanical, and Petroleum Engineering, at a university of the student’s choosing outside his or her home country.
Each year the Program awards around 12 to 15 new Fellowships. Fellows are selected by the Program’s Scientific Committee comprising senior managers of the sponsoring companies.
Fellowships are awarded for a period of two years and may be used for tuition, fees and living expenses. The award amount will depend on the candidate’s financial need but in general Fellowships do not cover all expenses and candidates are encouraged to seek complementary sources of funding. At the discretion of the Roberto Rocca Education Program, fellowships may be renewed for up to an additional two years.
The two-month application period for the Roberto Rocca Fellowships begins in mid-October of each year.
Eligibility requirements
Roberto Rocca Fellowships are open to students who are citizens of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Venezuela and Romania, and who will enter a Ph.D. program outside their own country or who have already begun their studies towards a Ph.D. at a university outside their own country.
Employees of the sponsoring companies are ineligible for the Fellowships.
Fellowship candidates are free to designate any university outside their own country for the Fellowship. However, the program’s Scientific Committee will take into consideration the candidate’s choice of university and program of study in evaluating and selecting Fellows.
Disciplines and specific fields of study supported through the Fellowships include:
- Steel: production processes and innovative products
- Physical Metallurgy of Steels and High Alloy Materials
- Innovative Heat treatment and Processing
- Rolling Technology of Flat Products/Hot and Cold Deformation
- Physical Metallurgy of Welding
- Extractive Metallurgy
Materials Science Engineering
- Technology of Surface Modification
- Composites
- Coatings for steel products
- Nano-structured materials
- Ceramic materials
- Refractory materials
Mechanical Engineering
- Computational mechanics
- Fracture mechanics and Structural reliability
- Machinability and Advanced Manufacturing Technology
- Tribology
- Control systems
- Metalforming
- Alternative energies
- Robotics
Petroleum Engineering
- Fluid flows analysis
- Pipeline technology
- Well completion and control
- Reservoir simulation
- Enhanced oil recovery processes
- Well logging
- Non-conventional oil production
- Secondary recovery
- String design
- Extreme service conditions (HT/HP)
Fellows are required to make a moral commitment to contribute to the economic and industrial development of their country of origin.
Award criteria
In selecting Roberto Rocca Fellows the Scientific Committee evaluates candidates in accordance with the following criteria:
- Previous professional and academic experience. We look for candidates with a record of excelling in all their previous professional and academic endeavors.
- Designated university and department for Ph.D. studies. Although candidates are free to designate the university and department for their Ph.D. studies, we look for candidates who are studying or will study at universities that are distinguished for the quality of their education and research.
- Capacity to successfully carry out the proposed Ph.D. project. A Ph.D. is a major intellectual and personal challenge. We look for candidates that demonstrate that they are up to that challenge.
- Proposed area of Ph.D. research. We are especially interested in candidates whose research offer potential benefits to the steel industry (see the list of disciplines and focus areas under Eligibility requirements for more details).
- Commitment to the economic and industrial development of home country. While candidates are not obligated to return to their home country upon completion of their Ph.D., we carefully analyze each candidate’s career plans to assess the contribution they could make to their home country.
For more information, please visit official website: www.robertorocca.org.
- Master Scholarships in Food Technology, Wageningen University, Netherlands
- Hermes Fellowships for Postdoctoral Student in Humanities and Social Sciences, France
- PhD Fellowships, Werner Siemens Foundation, Switzerland
- Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program 2010
- Imam Bukhari & Imam Tirmizi Visiting Research Fellowships, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, UK
- International Fellowships, American Association of University Women (AAUW), USA
- UNESCO / Poland Co-Sponsored Fellowships Programme (Science and Technology - 2010)
- Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowships, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
- Schlumberger Foundation 2010 Faculty for the Future Fellowships
- Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program (EMJD) 2010-2013, Europe
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the above information is current and correct. However, applicants should contact the appropriate administering body before making an application, as details do change frequently.
