Become a Researcher

How to start a PhD in the Arts at KCB/VUB?

If you hold a Master’s degree (in the Arts) and are a performing musician or composer/arranger, you can embark on your own artistic doctoral trajectory. Royal Conservatory Brussels (KCB), a department of Erasmushogeschool Brussel (EhB), provides the research environment for your doctoral studies.

Four professors are available to act as an academic supervisor for your doctorate:
-Prof. Kristin Van den Buys: research group Composition, Music Writing and Musicology
-Prof. Maarten Stragier: research group Collective Creation
-Prof. Matthias Heyman: research group Jazz, Improvised and Popular Music
-Prof. Kurt Bertels: research group RES#19+, Practice-Based Research in Long 19th-Century Music
(for more information: https://www.kcb.be/en/research-0)

For the PhD in the Arts, KCB collaborates with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB Brussels University). The Brussels Arts Platform organizes the doctoral programme.

To start a PhD at KCB, you must go through a selection procedure of three rounds:

1. Portfolio (deadline: 18 November 2026)
For a first artistic screening, please submit the following documents: your curriculum vitae, diploma, a list of significant concerts, recordings, music awards, and two to three publicly available audio files demonstrating your artistic quality (e.g. YouTube, Spotify, etc.). Composers should also submit two to three compositions (scores and, if available, recordings). Please also submit an abstract of your research proposal (max. 250 words).

The result of the artistic screening will be communicated before 19 December 2026.

2. Research proposal (deadline: 28 February 2027)
Following a positive evaluation, the candidate will have to submit a fully developed research proposal (including state-of-the-art, methodology, planning, output, integration in KCB).

3. Presentation:
If you are selected by the jury on the basis of your research proposal, you will be invited to give a live presentation in April 2027. The presentation consists of an oral presentation of your research proposal, followed by a live performance of music related to your research topic and an interview with the jury. Exceptions or alternatives (e.g., in the case of composers) can be discussed.

Admission to a doctorate in the Arts does not automatically mean that your doctoral project will be funded by KCB. Each year in June, Trobador, KCB's research council, decides which doctoral projects will receive funding for a 50% research assistant position for a term of two periods of two years (max. four years). The appointment starts in October 2027.

The above-mentioned documents and files should be submitted online via e-mail to Inge Pieters (inge.pieters@vub.be) and Kristin Van den Buys (Christine.Van.Den.Buys@ehb.be).

For all questions on doctoral research, please contact Inge Pieters, coordinator of Brussels Arts Platform.

Project Research

KCB stimulates and supports project research. This type of research is only available to KCB staff (education and research) and subject to conditions.

Each application for a research project or mandate (including personal consumables) must be submitted using the correct form and within the set deadline in order to be admissible. All admissible applications are then evaluated and ranked by a reading committee consisting external evaluators. The reading committee submits this ranking to Trobador, which formulates an advice to be submitted to the Raad van de School of Arts, which makes the ultimate decision. The results are communicated in the course of June and the mandate can be started from October.

There are various types of research projects which will be announced by call (through an internal online form). For this year, KCB opens up two types of calls, one for project research (two years for 30%), one for postdoctoral projects (three years for 50%). Both types are subject to conditions and availability (see internal call for details).