The most important sources of funding for postgraduate students in the UK are the Research Councils. These bodies are government-funded agencies engaged in the support of research in different disciplines and postgraduate funding is just one part of a broad range of responsibilities. Competition for Research Council funding is intense. In many areas only a small percentage of candidates make a successful application. As a general rule, funding is easier to obtain in science and engineering disciplines than in the arts and social sciences.
There are seven grant-awarding Research Councils:
The Research Councils provide a variety of awards. Some of the Research Councils offer Industrial CASE awards, where the collaborating body defines its own research project within the Council’s remit. There are also awards unique to each Council such as the ESRC/NERC Joint Studentships that are similar to Standard Research Studentships.
Among the most common are: Advanced Course Studentships - for Masters-level courses (e.g. MSc, MA) usually of one year’s duration in subjects where there is no undergraduate provision. Research Masters Training Awards (MRes) - usually one year’s duration. Standard PhD Research Studentships - for PhD or MPhil students on programmes of up to four years’ full-time and six years’ part-time duration. Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) - similar to Standard PhD Research Studentships but involve collaboration with a partner in industry, a public body or government research unit. Funding for these awards comes from both the Research Council and the collaborative body. Engineering Doctorates (EngD) - offer four years of enhanced training in one of 15 EngD centres, or on an industrially relevant collaborative project.
Research Council awards cover tuition fees, a maintenance grant (often referred to as a stipend) and a contribution towards travel, fieldwork, academic materials and other course-related expenses. The value of the stipend can vary, starting in 2007-08 at £12,600 (the Research Council minimum) with London stipends up to £2,000 extra. Additional sums may be available for disabled students. CASE awards may attract a higher stipend and also certain projects falling within recruitment priority areas.
To be eligible for a full Research Council award you must normally be an EU national who is ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK throughout the three years preceding your application. (This includes living here while being a full-time student.) You should also normally possess a first-class or upper second-class honours degree from a UK higher education institution, although there are exceptions to this; the minimum requirement for NERC Advanced Course Studentships, for example, is a lower-second.
The university where you wish to study will be able to advise you on your eligibility for a Research Council award. The Research Councils are responsible for making postgraduate awards for students who live in Northern Ireland but who wish to study in Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales). The Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI) is responsible for students from Great Britain who want to study in Northern Ireland and, of course, students from Northern Ireland who wish to stay there.
Students from outside the UK but within the EU are eligible for Research Council awards that cover tuition fees but don’t provide a maintenance grant. This publication is designed to provide an introduction to postgraduate funding but not a comprehensive guide to individual schemes. You must consult the Research Councils’ own postgraduate studentship handbooks or look at their websites. Full contact details are given in the profiles section of this chapter.
With the exception of some AHRC and ESRC schemes, you should not apply directly to the Research Councils. Typically Research Councils allocate funding to individual departments and institutions, and you should apply directly to the department in which you want to study. The department then selects the best candidates. Departments will usually begin advertising their studentships for the following October in October/November of the previous year. Prospects.ac.uk provides a gateway to the Research Councils' studentship pages as soon as lists are available.
There are a number of other funding bodies providing support for further study. Details of which can be found at Other public funding bodies.
