College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship

The College of Social Sciences will soon invite applications to its doctoral scholarship competitions. In 2025/26, we will again be running two competitions: one for supervisor-designed projects for which a PhD candidate may not yet have been identified, and one for student-designed projects, supported by supervisors. There will be 30 CoSS PhD Scholarships available across the two competitions (5 Supervisor-led and 25 Student-led).

The basic criterion for eligibility is that an application must first have been submitted to a UKRI competition. The exception to this rule is applicants from the School of Social and Enivronmental Sustainability whose projects or students would usually fall within the competence of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) or Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) competitions. 

Both competitions may appoint, without constraint, international students. Scholarships will be standard 3-year PhD awards. The terms of scholarship will broadly mirror those offered by ESRC.

Benefits

All CoSS PhD Scholarships provide a stipend at the UKRI Stipend level; a 100% Tuition fee waiver and access to a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG).

Supervisor Led Competition

Student Led Competition