UKRI PhD Funding – What They Don't Always Tell You

Editor's note: The image above is not meant to imply that PhD funding is run by prairie dogs. Though, sometimes, it feels like it may as well be.

Let's face it, PhD funding isn't exactly the simplest thing in the world. You could be forgiven for thinking the whole thing is some sort of aptitude test, designed to check you're ready for a PhD (given that it's difficult to do a PhD without funding, it more or less is).

So it's generally quite reassuring when someone (probably a prospective supervisor) tells you there's a Government body called UK Research and Innovation that provides full studentships for thousands of PhD projects in all subjects, every year.

If this is news to you, I'd recommend you start with our guide to UKRI PhD funding. If you're thinking of applying, this blog is for you.

Because, whatever else it is, UKRI funding is not particularly intuitive. What sounds simple on paper (get studentship = have full PhD funding) quickly becomes more complicated and some of the small, but important, details can easily be missed in the explanations you might get via an official website, or even a well-meaning supervisor.

Here are a few of them:

The most confusing thing about UKRI PhD funding, at least for new PhD applicants, is the way the whole system is organised. I'm going to attempt to explain it, but, honestly, you can skip the next few paragraphs if you're not interested.

At the top you've got UKRI itself. Then you've got the seven different Research Councils, funding specific subject areas:

• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
• Biotechnology and Bioscience Research Council (BBSRC)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• Medical Research Council (MRC)
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Then you've got the individual networks of universities, organised into Doctoral Training Partnerships or Centres for Doctoral Training that those Councils fund. Finally, you've got the universities within those networks, selecting students to allocate a limited pot of studentships to (and sometimes competing with each other to do so).

The end result is that you can be applying to do your PhD at an AHRC DTP with a studentship from UKRI. Do you need to know what all of that means? Not really.

It's more or less the same studentship, at the end of the day, so don't let all the acronyms bamboozle you. If you already know which university you want to do your PhD at, let them tell you what the UKRI funding they have available. If you're trying to find out where UKRI funding is currently allocated, check out our guides to the AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, etc and follow the trail from there.

From the 2021-22 academic year onwards, international students are eligible for full UKRI studentships. They didn't used to be – and you might find some out-of-date resources claiming that they still aren't – but trust us, they are.

'International' includes EU students from 2021-22 onwards, by the way.

If a UKRI studentship is your PhD funding Plan A (it really should be) then a UK doctoral loan is very much a 'Plan B'. It's nowhere near as generous (£28,673 in total, vs around £20,000 per year) but it is available to all eligible applicants.

There's a catch though: you can't apply for a doctoral loan if you have UKRI funding. This isn't really a problem for most people (again, Plan A vs Plan B) but what you may not realise is that you can apply for a doctoral loan, get a doctoral loan, apply later for UKRI funding, get UKRI funding, cancel the doctoral loan and break the alphabet by moving from Plan B to Plan A.

Why would you want to do this? Well...

Not everyone who applies for UKRI PhD funding gets it. This doesn't mean you (or your project) aren't good enough: it just means there aren't enough studentships available for everyone who is capable of completing a PhD (see point #7).

Proof of this is the fact that many students go on to start a PhD after failing to get UKRI funding. But what you might not know (because it isn't usually made very obvious) is that most universities will allow you to re-apply for a studentship at least once during your doctorate. It's definitely worth discussing this possibility with your supervisor.

If the only point of UKRI was to get more research done they probably wouldn't fund PhDs at all: instead they'd just give all the money to proven academics and departments with a track record of getting research done.

But UKRI doesn't just want to get more research done: it also wants to train new researchers who, by definition, don't have any track record (yet). This is why studentships also provide time and resources for extensive research training and development. All of this can understandably get a bit lost in the focus on funding amounts and applications, but it's covered in our guides. Rest assured it's another reason to apply for UKRI PhD funding (as if you needed one).

UKRI studentships are provided for a set period of time, usually three years, full-time. This is sufficient to get a PhD done, in principle, but there's a lot else that can crop up during a doctorate, including teaching, conference presentations, maybe even publication.

As a result, it's not uncommon for students to reach the end of their PhD registration period and still have a bit of work to do. Usually this just involves finishing up the thesis itself, rather than conducting lots more research, hence why this time at (or after) the end of a PhD is known as a 'writing up' period. Universities are normally fine with it, but your funding may not extend to cover it. If your studentship runs for three years and you go into a fourth, you may have to pay for that bit yourself. It's worth bearing in mind.

The actual success rate for UKRI PhD funding applications can vary a lot, as the number of studentships and applicants at each university shifts from year to year. Suffice to say that it isn't 100%.

To put this another way, you absolutely cannot bank on winning a UKRI studentship for your PhD. Awards are always competitive and competition is always fierce. No matter how promising your project is, or how good your grades are, it's very unlikely you're the only applicant who's that good.

Your university and supervisor should be honest about this, but it's easy to lose sight of amidst all the excitement (and stress) of an application.

There are lots of other PhD funding options. Have at least one or two of them in mind as a backup.

Deadlines vary greatly between Research Councils (and between DTPs and CDTs), but generally speaking applications are open between October and January/February (with some schemes closing in November/December).

Bear in mind that you'll never apply straight to one of the Research Councils (or to UKRI). If you're putting forward your own research proposal, you'll need to make sure you've been accepted onto a PhD programme before you can apply for UKRI funding through your prospective university. If you're interested in an advertised project, you'll apply directly to the DTP or CDT offering it (kind of like a job advert).

In our guides to funding from the different Research Councils, we've summarised the deadlines for programmes that are currently open for applications.

Editor's note: This blog was first published on 14/01/21. We've checked and updated it for current readers.

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