President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Award

The Faculty of Science and Engineering offers funding through the  President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Award scheme , launched by Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell. PDS Awards are open to all nationalities and across all research disciplines, and will be of interest to students of the highest calibre who have the commitment and desire to work on challenging research projects in a world leading research environment.

Funding Details

• 3.5 year fully-funded studentship
• Tuition fees at home or international rate
• Annual maintenance stipend equivalent to   UKRI minimum stipend .

These scholarships are open to all nationalities and across all research areas, and will be of interest to students of the highest calibre who have the commitment and desire to work on challenging research projects in a world leading research environment.

3.5 years.

In order to be considered for this award you must meet the following criteria:

• Have submitted an application by the deadline for a PhD programme to start in September 2024.
• Hold (or expect to achieve) a first class honours undergraduate degree (or international equivalent).
• Ideally hold a master's-level qualification at merit or distinction (or international equivalent).
• Be able to demonstrate potential for academic research. This may include undergraduate projects, placements, internships, contributions to publications/articles, promoting research to a wider audience, prizes for previous work or setting up collaborations with other groups.
• Be able to demonstrate involvement in broader activities e.g. outreach, volunteering, community engagement, engagement in EDIA and other extra-curricular activities

The President's Doctoral Scholar Awards are open to all nationalities and research areas, and will be of interest to students of the highest calibre who have the commitment and desire to work on challenging research projects in world leading research environments

PDS Awards work on a nomination basis, the lead supervisor will consider you for nomination and will support you through the process.

It is important that you have had significant contact with the supervisory team during the application process and that they are aware that you wish to be considered for funding.

In order to be considered, applicants must apply for a place on the PhD programme of your choice as early as possible before the advertised funding deadline.

Full details of our research projects can be found on the relevant department webpages as well as information on how to apply for our PhD programmes.

All shortlisted candidates will be invited to be interviewed by the Faculty Scholarships Panel.

Candidates will be notified by email.

Interviews for this recruitment cycle will be conducted via Zoom.

The Faculty Scholarships Panel will assess interviewees based on their PDS nomination form, a short verbal presentation and interview questions.

For 24/25, applications are being considered in two batches throughout the academic year running until 31 March 2024:

• If you apply for this scholarship before 31 January 2024 and you're nominated by your supervisor you'll be interviewed in March and notified if you have been awarded a scholarship by 28 March 2024.
• If you apply for this scholarship between 31 January 2024 and 31 March 2024 and you're nominated by your supervisor you'll be interviewed in May and notified if you have been awarded a scholarship by 31 May 2024.

Postgraduate Research Funding