Faculty of Science and Engineering Africa Futures Doctoral Scholar Awards

In order to be considered for this scholarship, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Be an international-fee paying student domiciled in any African country as defined by the UN. Please note, this includes both countries in southern Africa and North Africa.
  • You must have predominantly resided there during the last five years.
  • We consider your domicile to be the country in which you are ordinarily resident, not a country where you are only living for the purpose of full-time education.
• Be applying for a PhD programme that is supervised by staff in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

You must meet The University of Manchester standard PhD entry requirements:

• An upper second-class (2:1) honours degree in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD (or international equivalent) OR any upper-second class (2:1) honours degree and a Master’s degree at merit in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD (or international equivalent).
• Please contact the Doctoral Academy Admissions Team for information about international equivalent entry requirements.
• English language requirements: All applicants will need to demonstrate competency in English language.
• Applicants who do not already possess an acceptable English Language qualification will need to take a recognised test and attain a minimum IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6 in writing and listening, and 5.5. in all other sub-tests.
• TOEFL iBT:  At least 90 overall with no subtest below 20. We do not accept 'MyBestScore'.
• Pearson Test of English (PTE): At least 70 overall with no subtest below 59. Further information on language requirements can be found on our website. 
• Pre-sessional English: We also accept successful completion of a pre-sessional English course run by the University Language Centre to meet our English language requirements.

You will also be assessed by how well you meet the person specification for the Faculty of Science and Engineering Postgraduate Researcher:

• Educational background matches research project.
• Potential to form effective working relationships with a diverse range of people, including working inclusively and as part of a team.
• Potential to take the initiative, lead on projects, and be proactive in prioritising a dynamic, agile and diverse workload.
• Potential to develop understanding of complex problems, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a given scenario, and apply in-depth knowledge to address them.
• Potential to develop expertise in new areas of the subject.
• Evidence of an understanding of the proposed area of research, including knowledge of current challenges and opportunities.
• An interest in continuous personal and professional development.
• Potential to communicate ideas and conclusions, verbally and in writing, clearly and effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Preliminary knowledge of research techniques/track record of engaging with research.
• Commitment to principles of Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in teaching, research, or experience.

The scholarship may not be held in conjunction with any other doctoral scholarship with a value of greater than £5,000.

Candidates must be willing to take part in a small number of activities to promote the scholarship scheme and the wider partnership of The University of Manchester with Africa.

The University of Manchester is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We actively encourage those who, in addition to fulfilling the criteria above, have historically been underrepresented in Higher Education. This includes but is not limited to: Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and/or otherwise Global Majority applicants, disabled applicants, trans applicants, applicants exiting a career break, care-experienced applicants, and LGBTQ+ applicants.

1. Choose your research project.
2. Find your supervisor.
3. This scholarship works on a nomination basis so it’s important you make sure you have had significant contact with your supervisory team during the application process and that they are aware that you wish to be considered for funding.
4. Complete your application prior to the advertised funding deadline (see key dates below). Specify in the funding section of your PhD application form that you wish to be considered for the Dean’s Doctoral Scholarship.
5. Each Department will be invited to nominate candidates to Faculty – if nominated you will then be invited to an interview.

Full details of how to apply for postgraduate research, where to find research projects and supervisors, and much more can be found on our getting started page.

Please direct any enquiries to the relevant postgraduate research contact in each Department.

• Nominations from supervisors will be assessed by a Faculty Panel.
• The Faculty Panel will include academics from the Internationalisation, Social Responsibility and Postgraduate Research teams.
• The Faculty Panel will undertake shortlisting of candidates according to the students’ eligibility and project selection criteria.
• The Programmes team will invite the shortlisted candidates to interview, and the interviews will be conducted via Zoom.
• The Faculty Panel will assess candidates based on a short verbal presentation and standard set of interview questions mapping to the eligibility criteria.

Candidates will be selected on how well they meet the eligibility criteria and how their proposed PhD projects meet the following criteria:

• The extent to which the proposed project addresses Sustainable Development Goals specifically relevant to Africa as a whole or to a specific country or group of African countries.
• The extent to which the proposed project is supported by an African higher education or other relevant institution, including relevant NGOs, businesses, African country government agencies or international aid agencies (e.g. UN, WHO, UNICEF, Red Cross, Red Crescent).
• The extent to which the proposed project shows evidence of co-design and co-developments by the candidate, the supervisory team and partners (if any).
• Demonstrable alignment of the proposed project with The University's Africa Strategy.
• Preference will be given to candidates/projects that have robustly considered compliance and field health and safety risks.
• Preference will be given to candidates from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) or Lower Middle Income Countries.
• The selection panel reserves the right to consider the collective spread of scholarship offers across the Schools of Natural Science and Engineering and across different regions of Africa. 

• Deadline for PhD applications to be considered for nomination: Monday 28 April 2025.
• Deadline for supervisors to nominate candidates: Tuesday 6 May 2025.
• Faculty interviews will take place from Monday 19 May 2025.