The University is pleased to announce a range of international PhD studentships available to start in October 2023. We award these to highly qualified applicants for research within the areas of science, life sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, and within the Henley Business School.
What is available?
The studentships offer:
- a subsistence grant (stipend) broadly in line with the UKRI minimum stipend. The 2022/23 stipend rate is £17,668.
- tuition fees at the international rate
- a £1,000 per annum training and development allowance.
All awards are for up to three years in duration.
Eligibility
Funding is only open to international candidates. Candidates will be required to meet the language requirements specified by their School/Department upon entry.
Due to the nature of the studentships where training and support will be directly available via the university, we only invite applications for students wishing to study at one of the University of Reading campuses. Unfortunately, we cannot support other modes of study, such as by distance.
Deadline
The deadline for applications is Monday 9th January 2023.
The competition process is in two stages. The first selection process takes place within Schools, whereby two candidates from each School are chosen for nomination to the final selection process, which takes place in the Doctoral and Researcher College.
How to apply
Contact your School or Department
As a first step, you should check with the postgraduate research administrator in your School or Department that your proposed research can be supervised by the School/Department.
Apply for a place of admission
You will need to submit an application for admission to a PhD programme in your chosen subject via our online admissions portal. If you are not sure to which programme to apply, consult with your postgraduate research administrator or with the School's director of postgraduate research studies.
In the "scholarships applied for" box which appears within the funding section of your online application, please quote "International Research Studentship Competition" in order for your application to be considered in this competition.
If you have already applied and did not quote the competition, you should email your name and application number to your postgraduate research administrator to ensure they are aware of your wish to be considered for this funding. The admissions application will usually require a research proposal be uploaded; requirements vary by School.
The next stage of the competition takes place within Schools, where an internal selection process is carried out and Schools nominate two candidates for the main studentship competition in the Doctoral and Researcher College.
If you have been nominated by your School, the School will inform you and ask you to prepare a summary research proposal. The international studentship competition requires a research proposal with a maximum length of 700 words, excluding title and references. (If you uploaded a longer research proposal for your admissions application, this can be shortened for the funding competition.)
The proposal can be emailed to your postgraduate research administrator and prospective supervisor.
The research proposal is an important element of the funding decision; it is advisable to consult the Doctoral and Researcher College's guidance on writing a research proposal for a PhD or MPhil application (PDF, 1.3) and your proposed supervisor. The research proposal must be your work, but your supervisor may guide and advise you on developing and improving the proposal.
The last stage of the competition is where nominated candidates are put forward for the final selection and panel members decide on who will be awarded the studentships. This will take place at the end of March 2023.
Successful candidates will be notified via a formal studentship award letter by the end of April 2023. Please note that this is provided separately from any offer of admission and will be subject to standard checks for eligibility and other criteria.
We regret that, due to the very high volume of applications, we cannot undertake to contact all unsuccessful candidates. If you have not received a formal studentship funding offer by the middle of May 2023, this will indicate that you have not been successful in this competition.
Application deadline
Monday 9th January 2023
Further enquiries
Doctoral Studentships Officer