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Postgraduate Study

 

UK Research Councils are the largest funder of PhD students at Cambridge, and provide studentships and doctoral training across seven subject areas (listed below).

Research Council funding comes from the UK government and provides: 

  • tuition fees at the home rate*
  • a 'stipend' to support living costs (also referred to as 'maintenance costs')
  • some also offer support towards research costs

Research Council funding is associated with Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP) and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT), and provides studentship-holders with extra teaching to support their research and personal development. 

Applications for funding are made directly to the University (or partnership institutions) through the admissions and funding process. Some studentships require you to propose a project and others have set lists you can choose from.

Selection criteria is based on academic excellence and how your research project fits with the supervisor or research group. There is also a widening participation element that welcomes applications from students from underrepresented groups in postgraduate study.

Visit the UKRI website for more information.

* International students are now eligible for a limited number of Research Council studentships. International students in receipt of an eligible UKRI doctoral studentship will receive a University bursary to cover the difference between the Home and Overseas fee level.

Studentships at Cambridge

Select the relevant research council below for details of studentships available at Cambridge.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

The Arts and Humanities Research Council provides funding via a consortium model: applicants are nominated from multiple universities and ranked into a single list.

Cambridge is part of the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership (OOC DTP); applicants may only apply to one of these three institutions for AHRC funding.

Find out more about the Cambridge AHRC DTP.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council funds approximately 14-18 Standard studentships, 7-9 Targeted studentships and 4 iCase studentships in the School of Biological Sciences, across the five BBSRC research themes:

  • Understanding the rules of life
  • Transformative technologies
  • Bioscience for sustainable argiculture and food
  • Bioscience for renewable resources and clean growth
  • Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health

Find out more about the Cambridge BBSRC DTP.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

The Economic and Social Research Council funds studentships in a range of broad social science areas:

  • Sustainability, prosperity and wellbeing
  • Inequality, equity, justice, and economic growth
  • Conflict, culture, mobility and development
  • Emerging technologies, human behaviour and productivity
  • Cognition, behaviour, language and learning

There are 26 eligible departments from across the University that take ESRC students.

Find out more about the Cambridge ESRC DTP.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT)

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funds approximately 60 studentships a year across:

  • Engineering
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Mathematics (Applied and Theoretical)
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Earth Sciences
  • Computer Science
  • and Materials Science

The Cambridge EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) support a further 80-90 funded studentships. Each Centre recruits on average 12 students a year in the departments mentioned above. 

Find out more about the Cambridge EPSRC DTP and CDT.

Medical Research Council (MRC)

MRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

The Medical Research Council funds approximately 5 MRC industrial Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (iCASE) studentships a year across the School of Clinical Medicine and School of Biological Sciences. Students must apply to specific projects that fall under the following themes:

  • Data Science for Health
  • Molecular and Cellular Medicine
  • Neurosciences and Mental Health
  • Infection and Immunity

Find out more about the Cambridge MRC DTP and iCASE Programme.

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

The Natural Environment Research Council funds approximately 12 studentships a year. Students are required to apply to specific projects that fall within three major research themes:

  • Solid earth and geological hazards
  • Climate Change and environmental processes
  • Biology and conservation

Find out more about the Cambridge NERC DTP.

Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

STFC

The Science and Technology Facilities Council funds studentships in

  • The Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics 
  • The Department of Physics
  • The Institute of Astronomy

Funding Search

Search the University's database of postgraduate funding opportunities.

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