Edinburgh Doctoral College Scholarships

Award

Each scholarship covers the University tuition fee as well as a stipend equivalent to the UKRI stipend rate (for 2025-2026 this is currently £20,780), subject to satisfactory progress, the scholarships are awarded for between three and four years as agreed by the School/College (or pro-rata for part time).

Eligibility

The awards are open to UK and overseas students applying to start their first year of study for an on-campus research degree in 2026-2027.

Applicants must have already applied for admission to a first year of full-time or part-time on campus or distance PhD study at the University. We encourage applicants who wish to apply for this scholarship to make contact with their academic school regarding any admission deadlines.

Please check the Entry Requirements for your proposed programme of study for details of other acceptable English language qualifications.

You may apply for the scholarship prior to obtaining the necessary English language test results but the results should be uploaded as soon as possible.

These awards cannot be held concurrently with fully-funded scholarships but can be held with partially-funded scholarships and will be reduced pro-rata.

Criteria

Applicants must be of outstanding academic merit and research potential. Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a UK first class or 2:1 honours degree at undergraduate level or the international equivalent.

Other factors such as financial status, nationality and the proposed field of study are not taken into account.

The University will not generally consider candidates who have already obtained a PhD, or formal equivalent, as a result of direct research training.