College Research Awards

Overview

This scholarship is awarded to high-quality candidates across the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

As a student with us you will work with some of the most influential academics in your chosen field and learn about the very latest developments in your subject. Those chosen exemplify the high standards the University of Edinburgh sets for its research students and the investment that we make in their potential.

Value

Full tuition fees (UK or Overseas level) with annual stipend for up to 3 years (pro-rata for part-time students) set at the UKRI level.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

1. Programme: All candidates must hold a conditional or unconditional offer onto one of our Doctoral programmes and expect to join in September 2025. While you can be awaiting an application outcome when applying for this scholarship only those with an offer can be considered. Therefore, please ensure all necessary documents have been uploaded to your programme application at least 10 working days before the scholarship deadline.
2. Academic Standing:This normally requires a minimum qualification (or expected qualification if you are a current Masters student) of above-average academic achievement, typically 65% or above overall at the Masters level, with a distinction-level dissertation, or the overseas equivalent. For PhD Financial Technology, this requires a Masters with a distinction classification or the overseas equivalent. For applicants to our PhD with Integrated Study programmes, applicants who do not hold a Masters can be considered if they have a First at Undergraduate level, or the international equivalent, with a mark of 70 or more in the dissertation module.
3. English Competency: You must meet the English requirements for the PhD programme. The most commonly approved certificate is an IELTS, for which the minimum accepted score is 7.0 overall with at least 6.0 in each section.

Please note that we will not generally consider candidates who have already obtained a PhD or equivalent qualification.

How to Apply

To be considered, candidates must submit both a programme application and a scholarship application using the University's Online Application System. You will only be able to access the scholarship application after you have applied to your chosen programme.

It is recommended that the programme application be submitted at least 10 working days before the scholarship application deadline so that you can access the scholarship application portal.

• Programme Application Guidance
• Scholarship Application Guidance

We strongly encourage applicants to reach out directly to potential advisors at the Business School by email to discuss the opportunity of doing a PhD under their supervision. Applicants should take care to ensure the academic staff they reach out to have similar research interests. To do this, candidates should browse staff profiles.

Selection Process

Eligible applicants will be ranked initially by a selection panel comprising of senior academic colleagues within the Business School broadly within the applicant’s discipline. The top ranked candidates will then be invited to an interview with the Business School PGR Programme Director and senior Business School research colleagues. The interview will focus on motivation, research experience and contribution of the research.

Applications are ranked considering a number of criteria, most importantly:

• The academic background of the candidates, including their achievements/research experience so far
• The potential of the candidates' doctoral research proposal (e.g., novelty, contribution)
• A whole person approach – preparedness and potential to:
  • undertake and complete a PhD
  • flourish with funding
  • contribute to a positive/diverse PhD community

Scholarship awards are subject to candidates successfully securing admission and joining a Business School doctoral programme in September 2025.

Award Announcement Date

Candidates will be notified of the outcome of their application in late spring 2025.

Please be aware that we also hold a reserve list. In the event that a successful candidate later declines their award, the award will be offered to the top candidate on the reserve list. Candidates will be notified if they are listed as a reserve candidate.

Contact

Scholarship Support Team
phd@business-school.ed.ac.uk

University of Edinburgh Business School
29 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh
EH8 9JS