Research Scholarships

In order to apply, you must:

• have submitted an admission application to, or currently be registered on, an eligible full- or part-time eligible degree programme at UCL by the scholarship deadline;
• be holding or expected to achieve at least an upper second-class Honours UK undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification.

You must submit a complete application for admission onto an eligible degree programme by the specified deadline. You do not need to have secured an offer of a place at UCL in order to apply for the scholarship, but you must have submitted your admission application.

The UCL-RES scholarship consists of full tuition fees (either Home or Overseas) plus a maintenance stipend during the research portion of the programme which increases each year with inflation. For 2024/25, the stipend rate is £21,237 for full-time study (rates are calculated 'pro rata' for part-time students). For 2025/26, the stipend rate is to be confirmed.

The scholarship also includes additional research costs of up to £1,200 per year for the stated duration of the research portion of the programme.

Awards are made for the standard length of the research portion of the programme of study. This is normally 3 years for a full-time MPhil/PhD/EngD degree programme (or 5 years for part-time study), subject to sufficient academic progress. Please note the funding does not cover CRS/writing up year(s).

Research Excellence Scholarship applications to the Department of Mechanical Engineering should be submitted by email to mecheng.phd@ucl.ac.uk. Full application instructions can be found on the RES webpage:

Research Excellence Scholarship

The aim of the UCL-ROS is to address under-representation and help improve equality, diversity and inclusion in UCL’s post-graduate research student body. The scholarship offers full financial support and a skills development programme, both designed to promote academia as a more attractive career option.

The scholarship is run jointly by the UCL Student Funding Office and the UCL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team, in collaboration with the Windsor Fellowship. Please see our UCL-ROS scholars testimonials to see how the scholarship has impacted our community of ROS scholars.

For the 2025/26 academic year we are offering 7 fully funded UCL-Research Opportunity Scholarships:

• 5 scholarships for any UCL faculty
• 1 scholarship for Social and Historical Sciences
• 1 scholarship for the Department of Chemical Engineering

The scholarships consist of fees equivalent to the standard postgraduate UK/home rate (2024/25: £6,035) plus a maintenance stipend (2024/25: £21,237) for full-time study (benefits are calculated 'pro rata' for part-time students). For the 2025/26 academic year, the stipend rate is to be confirmed.

The scholarship includes additional research costs of up to £1,200 per year for the stated duration of research portion of the programme plus a single allowance of £1,000 towards conference costs over the duration of the programme

The UCL-ROS scholarships also offer a comprehensive personal and professional development support package:

• Coaching, mentoring support and advocacy;
• Training and skills development through UCL’s Doctoral Skills Development Programme (including the “Brilliant Club” scholars programme) and the Windsor Fellowship.

Awards are made for the standard length of the research portion of the UCL programme of study. This is normally 3 years for a full-time MPhil/PhD/EngD degree programme (or 5 years for part-time study), subject to sufficient academic progress. Please note the funding does not cover CRS/writing up year(s).

In order to apply, you must:

• have submitted a completed admission application to, or currently be registered on, an eligible** full- or part-time eligible degree programme at UCL by the scholarship deadline;
• you must be a UK-permanent resident from one of the following BAME ethnic groups:
  • Black or Black British - Caribbean
  • Black or Black British - African
  • Other Black background
  • Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi
  • Asian or Asian British - Pakistani

In order to be awarded a scholarship if selected, you must be in receipt of an offer of admission to, or currently be registered on, a full-time or part-time research degree programme at UCL.

Full eligibility criteria and application instructions can be found on the Research Opportunity Scholarship webpage:

Research Opportunity Scholarship

For the 2025/26 academic year we are offering 4 fully funded scholarship places to current UCL MPhil/PhD and EngD students from any country wishing to spend an additional year of their MPhil/PhD or EngD in another UCL department acquiring research skills and knowledge from a different discipline, which can be applied in their normal area of research. Training should be of one year's full-time duration to permit sustained exposure to the new discipline. 

The scholarships can be taken at any point during the fee-paying period of an exsiting MPhil/PhD or EngD programme.

Eligible candidates must:

• be currently registered at UCL on a full-time or part-time MPhil/PhD or EngD research programme.
• provide proof of 3 years of guaranteed funding for their normal MPhil/PhD or EngD programme.
• be in the research phase of your current degree and still paying tuition fees. Students who have entered or are scheduled to enter CRS before Sept 2025 are not eligible to apply.

Where a student is in receipt of a scholarship or funding (e.g. from UKRI) written permission for the arrangement must be sought from the relevant body. Please note: if you are in receipt of UKRI funding, permission should be granted by the training grant holder (i.e. your UCL department/training centre). If RXD funding is deemed not to be compatible with the terms of funding from current sponsors, then unfortunately you are ineligible to apply to the RXD.

Self-funding students need to provide evidence that they have full funding for the remaining years of their PhD.

The RXD scholarship consists of full tuition fees (either Home or Overseas) plus a maintenance stipend. For 2024/25, the stipend rate is £21,237 for full-time study and for 2025/26 the stipend rate is to be confirmed. The scholarship also includes a research cost allowance of up to £1,200.

In in the case of recipients who already hold a UKRI grant with a standard higher stipend rate than the RXD rate, the RXD will match the current maintenance grant rate.

The RXD scholarships are tenable for one academic year of full-time study in the host department. Applications from full- or part-time current students are accepted, however the RXD training year must be completed full-time.

Full application instructions can be found on the RXD webpage:

Research Excellence Scholarships for Cross-Disciplinary Training

5 awards are available for students intending to pursue research in any subject area in accordance with the CSC’s priorities. In order to be considered for one of these 5 CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarships candidates must first submit an application for the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship (RES) before submitting an application to the CSC. UCL will then select its five CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholars from the pool of students that applied to the RES.

Successful tuition fee funding recipients under the above three priority areas will be notified of their provisional funding in early March. Recipients must then submit a separate application to the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for co-funding.

The scholarships are co-funded by the CSC and UCL. The CSC provides economy air travel to and from the UK, a living allowance, and visa application fees.

UCL will provide full tuition fees for the standard duration of a full-time MPhil/PhD programme up to 48 months.

Full eligibility criteria and application instructions can be found on the CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarship webpage:

China Scholarship Council-UCL Joint Research Scholarship