Funding Your Master's Degree

We work to identify useful routes to find funding for your Master's degree. Feel free to ask our admission team for further advice.

Funding Reserved for Excellent Students in Financial Need

STS Aristotle Studentship

Value: full UK fees, up to one studentship available

Deadline for applications: 30 July 2024

Eligibility: Only applicants accepted for entry onto post-graduate taught programmes within the STS department are eligible to apply. This includes those accepted onto the degree, diploma, and certificate programmes.

Details: For 2024-25, STS offers one studentship for applicants to our postgraduate taught programmes. The successful awardee will have their fees paid at the UK-fee level. (Awardee paying overseas fees will need to pay the balance.) Payment is made directly to UCL. All applicants who have been offered a place are eligible to apply. The Aristotle studentship does not include a stipend or support for accommodation.

The primary criteria for the panel’s decision are:

  • evidence of outstanding academic potential
  • evidence of likely difference-making for the programme
  • potential for contributing to the intellectual and cultural life of the department

Application procedure: Persons accepted into the programme who wish to be considered for the STS Aristotle studentship must complete a separate application form for the Aristotle Studentship and submit it to our MSc Admissions team.

Results: Only the successful recipient will be notified. The notification will be made by the end of August. If you do not hear from us by the end of August then sadly your scholarship application was unsuccessful.
 
Contact: MSc Admissions Team sts-msc-admissions@ucl.ac.uk

Brown Family Bursary

The Brown Family Bursary aims to enable and encourage academically excellent students in financial need to pursue a Master’s degree in the Faculties of the Built Environment, Engineering Sciences or Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK, obtain a first-class Bachelor’s degree prior to commencing a Master’s at UCL, must be in financial need (as determined by the UCL Student Funding Office) and must hold an offer to study a full-time Master’s in one of the faculties listed above, which includes STS.

For more information, including how to apply, visit the Brown Family Bursary page.

Funding from UK Research Councils

The relevant research councils for STS are:

  • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Neither research council currently funds standalone MSc degrees. One important exception is the 1+3 funding scheme from the ESRC, which funds integrated MSc and PhD study in the department. Applications for 1+3 funding will require the candidate to be accepted to study through to PhD level in an area covered by the ESRC.

Please contact the admissions team if you would like to discuss this funding.

You can also read a case-study of a recent 1+3 applicant at the bottom of this page.

Preliminary applications for 1+3 funding are now closed.

Funding from Other Sources

UCL Scholarship Search Engine

Information on other scholarships available via UCL can be found via the UCL Scholarship Search Engine.

The Grants Register

Grants Register. The Complete Guide to Postgraduate Funding Worldwide is an annual reference guide. It is available in most academic libraries and many other institutions. Ask in your local library.

British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)

Value: The Society offers three bursaries of £4000 each year.

Deadline: normally early June. See the BSHS website for specific details.

Eligibility: The society specifies eligibility requirements, including:

  • Applicants must have a confirmed place on a Master’s programme in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland
  • There is no nationality requirement for applicants. There is no age limit
  • Non-members of the Society are welcome to apply but successful applicants will be asked to join the society

Details: The British Society for the History of Science offers small bursaries to partially support studies in history of science, technology or medicine.

UK Government-backed Loan

The UK government makes available a Postgraduate Master’s Loan scheme for applicants applying from England. Alternate schemes are available for students applying from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Applicants from Outside the United Kingdom

Information for applicants applying from overseas are invited to consult UCL central databases. Also, please contact the British Council office in your home country for details of grants they have available.