UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship

UCL's Research Opportunity Scholarship (UCL-ROS) supports Black, Asian and ethnic minority postgraduate research degree students at the start of their academic career.

The Research Opportunity Scholarship was conceived in response to the question "Why isn't my professor black?". 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 the Department of Chemical Engineering

1 scholarship for Social and Historical Sciences

Eligibility

To APPLY, you must:

• have submitted a completed admission application to, or currently be registered on, an eligible** full- or part-time degree programme at UCL by the scholarship deadline
• be a UK-permanent resident from one of the following Black, Asian, and minority 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

To be AWARDED 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.

** PLEASE NOTE Distance learning, non-resident PhD and professional doctorates (DClinPsy, DDent, DEdPsy (Brain Sciences), DOrth and DPsychotherapy) are not eligible for this scholarship. EngD are not considered Professional Doctorates here and are eligible to apply.

Value, benefits, and duration

The UCL-ROS consists of tuition fees equivalent to the standard postgraduate UK/home rate plus a maintenance stipend during the research portion of the programme which increases each year with inflation. For the 2024/25 academic year, the stipend rate is £21,237 for full-time study (rates 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 also offers 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).

Where students are undertaking an integrated doctoral programme with a standard length of four years, the award will be extended to the 4th year of research.

If awarded, funding begins at the start of the next academic year. For 2025/26 this should be 1^st October 2025 (TBC).

Selection

Step 1: Candidates submit a UCL-ROS cover sheet directly to the academic department they have applied to (or are currently enrolled in for current UCL PhD students). Departments will then nominate one candidate to present to the central UCL-ROS Selection Panel for consideration.

Please note, departmental nominations are based on:

• Academic attainment - as demonstrated by prior academic results.
• Research potential - as demonstrated by a candidate’s research experience to date, their enthusiasm for research, and their research proposal

Step 2: Nominated candidates, who meet the UCL-ROS eligibility criteria, will be sent a UCL-ROS application form to complete by the Student Funding Office. This form will include questions on socio-economic and financial factors, including household income information, a lay summary of your research proposal, and a personal statement.

Step 3: The UCL-ROS Selection Panel will review all candidates’ personal statements. The selection panel includes representatives from the UCL Student Funding Office, the UCL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team, and the Windsor Fellowship.

The UCL-ROS Selection Panel will select awardees on the basis of:

• Department nomination
• Financial need - based on socio-economic background.
• Candidate’s personal statement

A weighting will also be applied which is based on the under-representation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic PhD students in the candidate’s faculty. This data is provided by the UCL-EDI team.

How to apply

If you are a prospective student, please follow all the application steps below. If you are a current student, please go directly to Step 3. You must have completed all the relevant steps by 10^th January 2025.

• Step 1: You must submit a complete application for admission onto a research degree programme at UCL by the specified deadline. You do not need to have secured an offer of a place at UCL to apply for the scholarship. Please see our guidance on how to apply for a graduate research programme at UCL.
• Step 2: When completing the research degree application form for admission you should indicate in the ‘Funding’ section that you are also applying to the UCL-ROS programme.
• Step 3: You must contact your prospective/current academic department/institute/division/unit and notify them that you would like to be considered for a UCL-ROS by submitting a UCL-ROS coversheet. Please use our list of administrative contacts to make this submission and also discuss this scholarship with your potential supervisor. 

UCL-ROS cover sheet

UCL-ROS cover sheet

You must submit both a completed admission application and a completed UCL-ROS coversheet to your academic department no later than Friday, 10^th January 2025.

Please be aware that some academic departments set their own deadlines which may be earlier than this date, so make sure you check with them directly.

Results

The panel will meet in March 2025 and applicants will be notified of final decisions in April 2025.