Studentship funding

Algorithm studentships

The studentship algorithm is used to determine the main allocation of NERC studentships each year. The funding is then provided as flexible Doctoral Training Grants (DTGs) with funding for anywhere between one and ten studentships.

The DTG includes all funds for the studentship (except Disabled Students' Allowance), including the students stipend, the fees and an enlarged Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) which should be used to fund fieldwork and consumables, etc. There is no separate procedure for applying for fieldwork and exceptional consumables.

Open CASE and other competition based studentships

Successful applications will be awarded as Doctoral Training Grants (DTGs) to the institution. The DTG includes funding for the student stipend, the fees and a basic research training support grant (RTSG). As part of the competition process, further funds can be requested for fieldwork and consumables and any further funds agreed will be included in the DTG.

Project studentships

All costs for a project studentship should now be requested on the grant application. The funding for stipend and fees should be requested within the staff/project student tab and, if successful, these would be funded at 100%. Funds for research training support costs (fieldwork, conferences, consumables etc) should be included in Directly Incurred Costs on the proposal and these would be funded at 80%.

Disabled students allowance

If a student has a long-term disability, and as a result of that disability they are obliged to incur additional expenditure in connection with their studies, they may be eligible for extra allowances, known as Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). Any student receiving NERC funding for their PhD studentship can apply for DSA. Details of how this is done can be found on the Applying for Disabled Students Allowance page. Approved funding for DSA will be added as a new funding stream to the relevant training grant or research grant.

Stipend and fees level

The Studentship Handbook will be updated with the RCUK agreed stipend and fees rates as soon as possible after they are known. The PhD stipend rate and fees rates can also be found on the RCUK website.

Further details of studentship funding and Terms and Conditions for Training Grants can be found in the Studentship Handbook.

The Terms and Conditions for Research Grants (applicable to Project studentship funds) can be found in the Research Grant Handbook.

If you have any further questions after consulting these documents contact the Training Awards Team.