Jenny Balston Scholarship

Applications for the academic year 2026/7 are now open.

The Jenny Balston Scholarship is for History PhD students and it is funded through a bequest from the estate of Miss Janet Mary Balston, MA (1971), to the University of Edinburgh Development Trust.

Awards

The award provides an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (for guidance, in 2024/25 this was £20,780) and tuition fees at the UK rate. Awards will normally be tenable for up to three years, subject to satisfactory progress.

Eligibility

The scholarship will be awarded to a student who is accepted for admission in 2026/27 on a full-time basis for an on-campus PhD in History programme (i.e. History, Scottish History, Economic and Social History). Only applicants eligible for home tuition fees will be considered; international fee-paying students are not eligible for this scholarship. 

Applying

Please note that the funding applications have their separate timelines and rules for both the study and the scholarship applications, which differ from the deadlines generated automatically by the application portal when submitting your study application. 

To be considered for this scholarship, you must complete the following two steps:

Your completed PhD study application must be submitted through the University’s online application system by Monday, 17 November 2025, 23:59 UK time. This means that all your supporting documentation must also be uploaded, including the research proposal of 1,000-2,000 words, copies of undergraduate and postgraduate degree certificates and transcripts and their official translations if not in English (we recommend that you collate multiple transcripts or certificates into one file), and two academic references. If you need to upload any additional documents after submitting your application, please follow the support guidance available here or send them directly to the PGR Office at hca-pgr@ed.ac.uk. 

The scholarship panel will not consider incomplete applications. Please see the guidance below on what to do if any of your documents are missing or pending:

  • Academic references

Please note that your referees will receive automatic reminders from the application system. The deadlines calculated in these reminders are not relevant to the scholarship deadline. Please liaise closely with your referees to ensure they supply the required reference within ten working days of your submission and no later than 27 November 2025, 23:59 UK time. Your referees may receive further emails with reference deadlines, but as noted, these are only relevant to your PhD application. For the scholarship application, all references must be received by the deadline stated here.

  • Postgraduate degree result

Please note that you must submit your undergraduate and postgraduate degree certificates and transcripts to be considered for PhD admission. If you are still studying towards your postgraduate qualification, we will require you to submit an interim transcript or a certificate of matriculation so we can consider your application and, where appropriate, make you a conditional offer on the condition of successful completion of your current master's degree.

  • Proof of English competency

If a degree result or test of English competency is pending, we can consider your application and, where appropriate, make you a conditional offer on the condition of supplying these at a later date.

IMPORTANT: If you are unsure about the eligibility of any of your documents, please email the Postgraduate Research Office well ahead of the submission deadline.

Email the Postgraduate Research Office


Eligible candidates must submit a separate scholarship application in the MyEd portal by Monday, 24 November 2025, 23:59 GMT.  Please note you cannot access the online funding application form in the MyEd portal unless you have first applied for admission to the University of Edinburgh (see Step 1) and received your login details (University username and password).

To apply for the scholarship in the MyEd portal, please select the 'Jenny Balston Scholarship' option.

As part of your scholarship application, you will complete a personal statement in which you should set out your academic achievements and goals.

 

Do I need a study offer before applying for the scholarship?

You may apply for the scholarship before receiving a decision on your application for a PhD place, but if you do not receive a study offer, your application cannot proceed.


Applications which do not meet the deadlines stated above won't be considered.

The University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or withdraw any of the advertised scholarships, without notice.

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