College Research Awards

Applications for the academic year 2025/6 are now open.

Award

The award provides full tuition fees with an annual stipend for three years or part-time equivalent. The stipend will be set to the UKRI level. The UKRI level for 2024/25 is currently £19,237 for full-time students or the pro rata equivalent for part-time students.

Eligibility

The award is open to all UK and international students commencing a PhD degree in the academic year 2025-26. Prospective students applying for a distance learning HCA PhD programme are eligible. Current PhD students and MScR applicants are not eligible to apply.

Applying

Please note that the funding applications have their own 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 the CRA funding, you must complete the following two steps:

Apply for your study programme

Your completed PhD study application must be submitted through the University’s online application system by Monday, 20 January 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), and two academic references. For instructions on uploading additional documents after submitting your application, please follow the support guidance available here.

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

Academic references

Please liaise closely with your referees to ensure they supply the required reference within ten working days of your submission and no later than 3 February 2025, 23:59 UK time.

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, 3 February 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).

Do I need a study offer before applying for the CRA award?

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

Full details about submitting the scholarship application can be found on the U…

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.