Each academic journey starts with a PhD. How to get a PhD position? You need a great research idea, a strong academic profile, and PhD funding!
Deciding to do a PhD is one of the largest decisions that you are about to take in your life. And your PhD journey starts even before you complete your PhD application.
Over the past two weeks, I talked about the purpose of a research proposal and how you can contact your prospective PhD supervisor. Identifying a viable research group and writing a strong research proposal are fundamental steps before you undertake your postgraduate study.
However, there is still one, but a quite important, aspect of the PhD application process that you need to consider – how will your PhD study be funded? And I’m not only talking about the PhD tuition fees. As you usually commit 3-5 years to do a PhD, you need to identify suitable funding options to cover your living expenses.
Luckily, there is a wide range of funding opportunities that potential PhD students like yourself can consider. As an active academic, I recognise that funding is one of the most common barriers that may prevent even the brightest candidate from undertaking the ground-breaking research project.
That is why in this article, I collected a broad range of options for PhD scholarships, government funding, PhD loans that you can consider to fund your PhD.
Overview of types of funding for postgraduate research students
According to FindAPhD, there are 5 main types of funding for doctoral research. I want to emphasise that these will have different eligibility criteria and provide full scholarship or partial scholarship. In any way, I’m sure there are lots of opportunities for both home and international students.
Internal PhD funding at universities
This is a place where you would usually start looking for funding. The university you are considering applying for may have internal funding or bursaries for PhD students. It’s worth exploring the university website to find out if your selected university provides such funding. It may be in the form of an internal fellowship or within one of the doctoral training partnerships or centres for doctoral training that the university may hold.
To find PhD funding at a specific university, google “university name” + “PhD funding”. For example, the universities below have developed handy funding search tools you may use:
Funding at the University of Cambridge
Funding at the University of Oxford
Funding at the Harvard University
Funding at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Funding at the Stanford University
Funding at the California Institute of Technology
Government funding
It’s a common source of funding, and, at the same time, it’s one of the most generous ones. The government bodies, such as research councils, usually dedicate a specific fraction of their budget to support talented researchers. In return, they expect high-risk, high-gain research and that you make your work open access. It’s usually one of the most competitive types of PhD funding.
Funding at China Scholarship Council
Funding at Punjab Endowment Education Fund (Pakistan)
Funding at Fulbright Commission (USA)
Commonwealth Split-site Scholarships
Funding from charities or trusts
These independent bodies tend to sponsor PhDs in the research areas that align with the organisational goals or vision. They will likely offer to fund your research partially.
The availability of PhD funding from charities and trusts will vary by country. The examples of funding sources you can consider to fund your PhD programme in the UK are:
Funding at the British Federation of Women Graduates
Funding at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Funding at the Royal Geographical Society
Funding at the Leverhulme Trust
Funding at Action Medical Research for Children
Funding at Grundy Educational Trust
Funding at the AgriFood Charities Partnership
Funding at Zonta International
Funding at Research and Development Management Association
Funding at Whitworth Scholarship Awards
Funding at Croucher Foundation (Hong Kong)
Funding at Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation (India)
Funding at the Foundation for Economic Education (Finland)
Industrial funding
This funding usually is associated with a research project that supports the commercial work of the business or industrial organisation. Such a project will have specific objectives to achieve and may be carried out under a non-disclosure agreement. Although it may offer generous funding, you would need to balance the opportunity for commercial research with the opportunities to publish your work.
Funding at Schlumberger Foundation
Regardless of the multiple sources of funding available for PhDs, the competition for funding is high. Therefore, it may be the case that you will receive partial PhD funding but still may not be able to proceed with your project because self-funding may not be an option. In this case, there are dedicated PhD loan programmes available that you may consider if you’re determined to pursue your PhD.
Student finance
Fund for development of Human Resources (Mexico)
The J.N. Tata Endowment (India)
A postgraduate doctoral loan (UK)
Lendwise Postgraduate Student Loan (UK)
Where to find current PhD opportunities
Most of the examples for the funding that I listed above require that you develop a project idea and write a research proposal. Therefore, these allow you to truly pursue your research vision and develop your research programme.
Another option to get funding for your PhD is to apply directly for a specific project that already has funding. In this case, you won’t need to write a research proposal. Likely, this has already been done by the project manager, your prospective supervisor. In such a case, the competitive application process will resemble job application and may have slightly different criteria for eligibility. Also, only successful candidates will get doctoral funding.
You can find the database of currently advertised opportunities for PhD scholarships here:
A final word…
If you’re dreaming of pursuing a PhD, you need to get funding for your research. The PhD funding sources you can consider include internal university funding, funding from external organisations, and student loans.
Regardless of your funding situation, there is a wide variety of funding options that you can consider applying for. As I mentioned in my Academic Talk on contacting prospective supervisor, you will be among the outstanding candidates for PhD if you will clearly state how your degree will be funded. To do so, make sure you understand the funding scheme requirements, eligibility criteria and application requirements.
There are lots of opportunities available. Don’t get discouraged – here’s where your academic journey starts!
