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