• UCL Scholarships (ORS/GRS)
• Departmental Funding
• Hiring a PhD student as a member of staff
• EPSRC (link to the EPSRC webpage about studentships)

This section gives information about UCL scholarships - ORS & GRS - and a brief overview of the procedures for students' applying and the department's nomination process.  If you are new to UCL and these acronymns mean nothing to you, you can find further information on the awards from the following UCL sites:

• Overseas Research Student Award (ORS)
• Graduate School Research Scholarship (GRS)

The department's admissions deadlines have been formulated so as to coincide with major funding deadlines, both in UCL generally and within the department for DTA studentships.  Information about these can be found here.

The process for UCL scholarship applications is the following:

1.  Who to put forward. 

The department can now only select 2 applicants to put to the College committee.  The committee's selection is based on academic excellence, so we have to select the 2 applicants with the highest academic achievements. The conditions state a 2.1 minimum for UG degree, but basically, nobody without a 1st class UG degree stands a chance, and most successful applicants have prizes or publications. A high distinction in an M.Sc. (completed!) may overcome a high 2.1 and publications/prizes may make up for a narrowly missed 2.1.

Please note that current students may apply but those entering their third year of research will normally only be considered for funding in exceptional circumstances.

2.  Deadlines

a) In order to be considered by the department, complete GRADUATE APPLICATION FORMS (for admission to study) have to be received by the Research Student Administrator by Monday 17th December 2012 at the very latest, in order for the application to be considered by the first panel and interviews scheduled.  By complete we mean including references and transcripts. 

Students should be encouraged to submit their applications as soon as possible and NOT to wait until the very last minute! 

These applications are then assessed at the first panel and decisions about who to interview made.  Strong candidates who have not yet submitted a scholarship application should be encouraged to do so at this point if they have the support of their potential supervisor.

b) Applicants then have to submit the APPLICATION FOR SCHOLARSHIPS (only one, it will be considered for all awards the applicant is eligible for) by Friday 8th February at the very latest.  As part of the application, the prospective supervisor should normally be one of the two referees for the application.  This supervisor's statement in support must also be submitted by this deadline

3.  Department selection

The nominations for UCL scholarships will be decided at the second round of Admissions Panel meetings.  Candidates will be informed of whether they have been nominated or not shortly after this meeting; the UCL decision comes later in the year around April.

If you have any queries regarding the scholarships or the admission process, please contact the Research Student Administrator.

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EPSRC studentships

Every year, the Department is awarded funding for approximately four PhD studentships, two of which are generally allocated to UCLIC. Studentships are four years in duration but may be packaged as three year awards to Masters graduates. The studentships are eligible for home and EU applicants. Home students are eligible for fees and stipend, whereas EU students are usually eligible for fees only, though if they have been ordinarily resident in the UK for 3 years prior to the start, including for F/T education, they qualify for fees and stipend. The Department can apply to use one of these studentships for an international student. However, these funds cannot be used to pay international fees. Supervisors may apply for a Dean's Prize to waive the international fees element and use the studentship primarily for maintenance. 

The Graduate Tutor and the Deputy Graduate Tutor will make the final decision on the allocation of these awards.

It is essential that PhD students hired as Research Associates or Assistants are either registered in the first instance as part-time or transferred to part-time as soon as they become staff for the following reasons:

• They will be paying part time fees which are considerably less.
• They will have longer to finish their PhD.
• They will get two years writing up time instead of one (as long as they have been registered as part-time for a minimum period of 12 months).
• Unfunded students will be eligible for Study Assistance Scheme (SAS) which covers 50% of fees - these funds are not available to full time students.

Please note: if hiring a current student, once they have moved to CRS status they cannot change to part time.  So if you wish to hire a student who is close to being transferred to CRS you need to make sure that they change to part-time before doing so.

Please be advised that full-time students will lose their studentships if they decide to become RAs. 

As soon as you agree to hire a PhD student please inform the Postgraduate Administrators so we can notify Student Records of their change in status.

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