If you wish to apply for ESRC studentship funding you must comply with residential and academic eligibility requirements.

Residential eligibility 

Candidates for ESRC-funded studentship awards must be able to demonstrate a relevant connection with the United Kingdom. A relevant connection may be established if, at the date of application or nomination you:

• have been ordinarily resident in the UK throughout the three year period immediately preceding the date of an award
• have not been resident in the UK, during any part of that three year period, wholly or mainly for the purposes of full time education, and
• have settled status in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1997 (ie you are not subject to any restriction on the period for which you may stay).

Following the Bidar Judgement in 2005, only the first of the above criteria applies to EU nationals who are resident in the UK. EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for three years immediately preceding the date of an award for the purpose of full time education are now eligible for a full grant.

Residential eligibility is based on a physical presence in the UK. British citizenship in itself does not satisfy the residential eligibility requirement.

Opening up of international eligibility

The Research Councils have agreed a number of underlying principles in relation to the recruitment of non-UK domiciled candidates to Research Council funded studentships. In light of this, we have relaxed the rules around international eligibility in strategic areas, allowing fees and stipends to be paid for students from outside the UK.

Our Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) will be able to recruit overseas and EU students for full awards in economics or advanced quantitative methods without adhering to the standard residential eligibility rules outlined above and in the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide. However, DTCs can decide whether or not they wish to apply these relaxed eligibility rules and some institutions may not be able to offer international students an ESRC-funded studentship on this basis.

Academic eligibility

For all studentships, students must have qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first or upper second class level, from a UK academic research organisation. Degree qualifications gained from outside the UK, or a combination of qualifications and/or experience that is equivalent to a relevant UK degree may be accepted. In both cases, it will be necessary to ascertain whether these qualifications can be equated to an honours degree, and at what level.

Eligibility for +3 studentships

The framework allows DTCs to determine which of their accredited funding structures is most appropriate for individual students based on their skills and prior research training. We expect that applicants embarking on a +3 programme would have achieved a level of research training that would allow them to proceed directly to a PhD. This is usually through the attainment of a previous masters qualification.

Further Information

For further details about residential and academic eligibility requirements please see the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide. If you have any queries about your eligibility for an ESRC-funded studentship please contact the nominated contact at the Doctoral Training Centre where you wish to apply.

You can also find details of previously recognised departments and outlets.