Externally funded research opportunities

You could benefit from a PhD place, along with enhanced training and development, funded by one of the UK’s research councils.

Please select the ‘funding’ tab when you search our research opportunities directory to browse these opportunities and find out more.

Work experience, placements and partner collaboration may also be available through these routes.

Terms and conditions apply.

Doctoral Landscape Awards and Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs)

Doctoral Landscape Awards are replacing DTPs. However, the DTPs in the following list are still recruiting.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Landscape Award

Award holders will be members of an AHRC-funded Doctoral Training Hub across the north of England. This is a multi-institutional cohort of PhD researchers with extensive skills and leadership and professional development opportunities, including residential workshops, writing retreats, careers events, mentoring and an annual conference.

Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Landscape Award

Funded by the EPSRC, the Doctoral Landscape Award offers postgraduate researchers across the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences the chance to engage with our vibrant research culture and enjoy the benefits of our outstanding resources, including state-of-the-art laboratories, high performance computer facilities and one of the UK’s major academic libraries.

The Doctoral Landscape Industrial Award also provides funding for a number of industrially co-sponsored studentships.

Yorkshire Environmental Sciences Doctoral Training Network (YES DTN)

Funded through a Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Landscape Award, the Yorkshire Environmental Sciences Doctoral Training Network recruits up to 26 fully funded PhD candidates per year.

YES DTN is a collaboration of four academic schools across the University of Leeds and the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories of the University of York. We have strong links with a large range of partners from industry, government and charities. Partners are involved with the project throughout, including co-creation of the project and offer additional opportunities to postgraduate researchers (PGRs).

YES DTN offers a wide range of transferable skills training throughout the PhD programme. Our PGRs work in an inspiring research environment with experts in the field from two of the leading research intensive universities in environmental research.

White Rose Social Sciences DTP

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the White Rose Social Sciences DTP delivers excellent supervision, first class training and a vibrant intellectual environment across fifteen academic schools.

It enables postgraduate researchers to link with national and international networks of industrial partners, opinion formers, policy makers and academics and aims to produce doctoral graduates with outstanding skills and flexibility.

It also provides funding for a number of collaborative studentships with industrial partners.

Panorama Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) DTP

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Panorama NERC DTP spans the science of earth’s atmosphere, geosphere and biosphere.

Through high-quality research projects and training, we attract excellent postgraduate researchers into natural environment science research and train them for future employment and leadership, enabling them to contribute to environmental wellbeing and UK economic prosperity.

White Rose Mechanistic Biology DTP

Funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), the White Rose Mechanistic Biology DTP offers a four-year PhD programme in Mechanistic Biology, aligned with the BBSRC’s strategic priorities in food security, bioenergy and industrial technology, and world class bioscience.

It delivers regional PhD training that has interdisciplinary collaboration and placement opportunities, as well as the opportunity to engage with the very best molecular and cellular bioscience researchers.

Discovery Medicine North (DiMeN) DTP

Funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Discovery Medicine North (DiMeN) DTP is training the next generation of researchers to tackle the major health problems facing the population.

It has a focus on the themes of genetic influences on health, ageing and disease, and bioinformatics and personalised medicine. It aims to deliver training in stratified medicine, focusing on the best treatment for every patient.

Doctoral Focal Awards and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs)

Doctoral Focus Awards are replacing CDTs. However, the CDTs in the following list are still recruiting.

Doctoral Focal Awards and CDTs support studentships in focused themes with highly tailored training programmes. They draw on world-class and internationally recognised research from a range of disciplines and faculties across the University.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Creative Bridges Doctoral Focal Award

‘Creative Bridges – Connecting Diversity and Sustainability for UK Screen Industries’ is an AHRC-funded Doctoral Focal Award led by the University of Leeds with the University of Warwick. It will train PhD students in the latest knowledge, methods and skills for diversity and inclusion in the UK screen industries in ecologically safe ways.

The award focuses on the changes and innovations in film, television, gaming and immersive media, addressing industry demands for a vibrant ecosystem of creative livelihoods, developed through skills and research for sustainability and diversity.

PhD researchers will bridge expertise from media, communication, creative and cultural industries, design, performance, immersive technologies and interdisciplinary methodologies (within and across the universities of Leeds and Warwick) alongside our industry partners.

Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Future Fluid Dynamics CDT

Fluid Dynamics sits at the centre of our lives, the weather we experience, the products we use, the food we eat, cars we drive, medical care we receive all depend on fluid dynamics.

As a postgraduate researcher studying at the EPSRC CDT in Future Fluid Dynamics at the University of Leeds you will tackle fundamental and applied problems, with the opportunity to undertake cutting-edge multidisciplinary research.

Understanding Uncertainty to Reduce Climate Risks (UNRISK) CDT

Understanding Uncertainty to Reduce Climate Risks (UNRISK) is a CDT with fully funded PhD research opportunities at the University of Leeds, University College London and the University of Exeter collaborating with over 40 external partners.

UNRISK will train students with the multidisciplinary knowledge and skills across climate science, data science and decision science to tackle the pressing challenge of reducing the risks associated with rapid climate change.

UNRISK will fund 40 PhD students in cohorts of 12 to 15 per year over three years, providing them with a stipend, university fees and residential training for 3 years and 9 months.

Find out more about UNRISK projects.

Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0 CDT

Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0 is an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) CDT partnered with the Henry Royce Institute, of which the University of Leeds is a founding partner.

Fully-funded PhD opportunities cover fees, a tax-free stipend and a research allowance. Researchers will be trained in digital materials science, with projects that involve all aspects of Materials 4.0 and span across the Royce Institute research areas.

The centre will train more than 70 PhD researchers to become future leaders in Materials 4.0, with projects supervised by leading researchers and sponsored by industry.

Researchers will be based in one of seven UK Universities:

University of Leeds
Imperial College London
University of Manchester
University of Oxford
University of Sheffield
University of Strathclyde Glasgow
University of Cambridge

Visit the Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0 website.

Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) partnerships

We are also partners in the following Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) CDTs.

SATURN Nuclear Energy CDT led by the University of Manchester

This collaborative CDT involving the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and Strathclyde aims to work towards building the skills base needed to support the UK’s Net Zero targets.

Undertake a fully-funded, four-year CDT PhD and take your place among the next generation of nuclear experts.

Find out more about the SATURN CDT.

CEDAR Cyber-Physical Systems for Medicines Manufacturing CDT led by the University of Strathclyde

CEDAR aims to develop the way that cyber-physical systems can help make medicines manufacturing more sustainable, resilient and human-centric.

CEDAR will train 90 future leaders with the multidisciplinary skills essential for advancing next-generation, sustainable medicines manufacturing.

Find out more about the CEDAR CDT.

Other sources of funding

If you are a UK or EU postgraduate researcher, other sources of funding may be available from the UK research councils.

See the following list of websites for full details of the funding they offer:

You can then contact the school you would like to study with for information about how to apply.