Current Student Funding

Doctoral College Research Enhancement Fund

Purpose of the Doctoral College Research Enhancement Funds

The Doctoral College Research Enhancement Funds support a range of research-orientated activities, the funding is there to provide opportunities for Doctoral and MPhil students to enhance your experience, develop your academic profile by presenting at key conferences in your field, enhance your networking skills and to develop your career prospects.

This funding is not intended to replicate school-level funding or be used to support your research project.

There are Doctoral College Funds to support activity in the following areas:

Travel and Conference Fund
Additional Training Fund
Internship Bursary
Knowledge Transfer Bursary
Career Development Post Submission Bursaries

There is also a small amount of funding available for those impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

You may also be interested in applying for a bursary which is a new opportunity this academic year.

Calls for Applications:

In order that potential applicants are provided with an opportunity to apply for support throughout the whole of the academic year, there is a published timetable of Calls for Applications.

The fourth call opened on the 1st February 2024 and will close at 2pm on the 19th April 2024. If you wish to attend a conference or event over the summer period you should submit to this call so a decision can be made in principle on your application and funding agreed.

A new call will be open to applications on the 1^st May 2024 for activities in the 2024/25 financial year which runs from 1st August 2024 to 31st July 2025.

Doctoral College Research Enhancement Fund

ESRC Impact Acceleration Award

Many of our social science PGR students are doing research with the potential to make real social and economic impacts. From 2024, Newcastle University’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Award will fund social science Impact Transition Awards every year to support the development of impact work in the post-submission period.

The awards are to support a project working with a non-academic partner that will advance and extend the impact of recently-completed PhD research.

Up to 4 months of stipend (UKRI rate at time of application), along with funding for activities is available. The maximum sum available for activities is £1500.

The first call for applications opened on the 1st February 2024 and will close at 2pm on the 19th April 2024.

PGR Led Engagement

The Doctoral College provides funding for PGR students to organise their own University wide events. In 2023-24 support was provided for :-

The Newcastle University Translation and Interpreting Conference 2023 which took place in December 2023 and centred around the theme of embracing interdisciplinarity and explored ‘innovative investigations in Chinese and English translation and interpretive studies. The event featured 18 speakers representing 11 universities across the UK and China and had over 50 attendees.
The PGR Community Hub which is a collaboration between the NUSU PGR Community Society, Doctoral College, Research Culture Team and HASS RED programme that offers a friendly and informal interdisciplinary space where PGRs from all faculties can come together, share ideas and make progress on their research. Events are primarily run by PGRs and designed to create a relaxed environment to share experiences and develop PGRs skills researchers.

Funding opportunities in Singapore

The University has an existing partnership with the Singapore based ‘Agency for Science, Technology and Research’ (A*STAR)

As part of the University’s PGR Strategic Delivery Plan, the Doctoral College has funding available for one PhD student per academic year, where they are interested in engaging in A*STAR’s prestigious Academic Research Placement Programme.

The A*STAR Research Attachment Programme is an excellent opportunity for current first and second year PhD students who wish to undertake a collaborative research project, spending time in Newcastle and in a Singapore, Government funded, A*STAR research institute.

Under this programme the successful awardee would spend one or two years at Newcastle University. They would then spend a minimum of one and a maximum of two years at an A*STAR Research Institute under the supervision of staff of the A*STAR Research Institute and Newcastle University.

Expressions of Interest to be considered as a nominee by Newcastle University are invited from Newcastle University registered first or second year PhD students and their academic supervisors by next internal deadline, 1st April 2024. Details of eligibility, funding support available, guidance and links to the webforms are available on the Doctoral College webpage.

There are also additional opportunities in Singapore working with SGInnovate which includes the Helix Immersion Programme, Summation Programme and Power X.

Doctoral College Parental Leave Bursary Guidance

The Parental Leave Bursary provides funded support for Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave for Newcastle PGR University Studentship Holders.

You need to be:

in receipt of a funded stipend on or after 1st August 2021
have no other source of financial support during a period of Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave

Further information is available here and any queries should be directed to doctoralcollege@ncl.ac.uk.