Economic and Social Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship

Terms and Conditions 2024

Please read these Terms and Conditions thoroughly before accepting your ESRC DTP Scholarship. When completing the 'Accepting your offer' form you will be asked to declare that you have read and agree to these terms and conditions.

1. ESRC and University Regulations, Provision of Award and Enrolment

1.1
All studentship awards are bound by the terms and conditions of the ESRC as outlined the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide and the UK Research and Innovation training grant terms and conditions.

1.2
Both Home and Overseas students are eligible to receive a studentship comprising the payment of academic fees at the home rate and a maintenance grant. A recipient’s status is determined at the start of the award and cannot be changed once the award is made. Overseas recipients of awards have varying responsibility across the consortium for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates.

i. The majority of overseas recipients of awards at Aston University will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for the majority of recipients of ESRC funding.

a. The only exceptions are recipients whose offer is for an award in the College of Health and Life Sciences Research. These recipients will be put forward as preferred candidates for a Fee Scholarship from the university to cover the difference.

ii. Overseas recipients of awards at the University of Birmingham will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for recipients of ESRC funding.

iii. Overseas recipients of awards at De Montfort University will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for recipients of ESRC funding.

iv. Overseas recipients of awards at the University of Leicester may not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. Recipients will be put forward as preferred candidates for a Fee Scholarship from the university to cover the difference.

v. Overseas recipients of awards at Loughborough University will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for recipients of ESRC funding.

vi. Overseas recipients of awards at the University of Nottingham may not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. Recipients will be put forward as preferred candidates for a Fee Scholarship from the university to cover the difference.

vii. Overseas recipients of awards at Nottingham Trent University will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for recipients of ESRC funding.

viii. Overseas recipients of awards at the University of Warwick will not be responsible for the payment of the difference between the Home and Overseas fee rates. The university will fund the difference between the fee rates for recipients of ESRC funding.

1.3
Studentships will cover fees at the home rate and a maintenance grant, normally for a minimum of 3.5 years and up to a maximum of 4.5 years for full-time students (pro-rata for part-time students); the period of funding will be specified in writing by the ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership when the award is offered, and any subsequent changes must be specified in writing by the ESRC DTP. If the recipient does not complete a three-month placement during the period of their award (details in clause 3.5), the length of their studentship will be reduced accordingly and a +3.5 award would become a +3.25 award, etc.. If the recipient submits a thesis for final examination before the expected end of their registration, funding shall cease upon submission of the thesis.

1.4
The offer of the award is made on the understanding that recipients will be enrolled at the institution at which the award is held from the enrolment date as specified in the award letter or from an alternative enrolment date specified in writing and will then subsequently re-enrol annually. If a recipient has been made a conditional offer for doctoral study and has conditions still outstanding at the time of enrolment, then enrolment will be provisional until the conditions needed for full enrolment have been met. Provisional enrolment will enable the recipient to receive the award. However, if the conditions of admission are not satisfied within the first term of study the recipient will be liable to repay the amount awarded in full, on demand and without deduction. Acceptance of the terms and conditions of this award shall be taken as acceptance of the recipient’s liability to repay in such circumstances.

1.5
In accepting the Terms and Conditions of this award the award-holder is consenting to share their personal data with the ESRC and/or other Research Councils, and with DTP and Finance staff at your home institution and the University of Warwick for the purpose of administering your studentship. The award-holder is also consenting to their institutional email address being shared with the Pathway Lead of their Pathway in order to facilitate cohort-building and communications at Pathway level, and to being included in a DTP-wide Microsoft Teams site in order to facilitate cohort-building across the Partnership.

1.6
In accepting the Terms and Conditions of this award the award-holder understands that information about their research, including data submitted through the Je-S Student Details Portal (SDP) will be made available on the Research Councils’ web sites and other publicly available databases, including Gateway to Research, and in reports, documents and mailing lists. This will include the following data:
• Student name.
• Name(s) of project partner organisations and supervisors.
• Project titles and topics.
• Project summaries.
• Registration and expected submission dates.
• Numbers of students in particular regions, universities or departments in context of the Training Grant funding announced.
• Aggregated information regarding demographics, student numbers, stipend levels, qualifications, age at start, migration levels (from first degree university to another) etc.

Gateway to Research is a web-based portal https://gtr.ukri.org/ that publishes information about funded research that can assist businesses and other interested parties to identify potential partners in research organisations to develop and commercialise knowledge, and thereby increase the impact of publicly funded research. It provides better access for the research community, business and the public to information on research funded by the Research Councils and Innovate UK.

2. Additional or Alternative Sources of External Funding

2.1
The total amount of scholarship funding awarded to the recipient will not normally exceed the total sum of the academic fees at the home rate and a maintenance grant set at the standard UKRI rate. This does not include any additional funding offered by the ESRC to support research visits or conference attendance. The Partnership retains the right to withdraw all or part of the ESRC DTP award if a Home award-holder, or an Overseas award-holder at an institution where they are not required to cover the fee difference, obtains substantial alternative funding in excess of this total sum and to verify a recipient’s financial status annually through re-enrolment.

2.2
Overseas recipients who are required to cover the fee difference may obtain alternative funding to cover this difference, but the Partnership retains the right to withdraw all or part of an award where substantial alternative funding for maintenance in excess of the ESRC DTP award has been obtained. The source and amount of funding obtained by recipients to cover the fee gap must be disclosed by the award-holder, including any amount awarded by the student’s department. The Partnership retains the right to withdraw or reduce the award in light of any additional funding obtained which is greater than the standard UKRI maintenance grant.

2.3
It is a condition of accepting this award that if the ESRC DTP award-holder is successful in obtaining an offer of funding for doctoral studies at the university from an alternative source to an amount commensurate with normal ESRC DTP funding, they must inform the ESRC DTP without delay in writing of all the material facts.

2.4
It is a requirement of the ESRC DTP awards that the award-holder must not be in receipt of any other scholarship, studentship or alternative source of funding for doctoral studies which has not been disclosed to the ESRC DTP. Any award-holder remains responsible for immediately notifying the ESRC DTP of any changes to their funding arrangements throughout their period of study.

3. Student Requirements

3.1
ESRC DTP award-holders must make good progress in, and complete by the dates scheduled, all courses, modules, workshops or other activities required for ESRC DTP award-holders. ESRC DTP award-holders must submit any work required of them by the dates specified and to a satisfactory standard as determined by their department.

3.2

ESRC DTP award-holders must submit their thesis by the end of their funded period, which may be different to their registration end date at their university.

3.3
ESRC DTP award-holders will be subject to a review of their progress, which will be monitored on a regular basis.

3.4

Students must be resident within a reasonable travel time of the Research Organisation at which they are registered and we expect there to be frequent direct contact between the student and supervisor. This applies to full-time and part-time students. Geographical location is not an acceptable reason for students being unable to meet the conditions of their funding, including attendance at core conceptual training modules and induction events. If students choose to live further away from their Research Organisation, costs of attending mandatory events at another Midlands Graduate School institution will be covered up to the rate of what it would cost to travel from their home institution and reimbursement of costs of attending activities elsewhere in the country will be capped at the rate of what it would cost to travel to that location from their home institution.

3.5
ESRC DTP award-holders will be expected to engage with Midlands Graduate School DTP activities, both within their home institution and across the Consortium. Attendance at specified events may be mandatory.

3.6

It is mandatory for ESRC DTP award-holders to undertake a three-month placement during the period of their studentship (pro-rata for part-time students). The placement can be taken either within or outside of academia and either in the UK or abroad. Further details on requirements for a placement and the support available to award-holders from the Partnership are available on the Research in Practice website. Funding to undertake this placement is included as part of the award that has been offered and if award-holders do not complete a placement, their funding will be reduced by three months.

3.7

ESRC DTP award-holders will be expected to engage with their home department/school at their university and to adhere to their institutional regulations for study.

3.8
ESRC DTP award-holders must contribute to any research dissemination activities required of ESRC DTP-funded students or by their respective university.

3.9
The award is subject to the acceptance of the terms of this agreement and (i) the award-holder making an annual submission to the ESRC DTP of their Development Needs Analysis and Progress Review documentation; and (ii) the award-holder consenting to their name and submission being used by their university in a recruitment context, be it in the university prospectus, as online content or other; and (iii) the provision of a final report, upon the conclusion of the research degree.

3.10
ESRC DTP award-holders must record outcomes and impacts of their research via UKRI’s Researchfish reporting service, including completing an annual return to Researchfish. Submission to Researchfish is a mandatory requirement for all ESRC-funded students https://www.researchfish.com/.

Research Councils have a responsibility to demonstrate the value and impact of research and training supported via public funds and as such they are required to provide information on the outputs, outcomes and impact of the research they fund to government and public bodies. Award holders are responsible for providing this information via Researchfish, the online system the UK Research Councils use to collect all researcher outputs. Each award holder will receive details about engaging with Researchfish at the appropriate point of PhD registration and will be required to enter and submit data every year from this point until three years beyond the studentship period. Therefore, the award holder should make sure that contact details are kept up to date on Researchfish for this purpose.

These Terms and Conditions are issued by the Director of the Midlands Graduate School.