Frequently Asked Questions

The application deadline for MGS DTP funding is 12:00 (GMT) on Tuesday 13^th January 2026.

We recommend that you submit an application for the relevant PhD programme no later than Monday 1^st December 2025. This will allow plenty of time for your referees to submit your references to the university's Admissions system before the funding deadline.

Remember that you must submit both an application to your university and an MGS funding application.

Applicants to DMU should note that their PhD application must be submitted by Monday 24^th November 2025.

You should apply for the relevant PhD programme at this stage. If your funding application is successful, DTP colleagues at your university will advise on making an application to the relevant Masters programme.

Please ensure that you read the Guidance Notes for Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP applicants carefully before you submit your application.

You should follow the steps set out on our How to Apply page.

All outcomes will be communicated to applicants by mid-April 2026.

You should use in-text citations, not footnotes. Any footnotes in your research proposal will not be taken into consideration during review.

No. We encourage applications from candidates in the final year of their undergraduate degree to apply, as well as those who have been out of education and have gained professional experience. Candidates without a Masters can apply for a 1+3.5 award, which includes a funded Masters in Social Science Research.

No. Only applicants who have not yet started their PhD are eligible to apply.

If you are having difficulties with the online application form, please contact esrcdtp@warwick.ac.uk.

If you have been able to complete the form but have had trouble with submitting your documents, please email them to esrcdtp@warwick.ac.uk before the deadline.

We recommend that you do not leave your application to the last minute in case technical difficulties arise. Please note that issues with your internet connection will not be accepted as a valid reason for failing to submit before the deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure that you allow sufficient time to complete your application, keeping any potential connection issues in mind.

Not at all. You can resubmit your application as many times as you need to. We will take your latest submitted version and ignore any earlier versions. We will not merge submissions.

No, applicants can only make one application via the Open Competition to the MGS DTP.

You can apply to more than one DTP, and you can also apply to any of our Collaborative or Strategic Joint projects, which will be advertised during January and February 2026.

If you need to make a minor change, for example, your email address, please contact esrcdtp@warwick.ac.uk with the details.

We will not accept changes to longer answers by email. If you need to update, for example, your personal statement, you will need to resubmit your application in full.

Ensure all information is included and details are correct when resubmitting an application as we will take your latest submitted version. We will not merge submissions.

No. Whilst you should make your PhD application by 1^st December 2025, we do not require you to have an offer in place by the deadline.

We require the offer to be in place by the date of our final awarding board in late March/early April.

Yes. Candidates who were unsuccessful in a previous year are welcome to make another application. We recommend that you liaise with your supervisory team and pathway contact to ensure that your revised application is as strong as possible.

Eligible applications are considered by subject-specific pathway panels first, and final decisions on awards are made by the MGS Management Committee. You can find the assessment criteria on page 11 of the guidance notesLink opens in a new window.

Yes. On the application form there are separate links which you should follow to upload your undergraduate and any postgraduate transcripts. Degree certificates are not required. If your transcripts are not submitted, your application will be deemed ineligible.

If you are in the final year of your undergraduate degree or currently undertaking a Masters, you should submit a provisional transcript of marks.

If you do not already have a copy of your transcripts, requests these from your institution/previous institution as early as possible.

If this is your situation, please contact the DTP at the institution to which you are applying as soon as possible to flag this, using the relevant 'General Studentship Query Contact' email address available on our Contacts webpage.

We require two references in support of your application. Ideally, these will be from people who can comment on your suitability for PhD study.

If you have been out of education for a long period, a reference from an employer is acceptable, but we would encourage trying to ensure that at least one of your referees can comment on your academic potential/suitability.

You should also check with the university to which you are applying to see if they have any specific requirements regarding who your references come from.

We would recommend that at least one of your references comes from somebody outside of your supervisory team. However, we recognise that not all applicants have a wide academic network, particularly those applying during an undergraduate degree, and so if your references are from your supervisors, this would not make your application ineligible.

We will use the references submitted to your institution in support of your PhD application. DTP staff will download your references directly from the Admissions system at the institution to which you have applied. These must be available by the funding application deadline.

Your referees will be contacted by the institution, not MGS.

Applicants to Loughborough University only should note that they must upload two references as part of their PhD application. To ensure that there is time to verify your references, you must do this by Monday 1^st December 2025. Your references must be verified by the funding application deadline or your application will not be eligible. To trigger the verification process, please email esrcdtp@lboro.ac.uk with your Loughborough application number once you have submitted a complete application to Loughborough.

Ideally yes, as there may be additional information from recent months which would be useful to include. If your referees are not able to upload updated references via the institution's Admissions system, please contact the DTP at your chosen university (Contacts).

Yes. Updated references should be added to your PhD application by the funding application deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure that the updated references are available. If updated references are not received, your application will be deemed ineligible.

In identifying your potential supervisors, you should search for academics who have already published books and articles in the area of your proposed research or in an area that is related to some of your key ideas, or who are using a methodology that could underpin your project.

You can also contact the DTP Pathway Contact for your pathway at your chosen university, who will be able to help you find appropriate academics.

No, there must be a minimum of two supervisors named in your application. If there is only one named supervisor, your application will be ineligible.

You must be based in the same School/Department as your lead supervisor. Your second supervisor does not have to be based in the same School/Department.

Yes, but this should be strongly justified in your personal statement and the supervisor supporting statement.

It may be a requirement of your institution that you have two supervisors based there, so please check this with your lead supervisor.

There is no money available through the MGS DTP for external supervision, so this would need to be covered through any usual departmental processes.

If your lead supervisor is unavailable, you can ask your second supervisor to complete the statement in their place.

We will not accept any late submissions of supervisor statements, so it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the supervisor is aware of what they need to do and by when. We recommend starting to work with your supervisors as early as possible to allow plenty of time for completing all of the necessary documents.

To act as lead supervisor for an MGS student, an academic must have previously supervised at least one PhD student to completion, as either lead or second supervisor. Please check with your supervisor that they meet this requirement. For the avoidance of doubt, we define 'completion' as the student having submitted their final corrections, not having submitted their thesis for examination.

If you submit an application with an ineligible lead supervisor, this will not make your application ineligible, but your supervisory team will be amended to ensure eligibility. This could involve a change of pathway if, for example, your supervisors are based in two different Schools/Departments.

Please see Step 2 of our How to Apply page, where there are links to each MGS institution. If you follow the link to the institution to which you are applying, you will find a list of eligible PhD programmes for each pathway. The School/Department where that PhD programme is based is therefore eligible to host that pathway.

Please note that some pathways sit in just one School/Department, and others span several.

If your research topic would fit in multiple pathways, please talk to your supervisor about which would be the most appropriate.

Please check our Eligibility Guidance for details on whether you can apply as a Home or International student.

ESRC awards cover tuition fees at the Home rate. Please visit our Eligibility page, where you will find confirmation of each individual institution's policy with regards to the international fee difference.

The MGS is not able to advise on visa queries, but the international student support team at your institution will be happy to help.

Aston's International Student Advice team: https://www.aston.ac.uk/current-students/support-services/international

Birmingham's International Student Team: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/international/index.aspx

DMU's International Office: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/international/en/international-office.aspx

Leicester's Student Immigration Advice and Compliance team: https://le.ac.uk/study/wellbeing/support-services#tablist1-panel5

Loughborough's International Student Support team: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/student-services/category/international-students/

Nottingham's International Student Team: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studywithus/international-applicants/visa-help/index.aspx

NTU's International Student Support Service: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/international/your-application/received-an-offer/applying-for-your-visa

Warwick's Student Visa Advice Service: https://warwick.ac.uk/study/international/visa

There is no support available from the DTP to support successful applicants with these costs.

We would recommend contacting your School/Department if you are successful in gaining funding to see if any support is available from your institution.