Alternative Ways to Fund Your Studies
In today’s climate, it is increasingly difficult to achieve funding for postgraduate research. Many excellent applicants fail to secure funding every year, so if you don’t get funding, it does not invalidate your proposed research. But what can you do to pursue it?
At Warwick, we offer a supportive, flexible environment for postgraduate research, to ensure that as many excellent students as possible can study here whether they have achieved funding or not. If you hold a place here, we would like you to take it up and we hope that the following possibilities might enable you to fund it ‘without full funding’.
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Charities & Societies
There are many charities or societies offering some support for those taking PG study. Their awards will often be targeted by nationality, profession, or other factors, but it is worth persevering and thoroughly investigating charitable sources as there may well be one where you will fit the criteria – and as these are often very small organisations, they may be more flexible and responsive to individual circumstances than Research Councils. They are very unlikely to offer you complete funding, but you may be able to combine several awards and so go a considerable way towards complete funding.
Although they are often small awards, charitable organisations, foundations and trusts can provide a good source of funding for postgraduate students. We have listed a number of opportunities below, some have awarded students at Warwick sums of money in the past. Please remember you'll need to approach these organisations yourself, and this may require a letter, email or telephone contact.
- All Saints Educational Trust
- Anglo-Jewish Association
- Bernard Butler Trust Fund
- British Federation of Women Graduates
- Cancer Research UK
- Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
- Chizel Educational Trust
- Colt Foundation
- Douglas Bomford Trust
- Economic History Society
- Fenton Arts Trust
- Institution of Civil Engineers
- Institution of Engineering & Technology
- Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- Lionel Bart Foundation
- Perry Foundation
- Reid Trust Higher Education Grants for Women
- Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
- Royal Geographical Society
- Royal Historical Society
- Sir John Sumner's Trust
- Society for Theatre Research
- St Matthias Trust
- Universities' China Committee in London (UCCL)
- Whitworth Scholarships
Partial Scholarships & Bursaries
- Find a PhD £6,000 Scholarship
- Apply for a scholarship during your first year (PhD study only) - Many scholarships are not just to new applicants for PhD study, but also to those in the first year of a PhD course, in order to fund the second and third years. If you’ve been through the process once, could you learn from that to produce an even stronger application next time? Can you demonstrate new achievements since the last application – e.g. higher than predicted undergraduate or Master’s results, or a publication?
- Flywire Scholarship- providing eight $5,000 USD across social justice, global health, global citizenship, environmental sustainability
- Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund- The Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund (CCSF) award competition opens on Thursday 9 January 2025 for applications by Canadian students pursuing full-time, multi-year postgraduate programmes in any field of study in the United Kingdom. The deadline for applications is Friday 14 March 2025 at midnight. A scholarship award is for £5,000.
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G-Research PhD Prize in Maths & Data Science- Providing up to £10,000, open to final or penultimate year PhD students working in a relevant research area.
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Azrieli International Postdoctoral Fellowship- The online applicationLink opens in a new window is now open, and closes on November 19, 2025. This fellowship supports postdoctoral researchers from all disciplines to advance their work at Israeli academic institutions. Fellows receive a 14,000 ILS monthly stipend for a period of up to three years.
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Azrieli International Visiting PhD Fellowship- The online applicationLink opens in a new window is now open for the Spring 2026 cohort, with a deadline of October 27, 2025. This fellowship enables PhD candidates to undertake short-term research at leading academic institutions in Israel. Fellows receive 12,000 ILS per month for up to four months. Please note: Applications for the Fall 2026 semester will open in March 2026.
Both programs for exceptional international researchers. Please note that candidates for each fellowship must secure an academic sponsor in Israel before applying.
- Sainsbury Management Fellows Management Scheme-
This opportunity is for graduates of science or allied technology disciplines who have between four to ten years professional experience post-degree to apply for a management scholarship to study MBA. The scholarship scheme is administered by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). The deadline for applications is November 1, 2025.
Back to Funding for Applicants