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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Alternative Guide to PG Funding FindAPhD.com jobs.ac.uk PhDs PostgradauteStudentships.co.uk

Funded Projects

PhD Studentship in Statistical Theory and Methodology

Department: Statistics

Description: Applications are invited for a PhD position supervised by Dr. Thomas Berrett as part of his 1.5M Euro ERC-funded project HeDiStat: Statistical theory and methodology for the combination of heterogeneous and distributed data. Applicants should have an interest and background in statistics and/or mathematics, though this can be interpreted broadly.

Eligibility: Open to both Home and Overseas applicants

Value: The studentship includes full coverage of fees, a stipend at the standard UKRI rate for 4 years, and access to a Research Training and Support grant of at least £5,000 to cover computing equipment and the costs of travelling to conferences and other academic visits.

Deadline: 5 June 2025

PhD Studentship

Title: Unravelling the sound underground: Detecting and estimating earthworm abundance using low-frequency vibrations (EPSRC DLA Interdisciplinary Scholarship)

Department: Statistics

Description: Emerging technologies have enabled the recording of substrate-borne vibrations produced by earthworms. There is a critical need to unravel the meaning within the data. As such, this interdisciplinary project will couple mathematical models of earthworm movement, stochastic models of the measurement process and designed experiments to improve non-invasive earthworm monitoring.

Eligibility: Open to Home applicants

Value: 3.5-year full-time scholarship to start in October 2025, including a UKRI rate stipend, full payment of academic fees at the home rate and a Researcher Training Support Grant of up to £5,000.

Deadline: 3 April 2025

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.

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.
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.

Student Loans

The government has introduced postgraduate loans which you can apply for if you are studying a taught or research postgraduate course, are aged under 60 years old at the start of the first academic year of your course, and normally live in England.

External companies offering loans - There are a number of commercial lenders who offer finance for postgraduate students. The University of Warwick is not affiliated with the companies listed below and we would recommend researching the full terms and conditions before undertaking any finance. Please note that these are not government loans.

Work and Volunteer Opportunities

Work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (PhD study only) - As a PhD student, there may be opportunities available to work as a GTA. Many departments employ PhD students to teach certain undergraduate modules.

Apply to join the Residential Community Team - At Warwick current postgraduate students are eligible to work as residential community assistants in our halls of residence. The work is paid at and includes an allocation of on-campus accommodation.

Work part time -Bear in mind part time work will need careful balancing with your academic commitments, whether you study full or part time – but Warwick is more realistic and helpful about students doing part time work than many other institutions. Warwick offers a huge variety of opportunities to work part time for the University, from cleaning jobs to working as a Research Advisor in the Wolfson Research Exchange. You can apply for jobs via our dedicated student employment agency, UnitempsLink opens in a new window. Unitemps can help you find temporary work both within the University and in the local area.

Volunteer for Warwick Arts Centre - Additionally, every year Warwick Arts Centre recruits a number of students as volunteer stewards. Whilst this work is unpaid, the stewards are given free access to see many films, performances and exhibitions, so if this kind of cultural experience would be one of your expenses, you could save on it by becoming a steward.

Other Support

Partner/family support - If you are a recent UG or taught PG student, bear in mind that academic fees for a PhD might be considerably less than you have paid for your previous courses: approx. £4,500 for a full-time Home student. If a partner or family member can afford to support your living costs through three years of study, could you afford to pay the fees from your own finances? You might also choose to study part time (see below).

Study part time - For more information on studying part time, see the relevant postgraduate study page.

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