Warwick Doctoral College PGR Scholarship Applicant Guidance

Please read this section carefully

The documents you need to provide, and where you should provide them, depend on whether you are a current Warwick student and the scholarship funding for which you are applying.

Applicants who are not current Warwick students

Please do not upload the following supporting documents directly to your scholarship application:

• degree certificates;
• transcripts; or
• references.

These documents will be taken from your linked Warwick course application, which is managed by Postgraduate Admissions.

The scholarship application asks all applicants to provide referee information. You will therefore see the referee section when completing your scholarship application. However, for applicants who are not current Warwick students:

• the scholarship system will not send separate reference requests to the referees entered on the scholarship application;
• references will be collected and managed by Postgraduate Admissions through the course application; and
• the references submitted for the course application will be imported for scholarship assessment.

You should advise the referees providing references for your course application that the references will also be used for scholarship assessment. References should provide relevant, evidence-based information about your capability, preparedness and potential for doctoral study.

Applicants who are Current Warwick students applying for China Scholarship Council funding

The only current Warwick students who should apply through the scholarship portal are applicants for China Scholarship Council (CSC) funding.

Current Warwick students applying for CSC funding must use the scholarship application to:

• provide details of their referees in the referee section; and
• upload any new degree certificates or transcripts that were not included with their original course application.

Only current Warwick students applying for CSC funding will have reference requests sent through the scholarship application system.

This reference process does not apply to applicants for any other scholarship. References for all other applicants are handled by Postgraduate Admissions through the course application process.

Current Warwick students applying for CSC funding should advise their referees that their references will be used for scholarship assessment. References should provide relevant, evidence-based information about the applicant’s capability, preparedness and potential for doctoral study.

Doctoral Access Scholarship: Sanctuary

If you wish to be considered for a Doctoral Access Scholarship through the Sanctuary route, you must upload evidence of an eligible Home Office status directly to your scholarship application.

Asylum Seeker

Please upload either:

• a scanned copy of your ARC, or Application Registration Card; or
• your most recent Bail 201 letter.

Humanitarian Protection, Discretionary Leave to Remain or Limited Leave to Remain

Please upload:

• a scanned copy of your current visa; and
• a copy of the Home Office decision on your asylum application, or other evidence showing that your visa resulted from an asylum claim.

Course application deadline

If you are not a current Warwick student, you must submit your Warwick course application by:7 December 2026 at 16:59 GMT

You should submit your course application as early as possible. Postgraduate Admissions cannot request your references until you have submitted your course application and provided your referee details.

Scholarship application deadline

You must submit your scholarship application by:10 December 2026 at 16:59 GMT

All required supporting documents, other than references, must also be submitted through the correct application process by this deadline. This includes:

• degree certificates;
• transcripts; and
• evidence of an eligible Home Office status for the Doctoral Access Scholarship through the Sanctuary route.

Reference deadline

All references used for scholarship assessment must be submitted by:21 December 2026 at 16:59 GMT

This is two weeks after the course application deadline.

For applicants who are not current Warwick students, references must be submitted through the course admissions process. References entered on the scholarship application will not generate separate reference requests.

For current Warwick students applying for CSC funding, references must be submitted through the scholarship application system.

We recognise that referees may need time to submit their references. However, applicants and referees should be aware that scholarship assessment begins immediately after the scholarship application deadline of 10 December 2026 at 16:59 GMT.

Applicants should therefore submit their course application as early as possible to allow sufficient time for Postgraduate Admissions to request and receive their references.

Current Warwick students applying for CSC funding should enter their referee details in the scholarship application as early as possible to allow their referees sufficient time to respond.

Problems viewing imported documents

In some cases, the following message may appear next to a supporting document imported into the scholarship application:

“There was a problem loading this PDF.”

Please do not worry if this message appears. It will not affect the assessment of your scholarship application.

Document queries

If you have questions about your documents, references or the documents held with your course application, please contact Postgraduate Admissions by:

joining a live chatLink opens in a new window; or

submitting an enquiryLink opens in a new window;

The Doctoral College cannot upload documents on behalf of applicants or accept supporting documents by email.

Assessment Process

Warwick Postgraduate Research Scholarships are highly competitive, with significantly more applicants than available awards. Applications are assessed according to how strongly they align with the Person & Preparedness and Project & Place assessment criteria.

You should read the full Warwick Postgraduate Research Scholarships 2027 assessment criteriaLink opens in a new window to understand how applications are considered.

The University does not use a numerical scoring matrix to assess individual applications. Instead, candidates are ranked according to their alignment with the assessment criteria, first by their academic department and then by their faculty.

Once the scholarship application deadline has passed, applications are considered through the following stages.

1. Academic department nomination

The academic department linked to your selected course will review eligible scholarship applications from candidates intending to study in that department.

Each department has a limited nomination quota and will nominate its strongest candidates. For each nominated candidate, the department will provide:

• a numerical ranking; and
• a contextual nomination statement explaining how the candidate meets the assessment criteria.

The nomination statement will consider:

• the strength of the scholarship application;

• the evidence provided in the references;
• the candidate’s capability, preparedness and potential;
• the quality, significance and feasibility of the proposed project;
• the fit between the project and the department;
• the suitability and strength of the proposed supervision; and
• how the proposed supervisory arrangements will enable the candidate to succeed during the doctoral programme.

Because faculties include a wide range of disciplines, faculty assessors place particular emphasis on Person & Preparedness. Academic departments are best placed to assess the detailed quality, feasibility and disciplinary alignment of Project & Place.

Faculty assessors will use the departmental rankings and nomination statements as key sources of evidence when comparing candidates across the faculty. They will also consider whether the proposed supervision arrangements and research environment are sufficient to support the candidate and project.

The faculty will provide a numerical ranking of its nominated candidates. A high departmental ranking does not guarantee the same position in the faculty ranking because candidates must be compared across a broader range of departments and disciplines.

3. Allocation panels

Final award decisions and reserve lists will be confirmed by allocation panels. A separate panel will be convened for each scholarship funding stream.

Candidates will be considered for all funding streams for which they are eligible, provided that:

• their academic department has nominated them;
• they have completed any additional statement required for the funding stream;
• they have uploaded any required supporting evidence; and
• neither the candidate nor the nominating department has opted out of that funding stream.

• the distribution of awards across constituent departments and faculties; and
• equality impact.

Being nominated by a department or ranked by a faculty does not guarantee that a scholarship will be awarded.

Receiving your application outcome

The Doctoral College will contact all applicants by the published offer release date. The outcome will confirm whether you have:

• been offered a scholarship;
• been placed on a reserve list; or
• been unsuccessful.

Please do not contact the Doctoral College to request an outcome before the published offer release date.

Due to the high number of applications received, we are unable to provide individual feedback to unsuccessful applicants.