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Faculty of Humanities

President’s Doctoral Scholar Awards

Each year the faculty receives an allocation of President’s Doctoral Scholar Awards. This is to support the most outstanding postgraduate researchers. For entry in September 2025, there will be 12 fully-funded PDS PhD scholarships for candidates as summarised in the table below:

School Number of awards
AMBS 3
SALC 3
SEED 3
SOSS 3

Value

The 3.5-year fully funded scholarships will cover:

  • Tuition fees at the UKRI rate (Home fee). Schools will be required to make up any shortfalls to support international tuition fee differences depending on tuition fee status.
  • Includes student maintenance stipend (at UKRI rate) plus a £1000 enhancement. Please note there will not be any £1,000 stipend top-up from the faculty budget.

Eligibility criteria

  • Schools may prioritise recruitment areas in line with the School’s PGR strategy which may include alignment with research strategy/beacons/institutes/centres, equality, diversity and inclusion priority or areas identified as potential growth.
  • Nominated candidates must meet the below academic criteria:
    • First class Bachelor's (Honours) degree (or overseas equivalent); and
    • Master's degree - with a minimum overall average of 60%. Please note that awardees typically hold an average of 70% or above (or overseas equivalent).
  • Nominated candidates alongside the academic track record must demonstrate outstanding standards, indicated by one or more of the following:
    • Outstanding professional qualification and/or experience
    • Relevant practical or professional achievement/prizes
    • Potential for research output, international collaboration, leadership or public engagement
    • Candidate’s preparedness for research e.g. motivation, critical and analytical abilities, and technical skills relevant to the proposed research

Award conditions

  • The award comprises tuition fees and a maintenance stipend at the UKRI rate + £1,000 stipend enhancement per year for either 3.5 or 4 years depending on the programme of studies. The submission pending period will not be funded. Where PGRs with International tuition fee status are recruited, the fee difference will be supported by the school.
  • RTSG will be what Schools normally offer their PGRs
  • The awards are highly selective, and the faculty is looking to recruit the best quality candidates therefore the selection process should be rigorous
  • Candidates will have been interviewed with discussions around their research and potential
  • Candidates can apply for any appropriate doctoral programme including professional doctorates but excluding DBA and those in receipt of other substantial funding/awards e.g., DfE, UKRI.
  • PGRs who have started their programme are not eligible.

Allocation Process

Alliance Manchester Business School

  1. Candidates eligible for PDS awards will be indicated in the candidate lists for AMBS School Studentships, provided to Division Co-ordinators.
  2. Division Co-ordinators hold funding interviews, and submit their rankings to the School PGR Director for approval. At this stage, the School PGR Director ensure that a number of AMBS School Studentship awardees meet PDS eligibility criteria.
  3. Once all AMBS School Studentships have been allocated and accepted, AMBS award holders who meet PDS criteria are considered for PDS awards, subject to approval by the School PGR Director. The AMBS School Studentship awards of highest ranked candidates are upgraded to PDS.
  4. The Humanities Doctoral Academy will provide amended funding letters confirming the increased stipend and PDS benefits.

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

  1. Applicants submit their programme application by Monday, 13 January 2025. Applications must contain all necessary supporting documents and indicate the intention to apply for a SALC studentship, in addition to AHRC NWCDTP and/or ESRC NWSSDTP funding.
  2. Applicants submit the completed AHRC NWCDTP Application Form and Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form to the Humanities Doctoral Academy via hums.doctoralacademy.admissions@manchester.ac.uk no later than 5pm GMT on Monday, 3 February 2025.
  3. Applications are circulated for review via the evaluation process. If you have a potential supervisee seeking SALC or PDS funding, please ensure to review their application in a timely manner. Applicants must hold a formal programme offer by the AHRC Pathway Representative nomination deadline (1 March 2025). If all approval has not been given by these dates, the application will not be eligible for funding consideration.
  4. All eligible applicants holding offers by 1 March 2025 are compiled into a candidate list, provided to the PGR Director for a joint ranking. Candidates who meet PDS eligibility criteria will be indicated in the candidate list.
  5. On 30 April and 1 May, the NWCDTP Studentship Committee takes place, and AHRC NWCDTP studentships are allocated.
  6. Following AHRC NWCDTP allocation, the SALC Studentship Panel is arranged by the PGR Director, and SALC Studentships, including PDS awards, will be allocated accordingly. The outcomes are confirmed to the Doctoral Academy Admissions team.
  7. The Doctoral Academy Admissions team communicates outcomes to all unsuccessful and reserve candidates, and issues funding letters to awardees.

School of Environment, Education and Development

  1. Applicants submit their application by Monday, 20 January 2025. Applications must contain all necessary supporting documents and indicate the intention to apply for a SEED studentship.
  2. Applications are then circulated for review via the evaluation process. If you have a potential supervisee seeking SEED funding, please ensure to review their application in a timely manner. Applicants must hold a formal programme offer by the ESRC Pathway Lead nomination deadline 17 February 2025. If all approval has not been given by these dates, the application will not be eligible for funding consideration.
  3. All eligible applicants holding offers by the above dates are compiled into a candidate list, provided to DCOs, along with access to all relevant application documents. Candidates who meet PDS eligibility criteria will be indicated in the candidate list. DCOs may then hold Departmental panels to determine Department level nominees. Nominees must be confirmed to the Doctoral Academy Admissions Team no later than date 23 April 2025.
  4. A list of all Department level nominees is then provided to the PGR Director for an initial joint ranking ahead of the panel.
  5. SEED Panel to take place, attended by DCOs, PGR Director, EDI representatives and Doctoral Academy Admissions. In this panel, the pre-ranking is discussed and studentships allocated accordingly.
  6. The Doctoral Academy Admissions Team communicates outcomes to all unsuccessful and reserve candidates, and issues funding letters to awardees.

School of Social Sciences

  1. Once all School of Social Sciences studentships have been allocated and accepted, a list of award holders who meet PDS criteria will be provided to the School PGR Director, Department PGR Directors and Admissions Tutors.
  2. Department PGR Directors and Admissions Tutors determine 1 PDS nominee per Department, to be confirmed to the School PGR Director.
  3. The School PGR Director then ranks the nominees, and the SoSS school studentship awards of highest ranked candidates are upgraded to PDS.
  4. The Humanities Doctoral Academy will provide amended funding letters confirming the increased stipend and PDS benefits.