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UCL’s prestigious Research Excellence Scholarship (UCL-RES) aims to attract outstanding scholars to undertake doctoral research at UCL.
For the 2025/26 academic year we are offering 40 fully funded UCL Research Excellence Scholarships (UCL-RES) to exceptional applicants from any country. Both prospective and current UCL doctoral students can apply.
Please see our UCL-RES scholars’ testimonials to see how the scholarship has impacted our community of scholars.
Eligibility
To APPLY, you must:
- have submitted a completed admission application to, or currently be registered on, an eligible** full- or part-time eligible degree programme at UCL by the scholarship deadline;
- hold or expect to achieve at least an upper second-class Honours UK undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification.
To be AWARDED IF SELECTED, you must:
- be in receipt of an offer of admission to, or currently be registered on, a full-time or part-time research degree programme at UCL.
** PLEASE NOTE Distance learning, non-resident PhD and professional doctorates (DClinPsy, DDent, DEdPsy (Brain Sciences), DOrth and DPsychotherapy) are not eligible for this scholarship. EngD are not considered Professional Doctorates here and are eligible to apply.
Value, benefits, and duration
The UCL-RES scholarship consists of full tuition fees (either Home or Overseas) plus a maintenance stipend during the research portion of the programme which increases each year with inflation. For 2024/25, the stipend rate is £21,237 for full-time study (rates are calculated 'pro rata' for part-time students). For 2025/26, the stipend rate is to be confirmed.
The scholarship also includes additional research costs of up to £1,200 per year for the stated duration of the research portion of the programme.
Awards are made for the standard length of the research portion of the programme of study. This is normally 3 years for a full-time MPhil/PhD/EngD degree programme (or 5 years for part-time study), subject to sufficient academic progress. Please note the funding does not cover CRS/writing up year(s).
Where students are undertaking integrated four-year doctoral programmes, the award will be extended to the 4th year of research.
If awarded, funding begins at the start of the next academic year. For 2025/26 this should be 1st October 2025 (TBC).
Selection
Step 1: Candidates submit UCL-RES applications directly to the academic department they have applied to (or are currently enrolled in for current UCL PhD students). Departments then select a ranked shortlist of candidates to present to the central UCL Selection Panel for consideration.
Step 2: The central UCL Selection Panel review shortlisted candidates and make the final decisions. The Pro-Vice-Provost - Doctoral School chairs the panel which includes members of academic staff from a range of disciplines and faculties across UCL.
Candidates are assessed against the following criteria:
- Academic excellence - as demonstrated by past academic results evidenced by transcripts, awards, and referees’ comments
- Research Potential - as demonstrated by the candidate’s research experience to date, their enthusiasm for research, the research plan and its originality and potential societal impact
Please note: Financial circumstances are not considered for the purposes of this scholarship.
How to apply
In order to apply for the UCL-RES, you must complete the following steps:
Step 1 - apply for admission to UCL
The following instructions apply to prospective students only – current students already enrolled on their research degrees can proceed directly to Step 2.
You must submit a complete application for admission onto an eligible degree programme by the 10th January 2025. You do not need to have secured an offer of a place at UCL to apply for the scholarship, but you must have submitted a complete admission application.
Step 2 - submit your scholarship application documents to your academic department
The following instructions apply to both prospective and current students.
You must contact your academic department/institute/division/unit to notify them that you would like to be considered for the UCL-RES and submit the below documents 1-4 to them. Please note that your references (document 5) must be submitted by your referees directly to your academic department by the 10th Jan 25 deadline. You can use our list of administrative contacts to find out where to submit your application documents.
The mandatory documents are as follows:
- Research Scholarships cover sheet - download the
- CV – Please ensure your CV is up to date and lists all publications, past/current prizes, awards, and scholarships.
- A lay summary of your research proposal, in a Word or PDF document (max. 200 words not including title). When writing your research proposal/outline please note that the selection panel members are not likely to be specialists in your subject. Please describe clearly – in language which can be understood by academics from any discipline – the aim of your research, the methodology you will use, and the potential significance of this study to your discipline. It is extremely important that you pay attention to this summary and write in as clear language as possible as it may significantly affect the outcome of your application. The proposal should be written by you, not your supervisor or any other member of academic department staff.
- Academic transcripts - Please ensure you submit transcripts from all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes you have attended and that each academic transcript submitted includes clarification on the grading scale/range of grades possible for that degree.
- 2 References
Reference number 1 should relate to your most recently completed university programme/degree (or the one you intend to complete, if applicable). This can be the same referee who submitted a reference as part of your admission, however your UCL-RES reference must be submitted on the Reference Form 1.
Reference number 2 should relate to your current or intended research programme/project, for which you are seeking funding. This reference MUST be provided by your research supervisor at UCL. If you are a prospective student and your supervisor has not yet been allocated, please check the webpage of the relevant UCL department you wish to apply to and identify and contact a supervisor who has relevant expertise in your preferred field of interest.
Please note that Referee 1 and Referee 2 must be two different people. Please find below our PDF of guidance for referees. We suggest you provide your referee with a copy of this document when asking for an academic reference. References must be submitted directly to your academic department by your referee by the 10th January 2025 scholarship deadline.
All applicants for the UCL-RES who have an overseas fee status and are permanent residents of the People’s Republic of China will, if eligible, be automatically considered for the UCL-CSC (China Scholarships Council) Joint Scholarship. If you are a permanent resident of China and would not like to be considered for the UCL-CSC, please ensure you inform your academic department of this when submitting your UCL-RES application.
You must submit both a completed admission application and a completed UCL-RES application to your academic department no later than Friday, 10th January 2025.
Please be aware that some academic departments set their own deadlines which may be earlier than this date, so make sure you check with them directly.
We also have the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship for Cross-disciplinary Training (RXD) for current research students who wish to spend a year in another department acquiring new research skills.
Information for departments: Task Library: Nominate a research scholarship applicant (the Task Library will be updated once the guidance for departments is available for UCL-RES)
Results
The panel will meet in March 2025 and applicants will be notified of final decisions in April 2025.