Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships

Our Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships

We're celebrating over 200 years of achievement in research-driven learning, development and innovation with our prestigious Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships.

This new £28 million initiative represents a major investment from the University to recruit and fund more than 200 early career researchers between 2025/26 and 2026/27, in partnership with philanthropic support.

As a Bicentenary Postgraduate Researcher or Research Fellow, you’ll contribute to the ongoing success of our University and the next two centuries of research excellence.

Programme applications

Key themes

We particularly welcome approaches that foster interdisciplinary research (a priority within our strategic plan) and build on our strengths to address major challenges across key themes:

• Digital and AI (including robotics)
• Environment and climate change
• Health inequalities
• Creative industries
• Open theme

Why Manchester?

We’re a world-leading university (ranked 35th in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2026).

1st in the world for social and environmental impact ( Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings).

26 Nobel Prize winners among our current and former staff and students.

93% of our research activity assessed as ‘world-leading’ (4) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3) (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Join our community

“As a Bicentenary Postgraduate Researcher or Research Fellow, you’ll join a thriving and diverse postgraduate research and fellowship community, and be immersed in a stimulating, ambitious and collaborative research environment across our three Faculties.

“You’ll have access to our portfolio of the highest quality training and support at every career stage, enabling you to develop and thrive in your chosen field.”

Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research Professor Melissa Westwood, Associate Vice-President for Research

Developing your career

Manchester is one of the best places in the country to establish and develop your research career.

We’re a global powerhouse of discovery and innovation, offer an unrivalled level of interdisciplinary research, and our research environment achieved a result of 99% ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’ in the last Research Excellence Framework (2021).

We place development and wellbeing of our researchers at the heart of all we do, with support tailored for both postgraduate researchers and fellows.

Postgraduate researchers

Our postgraduate researchers are the lifeblood of our research community, fostering research excellence in a creative, ambitious and supportive environment.

As part of our Manchester Doctoral College (MDC) community, you’ll benefit from being at the forefront of your field, with extensive development programmes and facilities designed to enhance your experience, enrich your skills and help you to develop in your chosen career.

Our stimulating postgraduate research environment is recognised and enhanced by external investment, with our Doctoral Training Programmes and Centres for Doctoral Training studentships receiving £100 million from UKRI and major charities.

More about MDC

Fellows

Our vision is to empower Manchester fellows with the skills to become the next generation of leaders who, in research, industry, or in any other career, will be ambitious in their research and leadership – asking original questions, uncovering new knowledge and inspiring others with their breakthroughs.

Join our thriving and diverse community of more than 100 fellows and you’ll gain access to both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary training environments and receive specialist support from our Research Services and researcher development teams.

We’ve held the HR Excellence in Research Award since 2011, recognising the support we provide for early career researchers through the Research Staff Concordat.

How we'll support you as a fellow at the University.

Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Join our mission to address the world's most pressing challenges in biology, medicine and health.

Pioneer the future of innovation and discovery and conduct groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research that has real-world impact on the lives of people around the world with one of more than 30 Bicentenary PhD Studentships and three Fellowships for 2026/27 entry .

Learn more and apply about Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships in biology, medicine and health

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Research your passion in the place where the atom was split, graphene was discovered and AI was born.

You could receive one of our 45 Bicentenary PhD Studentships, engaging in interdisciplinary research across the Faculty in chemistry, computer science, engineering, physics, materials, mathematics, and earth and environmental sciences.

Learn more and apply about Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships in science and engineering

Faculty of Humanities

Become part of a diverse community of more than 1,000 humanities postgraduate researchers exploring their life’s passion.

Our Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships for 2026 will support six PhD researchers as well as a number of early career postdoctoral research fellows across disciplines as diverse as business, arts, languages and cultures, environment, education and development, and social sciences.

Learn more and apply about Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships in humanities

£10 million matched fund for philanthropy

We’ve launched a £10 million matched funding programme to catalyse philanthropic support for the research talent of the future.

We’re matching every gift of £250,000 or more as part of this landmark programme. If you share our commitment to world-class research, we would love to explore opportunities with you.

Contact Olympia Kennard to begin a conversation: Olympia.Kennard@manchester.ac.uk .

Research areas