PhD studentships

About the project

Funding for PhD applicants is available from a range of sources on a competitive basis.

Follow the links in the table to find full details regarding eligibility, available finance, application methods and closing dates. Follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook and Blue Sky to hear when we have added new studentship opportunities.

Download our comprehensive guide to PhD study

Funding opportunity | Subject area | Application deadline | Availability

EPSRC Mathematics for our Future Climate Centre for Doctoral Training | Mathematics | Meteorology | Physics | 8 November 2026 (1st deadline) 10 January 2027 (2nd deadline) | Open to applicants worldwide

8 November 2026 (1st deadline)

10 January 2027 (2nd deadline)

Magdalen Vernon PhD Studentship in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences | Psychology, Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, or Clinical Language Science | 4 December 2026 | Open to Home/UK/Republic of Ireland candidates

Psychology, Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, or Clinical Language Science

Campbell PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations | Politics and International Relations | 10 December 2026 | Open to Home/UK/Republic of Ireland candidates

ESRC SEDarc Doctoral Training Partnership (social sciences) | Agri-food Economics | Development Studies | Architecture and Built Environment | Business and Management | Economics | Education | Linguistics | Geography and Environmental Studies | Politics and International Relations | Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences | Real Estate and Planning | Social Anthropology | 11 December 2026 | Open to applicants worldwide

PhD Studentship in Law or Criminology | School of Law | 8 January 2027 | Open to applicants worldwide

University of Reading China Scholarship Council Studentships | All disciplines | 11 January 2027 | Open to applicants from China

University International PhD Studentships | All disciplines | 15 January 2027 | Open to International applicants

AHRC Doctoral Landscape Awards | Archaeology | Architecture | Art | Classics | Cultural Geography | English Language and Literature | Film, Theatre and Television | History | History of Art | Law and Legal Studies| Modern Languages and European Studies | Philosophy | Political Studies and International Relations | Political Philosophy | Typography | 15 January 2027 | Open to applicants worldwide

University Sanctuary PhD Studentship | All disciplines | 26 February 2027 | Please check eligibility criteria

NERC Climate System and Biodiversity Science CROCUS Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) | Agriculture | Built Environment | Chemistry | Computer Science | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Geography and Environmental Sciences | Mathematics and Statistics | Meteorology and Climate Science | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

NERC AI-INTERVENE Doctoral Focal Award (DFA) in AI and Biodiversity | Computer Science | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Biological Sciences) | Meteorology | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership in FoodBioSystems | Agriculture | Biological & Biomedical Sciences | Chemistry | Food and Nutritional Sciences | Geography and Environmental Sciences | Pharmacy | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

BBSRC Engineering Biology EngBio4GBP Doctoral Focal Award | Agriculture | Crop Science | Food and Nutritional Sciences | Geography and Environmental Sciences | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

The Food Consortium Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award (IDLA) | Food and Nutritional Sciences | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

Earth System Prediction Doctoral Training Programme with ECMWF | Meteorology | Mathematics | Computer Science | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

NERC Net Zero Polar Science Doctoral Training Programme | Meteorology | Mathematics and Statistics | Computer Science | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to applicants worldwide

Henley Business School PhD Scholarships | Digitalisation, Marketing and Entrepreneurship | Finance and Accounting | International Business & Strategy | Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation | Real Estate and Planning | Please check the Henley Business School webpages for details. | Open to applicants worldwide

Felix Scholarships | Many disciplines | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to Indian nationals

University Centenary PhD Bursaries | All disciplines | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to Home/UK/Republic of Ireland candidates

Wilkie Calvert PhD Studentships (for part-time study) | All disciplines | Currently closed for applications. Please check back in Autumn 2026 for information on funding for 2027/28. | Open to Home/UK/Republic of Ireland candidates

ANID BECAS Scholarships | Any discipline | Please check external website for details about scholarships | Applicants from Chile

Doctoral Loans Apply for a loan of up to £31,122 for 2026/27 | All disciplines Full or part-time study, including by Distance | Ongoing | Open to UK nationals, Irish citizens and EU nationals settled under the EU settlement scheme

Doctoral Loans

Apply for a loan of up to £31,122 for 2026/27

All disciplines

Full or part-time study, including by Distance

School of the Built Environment PhD Scholarships | Architecture | Built Environment | Construction Management Engineering | Ongoing | Open to applicants worldwide

Department of Meteorology PhD Scholarships | Meteorology | Ongoing | Open to applicants worldwide

Alumni Discount | Current undergraduate and master's students at Reading Alumni of the University | Ongoing | Open to University of Reading alumni

Current undergraduate and master's students at Reading

Alumni of the University

Commonwealth Scholarships for PhD | Any discipline (see external website for further details) | Please check external website for details about scholarships | Open to applicants from low and middle income Commonwealth countries

Commonwealth Scholarships for PhD

Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowships | Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Awards in biological sciences are limited to interdisciplinary research between physical and biological sciences) | Please check external website for details about scholarships | Female applicants only

Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowships

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Awards in biological sciences are limited to interdisciplinary research between physical and biological sciences)

Marshall Scholarships | Archaeology | Climate, environmental sciences and sustainability | Food security | Human nutrition | Language, cognition and the mind | See external website for further details | Applicants from the USA

Marshall Scholarships

US Loans and Federal Aid | All disciplines | Ongoing | Applicants from the USA

US Loans and Federal Aid

Canadian grants, loans and scholarships | All disciplines | Ongoing | Applicants from Canada

Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund | Various | Please check external website for details about scholarships | Applicants from Canada

Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund

Inlaks Scholarships | Many disciplines | Please check external website for details about scholarships | Applicants from India

The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding | Web resource for candidates who have already applied to study at the University of Reading | Various | Varies depending in funding scheme

Arabic | Hebrew | Polish

Bulgarian | Hindi | Portuguese

Catalan | Hmong Daw | Romanian

Chinese Simplified | Hungarian | Russian

Chinese Traditional | Indonesian | Slovak

Czech | Italian | Slovenian

Danish | Japanese | Spanish

Dutch | Klingon | Swedish

English | Korean | Thai

Estonian | Latvian | Turkish

Finnish | Lithuanian | Ukrainian

French | Malay | Urdu

German | Maltese | Vietnamese

Greek | Norwegian | Welsh

Haitian Creole | Persian

• Please note that UKRI-funded schemes only provide tuition fee support at the Home fee level. International candidates would be required to cover the difference between the Home and International fees themselves in each year of study.

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Research areas