Bucher-Fraser Scholarship

About the project

One scholarship is available for PhD research programmes offered by the Reid School of Music.

Award

We are offering one scholarship for three years full-time study, open to new PhD students commencing study in September 2026 . The scholarship provides full tuition fees (Home or Overseas level) with an annual stipend set to the UKRI level for 2026/2027. The UKRI level for 2025/2026 is currently £20,780.

All scholarship award holders are expected to be energetic members of our postgraduate community, and will engage with opportunities to present their work to the wider student and staff body during the period covered by their award.

Eligibility

Applications for full-time study on PhD Music , PhD Creative Music Practice and PhD Musical Composition within the Reid School of Music will be considered. On campus and PhD by Distance applicants are eligible to apply.

If wishing to commence a new programme of study in September 2026 you must ensure that you have fully completed and submitted your PhD programme application for admission using the University's online system by no later than 19th January 2026.

Applicants must have submitted their fully completed PhD programme application in order to be considered for the scholarship.

• How to apply for postgraduate study

Applying

The deadline for applying for this scholarship has now passed.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Scholarships Systems FAQs for Applicants (152.11 KB / PDF)

Selection Process

Please note: the Personal Statement for your scholarship application should clearly state why you are applying for this scholarship, why you feel your research proposal best fits with subject area expertise and what benefit the scholarship will have for your research. We are looking for evidence on how the PhD programme fits with your career aspirations, how you plan to take best advantage of the opportunities on offer and we are also looking for your thoughts on how you might contribute to the research community within ECA. Please also consider the selection procedure criteria noted below.

Applications will be scored in relation to the following assessment criteria:

This is the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award assessment criteria for 2026: AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award - Assessment criteria for 2026

• Qualifications OR relevant professional experience
• Quality of research proposal, knowledge exchange, public engagement and impact (including academic impact)
• Preparedness for research
• Supervisory expertise and research environment
• Training needs, plans and provision

Notification

The ECA Selection Panel will meet in late March 2026 to review the scholarship applications. All scholarship applicants will be contacted with the outcome by mid-April 2026.

Please note: if successful in obtaining funding from any other University of Edinburgh or Research Council funding source, recipients must relinquish their Bucher-Fraser Scholarship.

Contact

Please contact the ECA Postgraduate Research Team – ecaresearchdegrees@ed.ac.uk – if you have any questions about the application process.

If you have an academic enquiry please contact the Music Postgraduate Research (PGR) Director – Prof. Benedict Taylor - B.Taylor@ed.ac.uk

The University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or withdraw any of the advertised scholarships, without notice.

Important

The University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or withdraw any of the advertised scholarships, without further notice.

This article was published on 2026-02-06

Research areas