AHRC Landscape Award Studentships at Birkbeck University 2026

The AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) at Birkbeck provides up to three fully funded studentships per year, over five cohorts, beginning in October 2026. 

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineJanuary 9, 2026
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorBirkbeck University of London
• City to studyLondon
• School to studyBirkbeck University of London
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

Awards will be offered for a minimum of 3.5 years (42 months) full time, with the opportunity to extend up to 4 years (48 months) to support individual student development opportunities, such as placements or additional skills development.

We encourage applications for part-time research. Part time awards are usually offered at 0.6 FTE part time e.g. a full time 3 years and 6 months award would be 5 years 10 months in length if chosen part time.

Doctoral projects must be designed and supervised in such a way that students are able to submit their thesis within the funded period, as designed at the outset of the project.

Funding and support provided

• Stipend: Calculated based on the annual UKRI minimum rate.
• Tuition fees: Calculated based on the annual UKRI rate.
• Research training support grant: This is funding to support research activity that is specific to an individual student’s research needs. This source of funding will be managed to support students within the AHRC-funded student cohort.

Regional training hub

AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award students will join a London and the East of England regional training hub which unites 12 universities to support students funded through the AHRC Landscape scheme. The hub will offer a core programme of skills training, cohort events, and development opportunities, complemented by shared and newly commissioned activities.

Training provided will respond to skills gaps identified through needs analyses and student feedback, with a responsive fund for co-created initiatives. The Hub will aim to foster interdisciplinary networks, embeds equity, diversity, and inclusion, and promote good practice among supervisors and partners. Its goal will be to equip doctoral scholars for research excellence and future careers.

Requirements

Residence criteria

AHRC DLA Awards are made on the basis of UKRI terms and conditions. Due to funder restrictions, most AHRC Doctoral Landscape Awards will be made to Home candidates; we are able to offer up to 1/3 of the available awards to overseas candidates.

Home fee status is determined when you submit your PhD programme application but to be classed as a Home candidate, you must meet the following criteria:

• be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
• have settled status, or
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

Both home and international students must be resident in the UK for the majority of their studies and any time spent overseas should be for the purposes of fieldwork/long-term attachment.

New doctoral student criteria

Due to AHRC conditions, students who have already commenced their doctoral study (i.e. current doctoral students) are not eligible for a Doctoral Landscape Award studentship.

Selection Process

The grading criteria will be used at all stages of the selection process. Where there are tied scores the following will be considered:

• Widening participation assessment
• Relevance to Birkbeck’s research strategy

How will preliminary applications be considered?

Preliminary applications will be considered by the School in which the PhD programme is based. Each School will be asked to provide a ranked and banded list of all applications, indicating any which are not considered to be competitive and why.

• Schools with more than 10 preliminary applications will be able to nominate their top 5 candidates.
• Schools with between 6 and 10 preliminary applications will be able to nominate their top 4 candidates
• Schools with 5 or fewer preliminary applications will be able to nominate up to 3 candidates

How will full applications be considered?

• Full applications will then be considered by a central College panel, Chaired by the DVC (Research) (or nominee), with membership representing the breadth of Birkbeck disciplines in remit to identify the strongest three candidates each year.
• College panel members will be selected annually to balance the experience of former members and introduce new representatives to ensure expertise and opportunity to contribute are coordinated.

Selection criteria: Scoring matrix

Application Deadline

January 9, 2026

How To Apply

Award of AHRC DLA studentships is a competitive process and applicants will need to succeed in each of the following stages. Further information about requirements for each of the following requirements is available in the following sections.

• Birkbeck PhD programme application deadline: Friday 9 January 2026
• Preliminary application deadline: Friday 23 January 2026
• Full application invitations: Wednesday 11 February 2026
• Full application deadline: Friday 13 March 2026
• College panel: Friday 27 March 2026

• Birkbeck PhD programme application

• Preliminary application form

• Full application form

For more details, visit Birkbeck University Scholarship webpage