University College London (UCL) Research Excellence Scholarship 2027

UCL’s prestigious Research Excellence Scholarship (UCL-RES) aims to attract outstanding scholars to undertake doctoral research at UCL. For the 2027/28 academic year, up to 40 fully funded UCL Research Excellence Scholarships (UCL-RES) are available to exceptional applicants from any country. Applicants must be prospective UCL MPhil/PhD or EngD students starting on or after 1 October 2027. Current students who began their studies before this date are not eligible to apply.

Table of Content

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

Summary

• Application DeadlineJanuary 8, 2027
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorUniversity College London
• City to studyLondon
• School to studyUniversity College London
• Course to studyArts and Humanities , Engineering , Health , Life Science , Mathematics , Medicine , Physical Sciences , Social Science
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

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 2026/27, the stipend rate is £23,805?for full-time study (rates are calculated 'pro rata' for part-time students). For 2027/28, the stipend rate is to be confirmed.

The scholarship also includes additional research costs of up to £1,200 per year for the standard 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 an integrated doctoral programme with a standard length of four years, the award will be extended to the 4th year of research.

If awarded, funding begins at the start of the next academic year. For 2027/28 this is 1st October 2027

Requirements

To APPLY, you must:

• have submitted a complete admission application to an eligible** full- or part-time 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 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.

Selection Process

Step 1: Submit your Research Scholarships cover sheet directly to the academic department you have applied to.  
Please see the How to Apply section below for more details about this step.

Step 2: Each academic department is part of a faculty. Your academic department will submit applications to their faculty who will review them. They will assess the applications on merit, suitability of project proposal for the supervisors available, and disciplinary need. They will also identify the Research Excellence Framework (REF) thematic disciplinary area of each application. These will be one of the 4 themes below: -

Theme 1 – Medicine, Health, and Life Sciences
Theme 2 – Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics
Theme 3 – Social Sciences
Theme 4 – Arts and Humanities

Once this review is complete, each faculty will then nominate their shortlist to a central panel.

Step 3: The central UCL Selection panel will then make up to 40 awards from the shortlisted nominations from all UCL faculties ensuring balance between the thematic disciplinary areas. The panel is chaired by the Pro Vice Provost (Doctoral School and Early Career Research Staff).

Please note: Financial circumstances are not considered for the purposes of this scholarship.

Application Deadline

How To Apply

To apply for the UCL-RES, you must complete the following steps: 

Step 1 - apply for admission to UCL

You must submit a complete application for admission onto an eligible degree programme by 8 January 2027. 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 Research Scholarships cover sheet to your academic department

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 document to them. You can use this list of faculty and department contacts to find the contact details for your department. Please contact the administrator or your supervisor for guidance on where to send your application document.

For more information, visit University College London scholarship webpage.