Falmouth Doctoral Studentships

Whether responding to a doctoral project brief or submitting an idea of your own, you could be eligible to compete for a limited number of fully-funded Falmouth Doctoral Studentships as part of your research degree application.

Studentship opportunities

Falmouth University is delighted to be offering fully funded studentships for enrolment in September 2023.

These studentships represent an exciting opportunity to become part of a community of multi-disciplinary researchers committed to shaping solutions for societal change through research, innovation, technology, creativity and the arts.

Studentships comprise tuition fees at Home/EU rates and a stipend of approximately £15,000 per year (set according to UKRI indicative level), tenable for a period of three academic years. Please visit the UKRI website for the most up-to-date figures.

EU and international students are both welcome to apply. We also welcome applications for part-time studentships, and these comprise tuition fees and a pro-rata stipend for a six-year period.

Expressions of Interest (EoI) by 28 November 2022 (by 17:00 GMT) (it is not compulsory to submit an EOI, but it's a mechanism for obtaining feedback on your proposal ahead of submitting a full application).

Full Research Degree applications by 27 January 2023 (by 17:00 GMT) (online application form available on our How to apply for a Research Degree page).

Application deadlines for September 2024 entry: will be confirmed in Autumn 2023.

Candidate eligibility

Expectations of Falmouth Doctoral Studentship candidates

Falmouth Doctoral Studentships form an essential component for the delivery of the University's 2030 Research & Innovation strategy. As such, the alignment of funded doctoral projects to the strategy as a whole and to the priorities of Research & Innovation themes, programmes and departments is essential. In addition to the successful completion of the funded doctoral programme, students funded through the Falmouth Doctoral Studentship will also be expected to make an active contribution to the University's Research & Innovation community.

Falmouth Doctoral Studentship students would normally be expected to live within commuting distance of the University, to maintain a presence on the University's campuses and to make every effort to take a full and active role in their membership of the University's Research & Innovation community. This would normally include but not be limited to:

Full participation in the Research Student Development Programme events and symposia as outlined in the UAL and Falmouth Research Degrees Handbooks
An active role in student-led events
Full participation in wider Falmouth University Research & Innovation events, including workshops and workgroups, seminars, and training and development activities
A willingness to represent the University in internally hosted and external events

Project criteria

Studentships will be awarded on the basis of overall project idea, proposal and application quality, as well as strength of alignment with our research and innovation themes and programmes.

The following criteria will be taken into account when awarding studentships and places on our postgraduate research programme:

The quality, innovation and viability of your project proposal.
The alignment of your project proposal with Falmouth University's research themes and programmes.
The potential for your proposed research to have tangible positive impacts.
The contribution you are able to make to the Falmouth research community and your host department, in terms of both research and teaching.
The strength of your professional and academic profile, as demonstrated through previous study and/or professional experience.

We recommend you consider and address each of these points in your expression of interest and formal application when applying for a research degree at Falmouth. Full details of applicant criteria and project requirements can be found on our How to Apply page.

How to apply

The application process for funded studentships is built in to the formal research degree application.

You can apply to the opportunities listed on the doctoral projects page, each of which is aligned to one of our three cross-disciplinary Research & Innovation themes and one of our ten Research & Innovation programmes, or you can propose your own research project idea. If applying with an original research idea, it too must align with one or more of our research programmes to be eligible for studentship consideration.

There are three steps to the application process: pre-application prep, Expression of Interest submission and formal application submission, which includes the opportunity to apply for a Falmouth doctoral studentship.

Apply for a Research MPhil or PhD

If you have decided on one of the doctoral projects topics devised by our research team, or have a proposal of your own, you can follow our step-by-step guide to apply for your research degree here.

Apply now