Our Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarships for Research Excellence offer seven eligible applicants the opportunity to join our Doctoral Academy community for 3 years on a full-time basis.

Please note, applications for the 2019 Vice-Chancellor's International Scholarship for Research Excellence have now closed.

The Scholarship includes tuition fees, an annual stipend (in line with UKRI rates, updated annually and currently at £14,777 for 2018/19) for three years, and your academic School will also contribute towards research costs. The first quarterly stipend payment will be made available shortly after your course commences.

Awards will be made to the highest quality candidates with the potential to become outstanding researchers. This will have to be demonstrated through your academic achievements, research preparedness and a clear understanding of the significance of your research area.

We are currently seeking applicants who plan to commence their PhD in the 2019/20 academic year – preferably with an October 2019 start. Applications are now open and guidance on how to apply can be found below.

How to apply

There is no separate scholarship application form. You should apply for your chosen PhD programme via the University's online application form by 7 January 2019. You may apply with a research proposal that has been advertised by the supervisory team or your own proposal. It is advisable that you make contact with your potential School and supervisory team beforehand.

To be considered for the scholarship, you must fulfill eligibility and ensure you complete the University's application form and:

• attach an academic CV (guidance on creating an effective CV)
• ensure their Personal Statement gives a strong statement of their research interest, preparation and understanding of the research context and significance (guidance on writing a statement of academic research interest)
• in the research section, when asked “Are you self-funding your research?*”, select “No, I am not self-funding my research”
• when asked “Please provide the name of the funding you are applying for”, insert  “V-C’s International Scholarship for Research Excellence”.

If you have already submitted an application to the University, please contact your School’s postgraduate administrator/admissions team, to let them know you wish to be considered for the Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship for Research Excellence.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the scholarship you must be a national of (or permanently domiciled in) a country in the lower middle income and below on the 2017 OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list or Namibia (as part of the University’s continued engagement and education partnership activities in Namibia).

You must also:

• be liable to pay overseas tuition fees
• not have been awarded another scholarship covering both tuition fees and stipend.

For ease of reference, the list of eligible countries is repeated below:

The awards are available to support applicants to our full-time PhD programmes (excluding clinical courses). They cannot be awarded to students undertaking research on a part-time or distance-learning basis and are not available for any other types of research degree. Continued eligibility for the Scholarship is dependent on satisfactory academic progress.

Selection process

After the deadline, each of our academic Schools will nominate up to two applicants to a University panel. The School and University Panel will review nominees based on:

1. their academic qualifications and achievements
2. their level of preparedness for the research programme, which may include their technical and/or research skills, their research and/or professional experience
3. their understanding of the research context for, and the significance of, their proposed or advertised project.

The panel will assess the School nomination form, the academic CV and personal statement. For eligibility purposes, nominees will be made an ‘offer of study’ (conditional or unconditional) at Cardiff University - this does not mean an ‘offer of funding’ has been made.

Candidates demonstrating the highest research potential will be selected for a Scholarship, and all applicants will be informed of the outcome by 15 March 2019.

Further information and contacts

For more information about our Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarships for Research Excellence please contact:

Follow the links below for further information on:

• How to apply for a Postgraduate programme
• Visa requirements
• Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)