Funding is one of the biggest sticking points for people thinking about a PhD, and it often puts them off before they have even started. The landscape can look like a maze, with stipends, fellowships, fees and studentships all sounding vaguely similar but meaning quite different things in practice.
The good news is that, once you understand the main routes, it becomes far less daunting. In this post I will walk through the options, with links to relevant funders along the way. Three things to note before we start. First, this post focuses on PhDs in the UK; the funding systems in other countries work quite differently, so the specifics here may not apply if you are looking to study elsewhere. Second, this post focuses on prospectively-registered PhDs, where you register for the PhD before you undertake the research. This is by far the most common approach to completing a PhD, but if you are considering the alternative, a ‘PhD by publication’, please see this blog post instead. Third, my own background is in health research, so the advice will be most useful for those of you working in or towards a health-related field, although much of it applies more widely.
Two ways in, four ways to fund it
There are broadly two ways to do a PhD. The first is to design your own project and find your own supervisors. The second is to apply for a project that someone else has already designed and advertised, which works much like applying for a job.
Cutting across these two routes are four main ways a PhD can be funded:
- Full fellowships, which fund you at your current salary and cover your fees, research costs and training.
- Stipend-funded PhDs, which pay a tax-free annual stipend along with your fees and some research costs.
- Fees-only fellowships, which cover your tuition fees (and sometimes some research costs) but not your living costs.
- Complete self-funding, where you pay your own living costs, fees and research costs.
It helps to see how these four link to the two routes before we look at each in turn. Full fellowships and complete self-funding are almost always tied to a project you have designed yourself. Stipend-funded PhDs and fees-only fellowships, by contrast, can work either way: you might be awarded one as part of an advertised project, or through a scheme that still lets you shape your own.
Whichever route appeals to you, I would encourage everyone to sign up to FindAPhD and jobs.ac.uk and set up alerts. They are best known for advertising pre-designed projects, but they also list funded opportunities, both stipend-funded and fees-only, where you are free to develop your own topic, so they are a useful way to spot funding of all kinds that you might otherwise miss. With that overview in mind, here are the four funding routes in more detail.
Full fellowships: the big package. Fellowships are usually the most generous form of funding, and correspondingly the most competitive. They typically fund you at your current salary, and also cover your fees, your research costs and a budget for training and development. They are almost always attached to a project you have designed yourself, which makes them especially attractive for clinicians and other healthcare professionals who want to pursue their own research idea without taking a pay cut.
For health researchers, the obvious starting point is the NIHR, which runs doctoral fellowships for health and social care professionals. Many disease-specific charities run their own fellowship schemes too, such as the British Heart Foundation’s research training fellowships for nurses and healthcare professionals and Kidney Research UK’s fellowships and PhD studentships, which include clinical fellowships for nurses and allied health professionals. It is well worth checking whether a charity exists for your particular clinical area, as they often have schemes designed precisely for people in your position.
The trade-off is that these schemes are extremely competitive. Exact figures vary by scheme and round, and are worth checking on the funder’s website, but as a rough guide only around 20% of applications to NIHR personal and career awards have historically been funded.
The timelines are long, too. A strong application usually takes months to prepare, and you should then expect a wait of around six months from submission to a decision (the British Heart Foundation, for instance, advises applicants to allow six months), with the award often starting several months after that again. For these reasons, fellowships tend to suit people who already have some research experience behind them, and who are comfortable waiting a while for an outcome rather than needing to start quickly.
Stipend-funded PhDs. These pay you a tax-free annual stipend, usually set at the rate determined by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). As of writing (June 2026), the UKRI minimum stipend is £20,780 for the 2025/26 year, with the 2026/27 minimum announced at around £21,805. I would always recommend checking the current figure directly, as these rates are reviewed annually.
A stipend is usually less than a professional salary, but because it is tax-free and not subject to National Insurance, the take-home pay compares much more favourably than the headline number suggests. This route can work either way. Many advertised projects are stipend-funded, but some universities also advertise and fund stipend schemes that let you shape your own project, such as Manchester’s Bicentenary PhD studentships.
Fees-only fellowships. Some schemes cover your tuition fees, and sometimes a contribution towards research costs, but do not include a stipend for your living costs. Like stipend-funded PhDs, these can come attached to an advertised project or through a scheme you apply to with your own idea. The main thing to plan for is how you will support yourself day to day, as you will need to cover your living costs from savings, part-time work or another income. As always, read the details carefully so you know exactly what is and is not included before you apply. Equally, if planning to work part-time, check what time commitments are anticipated and how flexible the project is likely to be to accommodate your planned work hours.
Complete self-funding. This is exactly what it sounds like. You find supervisors who are interested in working with you, check the fees with the university, and apply for your project, paying your own fees and research costs. It is the most flexible route, but also the most financially demanding, so it pays to be realistic about the full cost before committing.
One thing worth knowing is that, even as a self-funded student, you can sometimes apply for grants towards your research costs from charitable organisations as you go. Disease-specific charities often offer small grants that can help cover the costs of running a study, so it is worth keeping an eye out for these throughout your PhD.
One advantage of self-funding is that the set-up timelines are usually much shorter than for fellowships. Because universities can make offer letters on their own time scales, decisions often come through in anything from a few weeks to a couple of months. Most universities also offer several possible start dates across the academic year, although October remains the most common and popular time to begin. This can make self-funding a good option if you are keen to get going sooner rather than later.
Be clear about what you want from it
Now that you can see the four funding routes, it is worth pausing to ask what you actually want to get out of your PhD, because the answer will strongly influence which one suits you. If your ambition is to become established as a leading researcher, it helps to view the PhD as one part of a much longer journey rather than the whole of it. In that case, it can make a lot of sense to take some time first to build up your CV, perhaps by volunteering on projects or working as a research assistant, so that you get a feel for what you enjoy and where you might want to focus. The period after a PhD catches a lot of people off guard; taking longer to build up to it can mean you arrive at the end of your PhD more ready to start developing as an independent academic in your post-doctoral season.
On the other hand, your goals might be quite different. If you mainly want to learn some core research competencies as part of a clinical or corporate career, and you do not intend to stay in research afterwards, then time may matter much more to you. In that situation, getting started sooner, without long waits for funding applications and their outcomes, can make a lot of sense, and a self-funded route may actually be the better fit. There is no single right answer here; the key is to be clear with yourself about where you are heading, as this will help you choose the route that suits you best.
Other things to weigh up before you apply
Look into preparation opportunities. If the most competitive schemes feel out of reach right now, it is worth knowing that there is funding designed specifically to help you prepare a stronger application. The NIHR runs Pre-Doctoral Fellowships and a Pre-Application Support Fund, which pay salary backfill to buy out some of your working time so that you can build a more competitive application for the bigger, harder-to-win schemes. There are also local and regional pre-doctoral fellowships available, such as those run by ARC Greater Manchester, which are similar to the national schemes and can also be a useful stepping stone towards any kind of competitive PhD funding.
Be honest about your time. A PhD is a significant commitment, typically three years full-time or six or more part-time, and it should not be underestimated. Before you apply, think carefully about what you can realistically commit to alongside your existing work and home life. Going in with a clear sense of this will serve you far better than being caught out later.
Talk to your employer. If your PhD aligns closely with your job, your employer may be willing to support some of the fee costs, or to release you for part of the week. This is easy to overlook, but for many healthcare professionals it can make the difference between a PhD being feasible or not. It is always worth asking.
Check your fees status. This is a big one. Many UK PhD opportunities are only open to, or will only fund fees for, applicants at the home (UK) fee rate. This can mean there are relatively few funded opportunities for international applicants, and research council studentships available to international students are capped. Fees status is not always obvious, though, as it depends on factors such as your nationality, residency and immigration history. If you are at all unsure, it can make most sense to contact the university’s doctoral admissions team (sometimes called the Doctoral Academy) first to establish where you stand before you go any further.
If you are an international applicant, it is worth knowing that dedicated funding does exist, even if there is less of it. Commonwealth PhD Scholarships fund full-time PhDs in the UK for applicants from eligible Commonwealth countries, covering fees, travel and a living allowance. Some universities also run their own fully funded schemes that are open to overseas candidates, such as Manchester’s International Partnership PhD studentships and its Bicentenary studentships, both advertised over the past year. The British Council’s Study UK scholarships pages are a useful general starting point for browsing what is available. As always, check the eligibility details carefully before investing time in an application.
A final word
The funding landscape can look intimidating, but it really does break down into two ways in, designing your own project or applying for an advertised one, and four ways to fund it: full fellowships, stipend-funded PhDs, fees-only fellowships and complete self-funding. Work out which combination fits your circumstances, be honest with yourself about the commitment, and check the eligibility details before you get too far down the road. Funder schemes, deadlines and stipend rates change from year to year, so always confirm the current details on the relevant website. A PhD is a big undertaking, but with the right funding in place it is a hugely rewarding one, and there are more routes in than most people realise.
