Funding

How will I receive my maintenance stipend from my internally funded, ESRC or AHRC award?

Maintenance awards are paid directly into your bank account via Campus Solutions. Most awards are paid monthly. You must ensure you have input your UK bank account to your record. You do this by going into your MyManchester, choosing the funding portal and selecting the ‘Bank Account Details’ link.

• Guidance on adding your details so you can receive maintenance awards

You can view your maintenance award when you log onto self-service, choose campus finances then financial aid. When you log onto this service if you see a button to put on your bank account details please do so as this means that the University does not have these details on your record.

When you log on, if you cannot see your maintenance stipend or if it has not been set up as you expected, you need to let the funding team know as soon as possible HUMS.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk so that we can sort this out for you. 

Please note that payment of maintenance awards will automatically stop if you have not fully completed registration. Most maintenance awards also stop during periods of approved interruption.

You can find the award payment dates on Student Support website.

• Student Support award payment dates

I have not received my maintenance payment, what should I do?

You should contact the Student Funding Team in the Student Services Centre in the first instance.

• Student Funding Team

Early thesis submission

For students receiving funding administered/funded by The University of Manchester, please note that funding terminates at the point of thesis submission. Students receiving funding from external bodies should refer to their funder.

If you are undertaking approved fieldwork you can apply to the School of Social Sciences for a fieldwork bursary.

*** Please note: This scheme is not open to Research Council funded students. If you are funded by the ESRC/AHRC you apply directly to your funder for financial support for fieldwork, Difficult Language Training, and Research Training. Full information is on their website ***

The bursary is available to help you with the added expenses of fieldwork. Your fieldwork costs must entail a level of cost above and beyond the normal expenses of attending the University as a student. You cannot claim for normal research expenses such as transcription costs. The fund will pay up to a maximum of £100 towards the cost of purchasing goods (eg cameras/voice recorders).

To be eligible to apply for a fieldwork bursary you must:

• be fully registered on your PhD/MPhil programme of study.
• have applied to, or be in the process of applying to, all other plausible sources of financial support.
• be undertaking approved fieldwork normally for a period of not less than one week and not more than twelve months.
• your application should not be retrospective.

The maximum award payable under this scheme is £3,000 to you if you are a PhD student and £1,000 to you if you are an MPhil student. Successful applicants can submit more than one claim up to the maximum permitted.

Application procedure 2023/2024

The deadlines for receipt of applications to us is Wednesday 22nd November 2023, Wednesday 24th April 2024 and Wednesday 12th June 2024. A completed fieldwork bursary application form should be submitted by this date to your Programme Administrator. Applications will be considered by a sub-Committee of the School Postgraduate Research Programmes Committee and you will be informed of the outcome of your application approximately three weeks later.

Payment of bursaries is conditional on:

• you receiving formal approval to undertake the fieldwork - the procedure for applying to go to the field can be found on the Travel approvals, fieldwork and risk assessments page;
• you receiving ethical approval to undertake the fieldwork - the procedure for applying for ethical approval can be found on the Ethics, consideration and approval page;
• completion, where applicable, of  risk assessments and insurance forms - these are found on the Ethics, consideration and approval page above;
• submission of valid receipts (you should submit your receipts as you receive them, do not wait until your fieldwork has completed).

You will be informed by email of the outcome of your application by HUMS.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk

As award holder, you are responsible for making your own travel arrangements in line with University guidelines.  This means that you have to book travel and accommodation via Key Travel.  Before booking any travel or accommodation you will need to fill in a Pre-Travel Risk Assessment Form.  In liaison with your supervisor (line manager), you are required to complete a Full Risk Assessment if your travel does not fall within the School generic risk assessments.  If it falls within the generic risk assessment they will need to complete a SoSS Pre-Travel Risk Assessment Declaration.

All expenses are paid directly into your Bank Account via your record on the portal/Campus Solutions. When your award has been approved for payment you can view it when you log onto self-service, choose campus finances and financial aid. It is vital that you have inputted your bank account details onto your record so that payment can be made to you.   You can submit multiple claims and it is expected that you submit those claims within 3 months of having incurred the expenses.  Do not wait until the end of your fieldwork to submit your claims.

Key Travel is a specialised procurement system the University of Manchester uses to make academic transportation and lodging arrangements much more efficient and easy to arrange. Your profile details, which you only need to input once, will be imperative to any University-funded travel arrangements you need to make during the rest of your time at The University of Manchester.

As a doctoral PG Researcher with scope for conferences and fieldwork, we ask that you now please register with Key Travel by following the information below.

Step 1: Create a login

• Go to the Key Travel website select ‘New online user’ and enter your university email address and click 'Request new password'.
• Email Key Travel as soon as possible with your user ID should you have any technical difficulty procuring your login.

Step 2: Create a traveller profile

• Select 'Create your own profile'
• Refer to the Key Travel webinar if you are unsure of any details required to create your profile.
• Please note that the fields relating to 'Redress number' and 'known traveller' relate only to specific travellers to the USA.
• Please be aware that your preferences, for example, which direction you may prefer to sit on a train, may not be taken into account by all suppliers.
• Profiles can be viewed and edited by the authorised person(s) only. For example, arrangers will not be able to view your personal information.
• All profile data is encrypted and stored as per the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Information is only used for the purpose of each trip.

All the PG Researchers are activated on Key Travel with Standard access (look not book) and can follow the steps in the attached Getting started with key travel.

After you have created your profile, you can view all of the travel options available and send them to the PGR Office to book.

Instructions to book

1. View travel options (flights, hotel, and rail)
2. Select your preferred travel options and add to basket
3. View Basket
4. Share Quote - Once you’re happy to proceed with your selected options, send quote to soss-pgr@manchester.ac.uk by sharing the quote details you can find out how to do this in the full documentation.

• NB: Please note, you should obtain approval from the RTSG or Fieldwork bursary application process before proceeding with a Key Travel booking.

Postgraduate researchers should contact Key Travel on 0161 819 9797 for price matches if a cheaper quote is available on a different site.

You may be able to claim expenses from the PGR Support Awards fund. You should consult the information provided on PGR Support Awards and make an application if appropriate. However, please note that students are encouraged to apply for a PGR Support Award in advance wherever possible.

We cannot guarantee that an application for a PGR Support Award can be granted, so if you decided to pay for a conference and later submit a PGR Support Award application, this is at your own risk.

If you are granted a PGR Support Award and you need to claim back expenses, you need to submit a completed copy of the form below, along with all original receipts (photocopies or scanned copies cannot be accepted).

Completed forms and receipts should be submitted to the Doctoral Academy, room M16, Mezzanine Floor Crawford House or by email at Hums.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk.

• PR7 Non-Staff Expenses Claim Form

EPSRC DTP-funded students

For EPSRC DTP-funded students, your research training support grant allocation is indicated in the award letter. To make expense claims from your allocation, please contact your Department administrator in the first instance.

Additional funding and Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) 

ESRC NWDTC, NWSSDTP, Soc-B CDT, Data Analytics CDT, EPSRC DTP and School/Discipline Area-funded PGRs have access to additional funding and/or RTSG. Information about this is provided in your letter from the funding body. If in doubt, please ask your PGR programme Administrator.

ESRC-funded PGRs

For ESRC NWDTC and ESRC NWSSDTP-funded PGRs, please refer to the guides:

• NWDTC guidelines and documents for current students
• NWSSDTP guidelines and documents for current students

Additionally, please refer to the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide.

ESRC-funded PGRs are eligible to apply for Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) and other financial support including Overseas Fieldwork Funding (OFF) and Overseas Institutional Visit (OIV). Please refer to NWSSDTP website.

For Soc-B CDT, Data Analytics CDT-funded PGRs, please contact your school administrator in the first instance.

AHRC-funded PGRs

For AHRC NWCDTP-funded students, funding to help with skills training, placements, attending events, conferences, or going on fieldwork is available by application. Please refer to the NWCDTP website:

• NWCDTP funding for current students

EPSRC DTP-funded students

For EPSRC DTP-funded students, please contact your school administrator in the first instance.

Social Sciences School/Discipline-funded students

Please see the following guides as appropriate.

• SoSS PGR Research Training Support Grant Guidance and Form

Please ensure that you consult the Guidance Document that applies to you. If you are unsure of which applies to you, please email HUMS.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk 

Please note that AHRC and ESRC will not answer queries from students, administrators or academic members of staff directly - unless that person is the named contact for the University.

AHRC and ESRC funded PGRs

NWCDTP and NWSSDTP-funded PGRs are eligible for funding to support their research as outlined in the studentship offer letter. This includes Research Training Support Grant (RTSG), Overseas Fieldwork Funding (OSFW), Internships, Overseas Institutional Visits (OIV) and Fieldwork and Conference Fund, subject to eligibility. They must therefore apply for such support from NWCDTP or NWSSDTP rather than from the School.

• AHRC NWCDTP
• ESRC NWSSDTP

Further information including funding guides and contact details can be found on the Faculty of Humanities intranet:

• Faculty of Humanities intranet

Research council funded students should direct their queries to their School doctoral programme office in the first instance. 

ESRC NWSSDTP and AHRC NWCDTP doctoral studentships

PGRs in the first year of their doctoral degree may apply for ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership studentship or AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership to fund their second and third years, subject to eligibility.

To find out about the details of the studentships, eligibility criteria and how to apply please visit:

• ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
• AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership

The Norman Chester/Politics competitive doctoral research fund (Politics PhD students only)

This fund is specific to Politics postgraduate research students. The fund is designed to make a contribution to the cost of conducting fieldwork (or other research-related expenditure) or to the expenditure associated with presenting a paper at a scholarly conference/workshop.

• Download a copy of the Norman Chester Fund/Politics application form

Apart from funding provided by your School, you may be eligible to apply for other funding for different purposes such as research equipment purchases, research projects, conference attendance, study visits, institutional visits, exchanges.

• Funding for students with disabilities
• Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding
• The Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence PhD bursaries

Visit the Other funding opportunities page on the Social Sciences website for more funding opportunities.

Peter Goldie Memorial Fund (Philosophy)

The Peter Goldie Memorial Fund provides a yearly award of approximately £1000 to help fund either one or multiple Philosophy PhD students to undertake brief research visits or to present at a conference. This funding is for current Manchester PhD students only. Applications may be made via email to the Philosophy department's postgraduate research director by 30 November of each year, with a brief proposal of up to 500 words and a draft budget.

Childcare support

SoSS PGRs including PhD students in submission pending period and TAs are invited to apply for funding from this scheme to subsidise childcare or other caregiving, up to £400 when an overnight stay is required for attendance at a conference or training event (or similar). For more details visit our Making a Difference website.

PGR mobility grants

This award is designed to give postgraduate researchers the opportunity to internationalise their training, enhance their employability options, and build their international research links. Awards are designed to provide financial support contributing to travel and living expenses for the duration of the visit.

• Full details, conditions and how to apply

This fund is not intended to support conference attendance or field-work related activities.

The University of Manchester Living Cost Support Fund

The Living Cost Support Fund is a University scheme that exists thanks to generous donations from alumni and friends who want to ensure that no Manchester student is left struggling. If you are experiencing financial hardship, either as a result of the COVID-19 crisis or otherwise, please apply to us for support.

The fund is open to all students, regardless of level of study or nationality. It is open all year round and can award grants and loans to help you overcome financial hardship or unforseen expenses.

For information about eligibility criteria and application process, please see Living Cost Support Fund website. 

UK Doctoral Loan

If you’re coming to Manchester this year to begin or continue postgraduate doctoral research, you could qualify for a loan from the UK government. Please see eligibility criteria and how to apply on the website below.

• Postgraduate loans for doctoral students