From 2009, the AHRC is changing the way in which it offers funding to postgraduate students in the arts and humanities, who are studying at organisations in the UK. The previous Open Competition will no longer take place; instead, funding will be available through two routes:
Block Grant Partnership Studentships - Block Grant Partnerships (BGPs) are awards held by certain research organisations for a period of 5 years, starting with students commencing their studies in October 2009. Each BGP will include a number of studentship awards and these will be advertised by the individual research organisations. The closing date for organsiations to submit their BGP bid was 2 September 2008, and the applications will be under assessment until the end of February 2009. A list of organisations holding BGPs, along with the subject areas in which they can offer studentships will be available on our website at the end of March 2009.
AHRC Studentship Competition - From 2009, research organisations that do not hold a BGP award will be eligible to enter postgraduate students into the Studentship Competition, which will operate in a similar way to the previous AHRC Open Competition. The Studentship Competition will be capped in terms of the numbers of applications an organisation can submit. The competition will have a closing date of 7 May 2009.
Organisations will have their own timetable for recruitment and/or short-listing for both schemes, therefore you should contact the institution at which you wish to study in good time to find out about their processes for selecting students to be nominated to BGP places or to submit a Studentship Competition Application.
Under both the BGPs and the Studentship Competition, awards are available for arts and humanities students to undertake Master's-level study or doctoral study at a Research Organisation in the United Kingdom. There are three schemes:
- The Research Preparation Master's Scheme provides support for students intending to proceed to doctoral study, who are undertaking a Master's course that will prepare them for doctoral study. We expect these students to gain a Master's qualification at the end of their AHRC award. Students who are initially registered as a Master's student, but who are proceeding directly to doctoral study without gaining a Master's qualification, should apply in the Doctoral Awards Scheme.
- The Professional Preparation Master's Scheme provides support for students intending to proceed to a career in professional practice, who are undertaking a Master's or Postgraduate Diploma course which will prepare them specifically for that professional practice.
- The Doctoral Awards Scheme provides support for students undertaking doctoral study. Students should apply through this scheme even if their initial registration is as a probationary student or as an MPhil student
All students will need to meet the eligibility criteria of both the scheme, and for the award they are applying for. Eligibility is reviewed annually and applicants should refer to the full guidance.
Block Grant Partnerships
Studentship Competition
Guide to Student Eligibilty