UCL Research Excellence Scholarships (UCL-RES) fund outstanding new doctoral students at University College London. UCL makes 40 awards a year across all its faculties.
Each award pays full tuition fees, a maintenance stipend and research costs for the research period of an MPhil/PhD or EngD in London. Candidates from any country and any subject can compete.
Departments pass applications to their faculty, faculties send 120 nominations to a central panel, and the panel picks the 40 winners. The 2026/27 round closed on 9 January 2026, and UCL has not yet published dates for 2027/28.
Benefits & funding
- Full tuition fees at the Home or Overseas rate.
- A maintenance stipend for full-time study: £22,780 for 2025/26 on the central scholarship page, which lists the 2026/27 rate as to be confirmed. The UCL Laws page quotes at least £23,805 a year. Part-time awards are paid pro rata.
- Research costs of up to £1,200 per year.
- Funding normally lasts 3 years full-time or 5 years part-time, subject to satisfactory progress. Integrated doctorates with a standard length of four years are funded for a 4th research year.
- Payments start once the student is fully enrolled, and each further year depends on satisfactory academic progress.
Eligibility
- Open to any nationality; both UK and Overseas fee status are eligible.
- For prospective students only: the award holder must start on or after the round’s first permitted MPhil/PhD start date (1 October 2026 in the 2026/27 round). Anyone who started at UCL before that date cannot apply.
- A complete admission application to an eligible full-time or part-time MPhil/PhD or EngD at UCL must be in by the scholarship deadline, and awards go only to applicants who then hold an offer.
- Applicants must hold, or expect to achieve, at least an upper second-class UK honours degree or equivalent.
- Distance-learning and non-resident PhDs are excluded, as are the professional doctorates DClinPsy, DDent, DEdPsy (Brain Sciences), DOrth and DPsychotherapy. The EngD is eligible.
- Financial circumstances play no part in selection.
- No age limit or work-experience requirement is stated.
Can you apply?
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Application process
- 1Check the department’s own route. At UCL Laws there is no separate scholarship form: PhD applicants who apply by 19 November 2026 are considered automatically, and the Faculty contacts its nominees in January 2027 for paperwork.
- 2Agree a project with a UCL supervisor and submit a complete admission application to an eligible research degree before the scholarship deadline.
- 3Send the academic department UCL’s Research Scholarships cover sheet, a CV listing publications and awards, a lay summary of up to 200 words, and transcripts with grading scales.
- 4Ask two referees to send references directly to the department by the same deadline: one covering the most recent degree, one from the intended UCL supervisor.
- 5The department passes applications to its faculty, and the faculties send 120 nominations to the central UCL panel.
- 6The panel makes 40 awards and notifies applicants by mid-March.
Program timeline
Deadline for the 2025/26 round.
Jan 10, 2025
Deadline for the 2026/27 round (admission application, documents and references).
Jan 9, 2026
Mid-March 2026
Final decisions for the 2026/27 round.
Earliest start date for 2026/27 award holders.
Oct 1, 2026
UCL Laws PhD application deadline for automatic consideration in the next round.
Nov 19, 2026
UCL Laws contacts its nominees for paperwork.
January 2027
opening and deadline dates not yet announced; the scholarship page offers a sign-up to be notified.
2027/28 round