Imperial President's PhD Scholarships

Each scholarship covers tuition fees in full for three and a half years, whatever the scholar's nationality, and pays a stipend of 27,036 pounds a year at the 2027-28 rate. It also gives 2,000 pounds a year for consumables in each of the first three years, for the materials and costs of the research itself.

The award applies to both full-time and part-time study. Scholars also join a programme of events and development opportunities run for them by the Early Career Researcher Institute, and have the same access to the College's postgraduate support and training courses as every other doctoral student.

The scheme is open to new PhD applicants only; students already registered for a PhD at Imperial cannot be considered. There are no nationality restrictions, although Imperial notes that some departments may not be able to support international candidates.

The academic bar is high: a first class undergraduate or integrated master's degree or its equivalent, or a distinction in a standalone master's degree. Special cases with extenuating circumstances can be considered, and Imperial encourages candidates who have come to research by a non-traditional route to apply.

Applicants must have found a supervisor who has agreed to supervise their research before they apply. A primary supervisor may supervise only one President's PhD Scholar at a time, so anyone already supervising a scholar cannot take another.

Imperial publishes a list of unavailable supervisors, faculty by faculty, across engineering, medicine, the natural sciences and the Business School. Check it before you approach anyone, and ask your department if a name you want is on it.

There is no scholarship application form. You apply for a PhD place through Imperial's normal online admissions system, and your department considers you for the scholarship on academic merit and research potential. Departments shortlist, the faculty scores and ranks its candidates, and a College Selection Panel of the Vice-Provost (Research), the Director of the Graduate School and the Faculty Vice-Deans for Research makes the final decisions.

Applications are considered at three points in the year. For 2027-28 entry, applicants who apply by 2 November 2026 hear by 31 January 2027, those who apply by 11 January 2027 hear by 15 April 2027, and those who apply by 1 March 2027 hear by 31 May 2027. Funded places start between 1 August and 1 November 2027.