Fees and Funding
Postgraduate Students in Philosophy at Cambridge are funded from a considerable variety of sources.
Candidates who are offered a place and have indicated on their application that they wish to apply for funding are put forward by the Faculty to the University's funding competition. You can read more about how this works here.
It is possible for students who are not nominated to be successful in finding funding sources outside of the Faculty’s nominations, such as college awards. Applicants are strongly advised to consult the Cambridge Postgraduate Admissions webpage, which provides further details and more guidance through what is potentially a complex and confusing field. Students are encouraged to use the Cambridge Student Funding Search, which provides the most comprehensive overview of the funding opportunities available to applicants.
The Faculty also puts forward nominations for PhD applicants to be considered for AHRC funding.
Sources of Funding
Listed below are some of the main sources of funding available to incoming students. Some of these offer fully funded studentships, while others offer lesser but still useful contributions towards the total cost.
Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP Studentships
The Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership offers AHRC-funded studentships for PhD study in the arts and humanities. The studentships are open to applicants from the UK, European Union and overseas. The Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP offers at least 77 studentships each year, across the range of arts and humanities subject areas. In addition to funding for fees and living costs (depending on eligibility), OOC DTP students benefit from being able to access a variety of other funding sources and a wide range of training available at the three partner universities. Please see the following website for more information: https://www.oocdtp.ac.uk/
These awards provide payment of university fees up to the 'home' rate throughout the funded period. Any prospective doctoral student wishing to study at a UK research organisation, including international students, is eligible for studentship funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), including the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Awards to international students are limited, however, and will not normally exceed 30% of the total awards in any one year.
All UKRI-funded doctoral students are eligible for a full award, comprising a stipend to support living costs and fees up to the home rate. The DTP partners will cover the gap between the home and overseas fee rates for international students.
To apply for an award please make this clear on your application form.
For advice on whether to apply you may contact the Director of Postgraduate Admissions, via the Postgraduate Secretary
Grants from the University of Cambridge
Vice-Chancellor’s Awards & Cambridge International Scholarships
On behalf of the University, the Cambridge Trust offers the Vice-Chancellor's Awards (for UK and EU students) and the Cambridge International Scholarships (for international students) for those undertaking PhD studies.
The aim of the Vice-Chancellor's Awards and Cambridge International Scholarships is to ensure that the highest scored students, irrespective of nationality, receive full financial support to undertake research leading to a PhD. The Scholarships pay the University Composition Fee and a maintenance allowance sufficient for a single person (note application deadline of 1st December 2022).
Grants from the Cambridge Trusts
The funding opportunities detailed in this section are not available to UK students.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme was established in October 2000 by a donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge; this is the largest ever single donation to a UK university.
Each year Gates Cambridge offers c.80 full-cost scholarships to outstanding applicants from countries outside the UK to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. Approximately two-thirds of these awards will be offered to PhD students, with approximately 25 awards available in the US round and 55 available in the International round.
Please consult the Gates website before writing your statement since the criteria for a Gates Scholarship are not purely academic. You are encouraged to contact the Director of Postgraduate Admissions, via the Postgraduate Secretary, for advice on whether to apply and what to include in your statement.
Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust
The Cambridge Trust is a major source of funding to scholars at Cambridge and offers a number of scholarships for postgraduate students. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship from the Trust, you must complete the funding section of the online application form via the Applicant Portal expressing your wish to be considered for funding and give details of the scholarships for which you wish to be considered.
Jacobsen Fellowships and Royal Institute of Philosophy Bursaries
Fellowships of £8,000 and bursaries of £3,000, each for one year, are available to postgraduates who have already completed one year of postgraduate work.
Burney Studentship and Fund
Research students working in the philosophy of religion may apply for the Burney Studentship or smaller grants from the fund. The studentship is tenable for one year, but a student may be re-elected once.
Faculty of Philosophy
The Faculty has several of its own awards for which all candidates who apply by the December deadline will be considered. The number and value of these awards varies from year to year, but last year we offered five MPhil awards of slightly over £4000 each.
Studentships offered by colleges
Conditions of eligibility, methods of application and closing dates vary widely. Applicants are urged to consult the Cambridge Student Funding Search for details. The following colleges usually or always offer some full cost studentships:
Christ's, Clare Hall, Corpus Christi, Darwin, Downing, Emmanuel, Girton, King's, Magdalene, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, St John's, Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, Trinity, Trinity Hall.
DH Mellor Cambridge Trust Philosophy Studentships
Darwin College offers annually, by competition, one fully-funded PhD Philosophy Studentship and two Masters Philosophy studentships of up to £12,000 to students commencing graduate work in the Faculty of Philosophy. Other things being equal, preference will be given to UK students. The award is for students to study at Darwin College. Applications are welcome from students applying to Darwin, or from students who, if applying to other Colleges, are prepared to apply to transfer to Darwin. No special application forms are necessary, and all those eligible will be considered from information contained in their original application to the University. The tenure of the award is for one year, but holders may be considered in subsequent years.
Onora O’Neill Studentship
Newnham College will offer annually a studentship of between £3,000 - £12,000 to students commencing Postgraduate work in the Faculty of Philosophy. Current first year Newnham PhD students can also apply.
Stephan Körner Postgraduate Scholarship
Available to female students who list Murray Edwards College as their first choice college
Murray Edwards College offers this scholarship to a student in Philosophy, Classics or Law, to assist in funding a full one-year MPhil and/or 3-year PhD course.
Teaching
Postgraduate students who are registered for the PhD may offer to undertake supervisions, i.e. small group teaching of undergraduates. This provides very useful experience for future job applications and also a financial reward. It is paid at piecework rates (currently approx. £28 per hour) and students may undertake up to six hours per week for the twenty teaching weeks of the year.
Postgraduate students also have the opportunity to lead discussion groups for first and second year students and to assist in the running of first year logic classes. Those who are near completing their PhD's may be invited by the Faculty to give a short course of lectures on the subject of their research. All of these forms of teaching provide excellent experience, useful lines on CVs, and are paid.
Fees
Students are liable to pay tuition fees to the University for each term of any degree course they undertake until the course has been completed or a prescribed maximum has been paid (e.g. nine terms for the PhD). In addition to tuition fees, students must budget for their own maintenance (including accommodation) and for the living expenses of any dependents who might accompany them. Although liability is incurred on a termly basis, colleges - who are responsible for collecting University fees - may require students to pay a full year's fees in advance.
General living expenses
As well as allowing for University fees, prospective students must budget for living expenses while at Cambridge. These vary according to individual needs and tastes; the cost of accommodation is a particularly significant factor, as private rented accommodation in Cambridge is more expensive than in many other British cities, and costs considerably more than college accommodation. Married accommodation may be more expensive. The cost of food, clothing, other personal requirements, books, stationery, and other research expenses, including the costs of thesis preparation, and of travel to and from Cambridge must also be budgeted for. Inflation must also be borne in mind.
In order to be admitted to the University of Cambridge, applicants are required to show evidence of funds to cover maintenance costs while studying. The Postgraduate Admissions website has a useful maintenance calculator, which calculates an estimate for your absolute minimum living expenses while studying at Cambridge. The calculator can be found here:
https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/finance
