We support the doctoral candidates of today to become the researchers, innovators and leaders of the future.
Choose to study on a research programme with us and from day one, you'll benefit from high-quality facilities, and support from our experienced, research-active supervisors.
Most of our fully funded Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarships have now closed for 2025/6. Physical Profiling for Golfers with Disabilities is still open for applications until 31 March 2025.
If you've been shortlisted for one of the previously listed projects, we will contact you in the week commencing 7 April. Interviews will be held between 23 April and 7 May.
You should have (or expect to achieve) a 2:1 or above Bachelor's degree in a cognate discipline. A Master's degree in a relevant subject is desirable.
You’ll need to be prepared to study on a full-time basis at our Cambridge or Chelmsford campus, starting in September 2025. The location will be listed on your chosen project. You would be expected to live a reasonable travel distance from the campus during your PhD.
Our Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship awards are open to Home fee paying applicants only. If you are unsure of your fee status, please check the UKCISA website or contact [email protected]
Applications must be submitted through our online application portal. You will find a link to the form on each project page.
You will also need the following documents available electronically to upload them to the application portal (we can accept files in .pdf, .jpeg or .docx format):
You do not need to upload a research proposal with your application, only a personal statement is needed.
If you have any queries relating to the application process or the terms and conditions of the scholarships, please email [email protected]
To discuss an individual research project, please contact the supervisor(s) named in the relevant project description.
ARU is part of the Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA) in Future Societies, a nationwide postgraduate research training initiative from University Alliance – the voice of professional and technical universities. Projects that are aligned to these themes will become part of the DTA.
The Doctoral Training Alliance, developed by a group of Alliance universities, builds on our research strengths and industry-focused ethos and provides a structured-doctoral training environment to produce independent, highly-employable researchers with knowledge, expertise and skills in strategically-important research areas.
The successful applicant for this project will receive a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship which covers the tuition fees and provides a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for 3.5 years. For 2024/5 this was £19,237 per year. The award is subject to the successful candidate meeting the scholarship terms and conditions. Please note that the University asserts the right to claim any intellectual property generated by research it funds.
Download the 2024/5 terms and conditions (2025/6 terms and conditions TBC)