ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP) Studentships

What the WRDTP studentship gives you

You get a full PhD funding package for social sciences research at one of seven universities in northern England. It covers a tax-free living stipend of about EUR 24,000 per year (a stipend is your living allowance, around £20,780 at 2025/26 rates and raised each year). It also pays your PhD tuition fees of about EUR 5,800 per year (£5,006) and a yearly grant of about EUR 1,100 (£940) towards research costs. The funding runs for 3.5 to 4.5 years depending on your prior training, and you can study full time or part time. A three-month work placement is built in, and there is extra money for childcare and for overseas fieldwork. The money comes from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK's public funder for social science, through the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP). This is a group of seven universities: Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York.

Who can apply

• Level: You are starting a PhD in October 2027 and have not already begun one.
• Field: Your project is in the social sciences and fits one of the seven WRDTP themes, such as digital technology and AI, education and youth, security and justice, or health and wellbeing.
• University: You hold, or are applying for, a PhD offer in an eligible department at one of the seven partner universities.
• Grades: You have a good bachelor's degree (a UK First or Upper Second Class, known as a 2:1) or an equivalent international qualification.
• Where you study: Your PhD is based in the UK and on campus. Remote, online or distance-learning PhDs do not qualify, and you live within reasonable travel time of your university.
• Nationality: UK and international applicants can apply. No more than 30% of awards each year go to international students, so places for them are limited.
• Two special awards: Two Pathway awards are reserved for Black British students (Black or Black British African, Caribbean, Other, or Mixed Black), run with the Stuart Hall Foundation for research on race, ethnicity, cultural studies and structural inequality. International students cannot apply for these two.

How to apply

You do not apply to the WRDTP directly. First contact potential supervisors at a partner university. Then submit your PhD application and a separate WRDTP Studentship Application Form to that university by 20 January 2027, 17:00. Your university nominates candidates to the WRDTP, and winners are announced by 23 April 2027.

How realistic are your chances?

This is competitive. It is one of the UK's main public PhD funding routes, your university has to pick you before your application even reaches the WRDTP, and international places are capped at 30%. Your prospects improve sharply if you line up a supportive supervisor early and shape a strong project that clearly fits one of the seven themes and the ESRC's social science focus. The Stuart Hall Foundation awards are limited to two places, so a well-matched Black British applicant faces a smaller field but a very specific brief.