White Rose College of Arts & Humanities - White Rose College of Arts & Humanities

WRoCAH AHRC PhD studentship

As a new PhD student, you will receive a tax-free living allowance (a regular payment to cover your living costs) of about 24,500 EUR per year (£20,780 for 2025/26), payable for 40 months. This covers the standard 36 months of the PhD programme, as well as 4 additional months for compulsory training. Your tuition fees will be paid at the ‘home rate’, i.e. the fee rate applicable to UK students. You may also apply for funding for conference travel, fieldwork, the organisation of events and language courses required for your research. You will become part of the WRoCAH cohort, a joint training network comprising the three universities. The scholarship is funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is jointly administered by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.

Who can apply

• Level: You are just starting your PhD or are, at most, on the first day of your second year of study in Leeds, Sheffield or York.
• Field of study: All humanities subjects (history, English studies, linguistics, music, philosophy and others), provided your project falls within the AHRC’s research remit.
• PhD place first: You have already applied for a PhD place at the university of your choice before applying to WRoCAH.
• Nationality: Applicants of all nationalities are welcome to apply, including students from the UK and abroad.
• International fees: As an international student, you will normally have to pay the difference between the tuition fee rate for home students and that for international students yourself. Each university covers this difference for some of its top international applicants (2 in Sheffield and York, 3 in Leeds).
• Diversity places: At least two scholarship places per degree programme are reserved for Black British applicants who pay home tuition fees.

How to apply

The application process consists of two stages. Firstly, you apply for a PhD place at Leeds, Sheffield or York and must be accepted by the department; this usually involves an interview with the department. You then submit a separate application to WRoCAH to apply for funding. The application deadline is once a year and closes in mid-March (14.03.).

How realistic are your chances?

Each year, around 55 scholarships are allocated across three universities, so competition is fierce. Your research proposal must first convince the department. Funding is restricted to projects in the humanities that fall within the AHRC’s remit, and you must already have been admitted to a PhD programme, meaning the pool of applicants is smaller than for fully open scholarships. If your project is compelling, clearly fits within an AHRC theme and you secure a place on the programme early on, your prospects are good.