PhDs in Astrophysics and Space Science

Studentships available and Eligibility Requirements

Both fees and funding opportunities are primarily dependent on nationality. Current fees for 20010/2011 can be found here,/a>.

Students from the UK or those from the EU who meet the residency requirements (3 years' full-time residency in the UK) are potentially eligible for a Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) studentship. Additional eligibility requirements for these can be found here. These pay UK/EU tuition fees and a maintenance allowance.

EU students who do not meet eligibility requirements still qualify for the UK/EU fees rate, but not the STFC maintenance allowance. In some circumstances departmental scholarships may be available (see the relevant departmental pages), but other funding possibilites are listed below. International students are subject to the higher rate fees listed above, but may also apply for the other funding schemes listed below.

The decision to admit self-funding students or not is made separately by each department. Note that students are still required to meet the academic entry requirements in this case.

Sources of funding for non-UK applicants

UCL Graduate School Research Scholarships (GSRS). These cover tuition fees at the UK/EU rate, and a cost of living allowance at a similar rate to the STFC studentships. Competition for these is very strong. Application forms for 2010/11 entry are available from the Graduate School here. Non-EU applicants require additional funding from the ORS scheme to cover the remaining cost of tuition fees.
UCL ORS awards. These provide funding to cover the difference between overseas and UK/EU tuition fees, and students applying for an ORS may also subit a GSRS application. There are more ORS awards than GSRS awards.
Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards. These are restricted to applicants from certain countries ("India, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and the developing world"). These cover full tuition costs and a maintenance allowance similar to STFC. Further information can be found at here.
The Graduate School has links to other potential funding sources.

Deadlines
Note that GSRS, ORS and DHP awards are allocated across the entire college by the Graduate School Selection Panel. While individual departments are invited to submit a shortlist of candidates, they have no formal role in the allocation of awards. This shortlist must be submitted to the Graduate School by their deadline of March 1. For this reason, overeaes applicants MUST submit their applications to the relevant department by 12 February 2010.