We are always excited to hear from prospective graduate students. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Graeme, or one of the team, as early as possible if you’re interested in joining us! Here, you’ll find some information about what the application process involves, and specifically, how to make sure you can get funding to come here.
For both prospective and matriculated graduate students, the University Fees and Funding portal is an excellent resource. You can search here both for scholarship funding to attend the university, and for travel and research grants while studying here.
Applying for and funding your PhD¶
An application to study for a PhD at the University of St Andrews involves two components. On the one hand, you must apply to the University itself. You can find lots of information about how to do that on the University’s Postgraduate Research page. Acceptance here would be based on your suitability to carry out research in the School. Concurrently, you need to secure funding for your PhD and, as in many places, it is this latter process that is often the most challenging and competitive.
There are a few different broad categories of how PhD opportunities and funding for PhDs can appear:
Pre-funded PhD project through institutional or research funding. Occasionally, the ODyn group secure funding for a PhD studentship. For example, this could be through the University’s supervisor-led St Leonard’s scholarship, or as a component of a wider research project funded through a research council or foundation. These projects will usually have a well-defined scope for the research, and be advertised widely through the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and on the ODyn website.
Competitively funded PhD project. The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences is currently part of the Iapetus Doctoral Training Programme. Every year, prospective projects are placed online from supervisors in a number of different institutions. Interested students apply for these projects. If selected by the supervisor for their specific project, the student will then be put forward into a competitive selection process against the applicants selected for other projects. Ultimately, only a fraction of the projects will get funded, based on the quality of the applicant and their fit for the proposed project.
Scholarship funded PhD project. There are a number of independent funding opportunities for PhD scholarships. Some St Andrews specific opportunities are outlined here, or conduct a broader search here, and see some more details below. These funding opportunities usually have specific elligibility criteria, application and reporting requirements, and different deadlines. You would apply for these if you were accepted for study through your University application, but did not yet have a funding source established.
What to expect when enquiring about a PhD¶
The first port of call is to reach out to Graeme or one of the other group members. If you are able to, please send a CV, a university transcript from your undergraduate/masters study, and a brief description of (a) why you’re interested in studying with the ODyn group and (b) any specific topics that you’d like to study for your PhD.
If there are pre-funded projects available, or if the timing is right for an Iapetus project, you will be invited to apply through the University website and follow the relevant processes. This allows your application to be considered alongside others who apply for these competitively-funded projects. In that circumstance, a meeting will not usually be arranged prior to an actual interview following the review of all applications.
If your CV, transcript, and motivation are sufficiently strong, you may be invited to have a brief online chat to get a feel for whether you would indeed be well-qualified to study in the ODyn group. If that is the case, we can support you in your application for an independent scholarship (see further details below). This can be done at any time throughout the year (obviously while adhering to the scholarship deadlines) or in parallel to applications to pre-funded or Iapetus projects.
Funding a PhD through an independent scholarship¶
We will support particularly strong candidates in applying for independent scholarship funding. Here are some further details on these scholarship opportunities. Always be clear on the terms and conditions of different scholarships when applying or accepting the funding.
The St Leonard’s College World-Leading Doctoral Scholarships is a University of St Andrews in-house funding opportunity that covers tuition fees and an annual stipend. It is open to anyone, of any nationality, and studying any subject. For this award, you need to come up with your own research proposal. While the ODyn team can and will offer feedback, you need to be the ultimate driver of the idea and research plan.
Are you a student from the UK or EU? The AD Links Foundation Postgraduate Research Scholarships for UK or EU students will cover £10k per annum first to tuition fees and the remainder towards maintenance. A demonstrated interest in sport (particularly golf) is preferred but not essential.
Are you a student from Poland? The Gibson-Sykora Postgraduate Research Scholarship covers full tuition fees (can be used to cover maintenance costs if funding for fees is secured elsewhere).
Are you a student from China? The China Scholarship Council will sponsor your living costs (and the University of St Andrews will cover tuition fees).
Are you a student from the United States? The US-UK Fulbright Commission will cover tuition fees and maintenance.