St Leonard's Widening Access PhD Scholarship

Value of award (per year)

The scholarship will comprise a full tuition fee award and an annual stipend paid at a rate set by the University of St Andrews. For 2025-2026, the stipend is £19,775 p.a., with an annual uplift published by the University each academic year.

The stipend will be paid pro-rata to part-time students.

The scholarship does not cover any continuation fees, extension fees, resubmission fees, or research training grant or another equivalent award for research expenses.

Duration of award

The scholarships will be paid for up to 3.5 years of full-time study, or up to 7 years of part-time study. It does not include the continuation or any extension period.

At what stage of my course application can I apply for this scholarship?

Apply after you have submitted your application for a place at the University of St Andrews. You do not need to wait until you have received an offer of a place before applying for the award.

Additional criteria

You must have applied for a doctoral/PhD programme at St Andrews.

Your programme start date must be one of the following:

• August 2026
• September 2026
• October 2026
• January 2027
• May 2027

You must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• been awarded a University of St Andrews financial needs-based scholarship at undergraduate or postgraduate taught level.
• been part of a widening access initiative* at the University of St Andrews (such as a Sutton Trust Summer School).
• attended another university for their undergraduate study and participated in a widening access scheme*.
• previously spent a period of time in care (e.g. residential care, foster care, kinship care).**

*Evidence of your attendance at this scheme must be submitted to pgscholarships@st-andrews.ac.uk by the scholarship application deadline.

**Evidence of care experience must be submitted to pgscholarships@st-andrews.ac.uk by the scholarship application deadline.

In support of your application, you will be asked to upload the following supporting documents:

• Evidence of your annual household income.
• University transcript(s), including interim transcripts for any degrees pending.
• Research proposal
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resumé.

Research proposal

For the research proposal upload you may use the specifications that are applicable to your chosen School. If you have already uploaded a proposal as part of your research course application, you may upload the same proposal again for the scholarship.

If your course application did not require a proposal, you may instead upload a personal statement outlining your reasons for applying to your chosen programme and intended research project. Mathematics and Statistics PhD applicants in particular should refer to the School's Application criteria guidance for the personal statement.

Household income

We recommend using the Financial Funding Tool to help calculate your household income before you apply for any needs-based scholarships. You can find this in Scholarships and Funding, Financial Funding Tool. You must also articulate a need for support in the relevant questions of the scholarship application form. 

Household income evidence must total the value stated in your scholarship application as total household income. Provide all relevant forms of income for the current or most recent full year.

Acceptable documents include: employment, wages, salary statements (most recent three months), tax certificates or returns, confirmation letters from department of work and pensions, letters from local government, FAFSA, Council Tax statement, Tax credits, PIP, DLA, dividends, pension, annuity. Where evidence is not available please provide bank statements or e-statements (most recent three months) to show receipt of income. Documents must be PDF or similar small file size format (maximum 2MB) and in English.

Sources for socio-economically disadvantaged areas: Scotland, England, London.

How to apply

1. Apply for your chosen course at the University St Andrews: Postgraduate research. Your course should meet the eligibility criteria for this scholarship (see above). After submitting your course application, you must allow up to three working days to receive login details for the My Application portal.
2. When you have received your login details, apply for the scholarship by logging into My Application, follow the links to Scholarships and Funding and then search for St Leonard's Widening Access PhD Scholarship in the Scholarships and funding catalogue.

Scholarship application form guidance

Terms and conditions

Please read the University of St Andrews scholarships terms and conditions (opens in new tab)

If you apply to this scholarship, details from your course application may be passed to the selection panel solely for the purpose of merit-based assessment.

When will I know the outcome?

The outcome of your scholarship application will be available on the My Application portal by early April 2026. Follow the links to Scholarships and Funding and go to View or continue my funding applications to see your application status.

If you are successful, you will also receive an award letter.