£27,036 Imperial President's PhD Scholarship

Imperial College London will fund 50 high-performing graduates of any nationality through a 3.5 year PhD on a research project of their own choosing, starting in 2027-28. Each award pays full tuition fees and a stipend of £27,036 a year towards living costs, plus £2,000 a year for research consumables in the first three years. There is no separate scholarship form: you apply for a PhD place, select the scholarship option, and your department decides whether to put you forward, so you need an Imperial academic who has agreed to supervise you before you apply.

What you get:

• Full funding for tuition fees for the 3.5 years of the PhD
• A stipend of £27,036 a year towards living costs (the 2027-28 rate)
• A consumables fund of £2,000 a year for the first three years
• A programme of bespoke opportunities and events from Imperial's Early Career Researcher Institute, and cohort-building with the other President's PhD Scholars
• Access to Imperial's full postgraduate support, including tailored support for disabled and international students

What you'll do:

• Carry out a research project of your own choosing over a 3.5 year PhD, full time or part time, with an Imperial supervisor who has agreed to take you on
• Join a cohort of President's PhD Scholars and take part in the Early Career Researcher Institute's events and learning and development courses

Key dates:

• Round 1: apply by 23:59 UK time on 2 November 2026; successful applicants hear by 31 January 2027
• Round 2: apply by 23:59 UK time on 11 January 2027; successful applicants hear by 15 April 2027
• Round 3, the last: apply by 23:59 UK time on 1 March 2027; successful applicants hear by 31 May 2027
• Funded places start between 1 August 2027 and 1 November 2027

More information:

• Check Imperial's list of unavailable supervisors before you approach anyone: a President's scholar's primary supervisor can only supervise one at a time
• Some departments run their own selection first and can put forward only a few people per round (Computing says up to two), and where a department's own deadline is earlier than a scholarship round, the department's date applies. Check your department's PhD scholarship page
• Applying for a PhD at Imperial costs nothing in Engineering, Medicine and Natural Sciences. Imperial Business School's doctoral route starts with a two-year MRes whose application costs £90 for 2027-28 entry, waivable for financial hardship, and its students apply for this scholarship during the MRes
• If you are not selected for the scholarship, Imperial automatically considers you for a standard PhD place
• Scholarship questions go to Imperial's Student Financial Support team at student.funding@imperial.ac.uk; questions about the application form go to the relevant Admissions team or your department

• Open to candidates from Imperial, the UK and worldwide, with no restriction on nationality, though some departments may be unable to support international candidates
• A first class degree or equivalent in an undergraduate or integrated Master's degree, achieved or predicted
• Without a first, a distinction in a standalone Master's degree, achieved or with evidence of high performance that will lead to one
• International candidates should check with the relevant Admissions team that their grades meet the scheme's requirements
• Candidates below the grade bar can be selected by their department as a Department Special Case where extenuating circumstances explain their grades; contact the department before applying
• Candidates with non-traditional academic or career pathways who show strong research potential are encouraged to apply, and part of the allocation is ring-fenced for them
• New PhD applicants only; current registered Imperial PhD students are not eligible
• Before applying, you must have an Imperial academic who has agreed to supervise your research project and who is not on the unavailable supervisors list
• Apply for the PhD through My Imperial by a round deadline and select the President's PhD Scholarship option in the funding section of the additional questions tab
• Upload a two-page statement: page one a personal statement, page two your research proposal
• Name two academic referees, not your proposed supervisor
• Full-time or part-time study
• Meet the entry and English language requirements of the PhD you apply to, and any extra requirements your department sets