• Value: Fees, Stipend (estimated as at least £23,466 per year for 2026/2027, increases each year) and Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)
• Duration: Up to 4 years (thesis to be submitted within funded period)
• Eligible Fee Status: Home or International
• Study Mode: Full or Part time (at least 50% FTE) [Note: Part time is not available to International students]
• Primary Selection Criteria: Academic merit
• Available To: Prospective students only

Projects Available

Students can apply to any of the projects listed in the project catalogue. You may apply to a maximum of 5 projects.

Note: Where unavoidable, UELA reserves the right to withdraw projects from the catalogue before or after the application deadline. Candidates who have applied to a project that has been withdrawn will be informed as soon as possible. In each section of the catalogue (to be published soon), projects where an offer has already been made to a candidate are indicated.

Browse the UELA 2026-27 project catalogue

How to apply

An application to UELA consists of 4 parts:

• Part A: Complete once. This must be submitted before parts B, C and D can be completed.
• Part B:  Complete once. This must be submitted by 13:00 UK time on  Monday 05 January 2026.
• Part C:  Complete for each project you are applying to. You can apply to a maximum of 5 projects. This must be submitted by 13:00 UK time on Monday 05 January 2026.
• Part D: To be completed by your two nominated referees. Both references should be submitted by 13:00 UK time on Monday 05 January 2026 for an application to be considered complete. We are not able to inform candidates whether their references have been received.

Late, incomplete, or incorrect applications will not be considered. A complete application consists of parts A, B, C, and D. If your references are not received by the deadline it will not prevent your application being reviewed, but your application may be at a disadvantage.

Successful candidates will also need to complete an application via the UCL admissions portal after they have been made a provisional offer by UELA.

All applications must be made through the online forms. Candidates can prepare their application in advance of submitting online. The information that is required is provided on this webpage to help you prepare your application, but applications will only be accepted via the online portal.

Step 1: Part A

Link to UELA 26/27 Application portal – Part A

You must complete this form only once (unless you make an error in your email address and have to re-do it, as per instructions below).

This form collects personal data which will not be shared with the review panel. More information on the diversity data collected is shown below.

Other information collected in this form includes:

• Your intended study mode – full time or part time (minimum 50% FTE)
• If needed, your justification for a delayed start date (note that studentships are expected to start on 01-October-2025 and delayed starts will only be considered under exceptional circumstances (this includes, but is not limited to, disability and caring responsibilities))
• Any adaptations required for you to be able to attend an interview (to be held online)
• How you heard about this opportunity
• Details of 2 referees

Referee details required:

• Name
• Institution/organisation
• Email address

Important: We cannot accept referee email addresses from a personal service (such as gmail, yahoo, hotmail, 123.com, qq.com). You must provide their institution/organisation email address.

Referee 1 must be an academic reference (if your most recent academic qualification was more than 5 years ago this can be substituted by a reference related to research experience gained during employment). Your referees cannot be part of the proposed supervisory team for the doctoral study you are applying for.

We are not able to inform candidates whether their references have been received.

Before completing part A of your application, make sure you have permission from your referees, and are confident that they will be able to submit a reference within the timeframe.

Please note that none of the above information will be used for the selection process.

• You must complete and submit part A before you can complete parts B and C. After submitting part A an email will be sent to the email address you provided with your “Applicant ID” and personalised links for parts B and C of your application. You must use the links in your email to apply – they will automatically complete your applicant ID details correctly. Do not share your links with anyone else.
• If you do not receive the email within 24 hours of submitting, check your spam/junk folder. If you still can’t find it, there may be an error in the email address you provided – please simply redo part A. [Note: 123.com and qq.com email addresses frequently cause errors in the system; it is recommended that you try using an alternative email address from a free service such as gmail, yahoo, hotmail.]
• An email will also automatically be sent to each of your referees using the email address you have provided, asking them to provide a reference. Important: you must provide their institution/organisation email not a personal one (such as gmail, yahoo, 123, qq, etc.). If personal email addresses are detected by our system your part A submission will be rejected and you will need to re-do it with appropriate referee email addresses (you will receive an email notifying you if this happens).

Step 2: Part B

You must complete this form only once. You must complete the online form using the link in the email you received after completing part A – it will automatically complete your applicant ID details for you.

This form contains an online template which we review in place of a traditional CV. We collect information on transcript details with a full record of modules for awarded and in-progress qualifications, work experience, other achievements/experience, and details of research projects/experience.

International candidates will need to provide their UK degree equivalency. Please use UCL’s prospective student webpages to check your degree results against the information provided for your country of study.

You must enter all your degree and module grades exactly as shown on your transcript, do not do any conversion. If the data entered in your part B form does not match what is shown on the transcript, your application will be invalid and you will not be given an official offer via UCL’s admissions portal. Information on the requirements for official transcripts is shown below.

The host department(s) of the project(s) you are applying to should not request your CV, grade transcript, or any other application documents from you. Please email UELA (epsrc.dtp@ucl.ac.uk) with any concerns and/or if you are asked to provide additional documents/information.

Step 3: Part C

You must complete this form once for each project you are applying to (up to a maximum of 5). You must complete the online form using the link in the email you received after completing part A – it will automatically complete your applicant ID details for you. You will receive only one link to part C of your application – you can use the same link for each project you apply to (up to a maximum of 5). If you apply for more than 5 projects, we will only accept the most recently submitted 5 forms.