Funding

Prizes, grants and other opportunities for funding your doctorate or your professional development

Funding your postgraduate research degree

The resources below provide information and opportunities for funding your postgraduate research degree at Sussex.

PhD Scholarships and funding

See the university's PhD fees and scholarships pages for details of scholarships and other types of funding for your postgraduate research degree at Sussex. The comprehensive funding database tool allows you to search for funding opportunities according to your chosen subject and the region you are from.

You can also find information about research funding, part-time work, funding for disabled students, and loans on the Fees and funding webpages.

Research Professional

The University subscribes to the Research Professional database, a comprehensive database of funding opportunities, where you can:

Search by a variety of criteria, e.g. Sponsor; Discipline; Award Type; Closing Date; Sponsor Country; Applicant Nationality
Get up-to-date Funding and Sector news, e.g. Research Fortnight; Research Fortnight Today; Research Europe; Research Europe Today
Find out about workgroup funding opportunities specific to you and your schools
Set-up email alerts for funding opportunities and/or research news

The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding

The University subscribes to the The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding Online. The Guide is all about alternative sources of funding - especially charities - which can make awards to any student regardless of subject or nationality.

The Guide contains a huge database of funding opportunities, comprehensive guidance written by successful applicants, and numerous tools to help you prepare a winning grant application.

If you are a current University of Sussex student you can register for the Guide with your Sussex email address. If you are a prospective postgraduate student who has applied to Sussex, please use the following authentication PIN to register for the Guide: 6789

Funding your professional development

The following funds are designed to support your professional development as a researcher at Sussex. Opportunities include funding to present your research at an overseas conference; to organise your own professional development, public engagement or community activity for researchers; and an award for exceptional academic impact..

You can also use the the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding and Research Professional database to find external funding for conferences and travel.

Researcher-Led Initiative Fund

Our Researcher-Led Initiative (RLI) fund supports peer-led professional development activities that benefit a broad range of researchers (across disciplines and career stages).

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and early career researchers (ECRs) can apply for up to £1000 to organise an initiative under one of four themes: eresearch culture, interdisciplinarity and internal collaboration, public engagement and external collaboration, and researcher training and career development.

Sussex Fund Doctoral Overseas Conference Grants

Sussex Fund Doctoral Overseas Conference Grants support University of Sussex PGRs who are presenting their research at an overseas conference. Sussex PGRs are able to apply for up to £1,100 during the period of their registration. Researchers are currently able to apply for the cost of fit-to-fly Covid tests where required, as well as conference fees, travel and accommodation.

The scheme is administered by the Researcher Development team within the Sussex Researcher School (SRS), who are able to offer this grant due to the generous funding provided by the Sussex Fund.

For more information, guidelines, and to apply, visit the Doctoral Overseas Conference Grants page.

Sussex Doctoral Open Research Prize

***This call has now closed***

As part of its Research England funded initiative to promote Open Research activity at Sussex, the University is pleased to launch its first Doctoral Open Research Prize with a deadline of 4pm on Thursday 23rd June 2022.

Sussex encourages PGRs to explore and engage with Open Research practices in their work and study, to maximise the possibility of public and academic engagement and impact. The aim of this prize is to reward and encourage PhD research that has been or will be more “open” than is typical in your discipline. Further details are in the call document.

The prize will either:

a) Recognise exceptional examples of Open Research that you have already delivered in your ongoing PhD; or

b) Enable you to spend time delivering specific exceptional Open Research with an innovative plan

Students already in receipt of a scholarship paid by Sussex, will receive a scholarship extension of 1 month’s stipend (£1,300) and fees.

Self-funded students will receive a one-off stipend payment equivalent of 1 month’s stipend (£1,300)

All currently registered Sussex PhD students (part-time, full-time, UK, EU or International) who have not submitted their thesis by 31st July 2022 are eligible to apply.

The Open Research activity described must take place during the 12 months August 2021 to July 2022.

The application form should be emailed to researcher-school@sussex.ac.uk by 4pm on Thursday 23rd June.

Kindness UK Doctoral Conference Awards

Kindness UK is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering kindness throughout society, and is working with the University of Sussex to promote research from any academic discipline that illuminates kindness and its effects on people and communities. Kindness UK would like to support dissemination of relevant research by PGRs at national or international conferences.

Funding up to a maximum of £1,000 per successful applicant will be available to cover the costs of attending a conference where you will be presenting the research. Find out more about the Kindness UK Doctoral Conference Award.

This fund was last awarded in February 2020, and we hope to launch a further call for applications this year.

Santander Travel Grants

Santander Travel Grants support doctoral supervisors to undertake visits to institutions within the Santander Network of 1,208 universities and research institutes in Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, USA, UK, UAE and Uruguay.

For more information, guidelines, and to apply, please visit the Santander Travel Grants page.

The Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award

The annual Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award is available to exceptional researchers currently registered for a research degree at Sussex who have demonstrated the potential to achieve outstanding impact in their field.

A top prize of £1,000 and a runner-up prize of £500 is awarded in each of the three disciplines. The prize must go towards the winner's research. PGRs can be nominated by their doctoral supervisor or the Director of Doctoral Studies in their School.

For more information, guidelines, and to apply, visit the Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award webpage.