FAQs for Research Council funded scholarships
- Terms and Conditions
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Where can I see the latest UKRI regulations on PGR scholarships?
Current terms and conditions for UKRI (Research Council) funded PGR scholarships can be found on the UKRI webpages.
ESRC has guidance in their Postgraduate Funding Guide.
AHRC also has a Training Grant Funding Guide, available here.
- Stipend Payments and Fee Waivers
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When will I receive my stipend?
Your stipend will be paid quarterly, in advance, by the 1st of October, January, April and July.
Can I be paid monthly?
At the moment, our systems cannot accomodate monthly payments.
How much will my stipend be?
The minimum stipend amount if set each year by the UK Research Councils, listed here. Some scholarships may include higher amounts than this minimum.
Do I pay tax on my stipend?
No - as you are registered for a PhD at Sussex, your scholarships do not make you an employee. Your stipend is a living allowance or bursary to enable you to conduct your doctoral research, and is not a salary. You, therefore, do not pay income tax or National Insurance contributions on your stipend.
What do I do if I have not been paid, or there is an issue with my payment?
Contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk for assistance.
What happens if I have been overpaid?
If we have overpaid you - for instance, if you had changed to a part-time study after the payment for three months full-time stipend had been processed - we will ask you to pay us back the overpayment. In many cases, the best course of action is to deduct anything you owe from your next payment.
Why does Sussex Direct show that I owe fees?
We currently use a manual process for uploading fee waiver information onto the student records system, and there may sometimes be delays during enrollment and registration in September. Contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk if your fee waiver does not seem to be in place.
If your scholarship ends party-way through an academic year (e.g. March 31st), the Student Account System will automatically show that you ower full fees for the rest of the year, even though you will be transferring to pre-submission status.
If unpaid fees are preventing you re-registering in September of your fourth year, you should fulfill all other fees for online registration and contact mailto:studentaccounts@sussex.ac.uk to action your fee waiver.
Can you provide proof of income to my landlord?
Yes. Contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk to provide a letter confirming your income, or complete the online reference form.
- Taking a Break from Your PhD
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Can I take annual leave?
Yes – you are entitled - and encouraged - to take paid annual leave as a key feature of a healthy work/life balance. The annual leave entitlement is 40 working days (including public holidays and minimum service days), per academic year, pro-rated for part-time PGRs. Check with your supervisor on the process for recording annual leave in your School.
Can I take sick leave?
Research Councils will allow up to 13 weeks of paid sick leave in any rolling 12 month period. You can take up to 3 months paid sick while continuing to get paid your stipend. You should get some medical evidence to indicate the dates on which you were unable to work on your thesis and ask you supervisor and Director of Postgraduate Research to sign this FORM. Sick leave should be requested for a minimum period of one month.
Can I take compassionate leave?
Yes. You may request compassionate leave. The exact number of paid days will depend on the individual circumstances but would not usually be more than 5 days. The length of this compassionate leave would be added to the end of your award – so this would extend your funding. To request compassionate leave you would need to complete an intermission request form stating compassionate leave as the reason. In some cases – such as bereavement - it may be more appropirate to request paid sick leave.
Am I entitled to maternity leave?
Yes. PGRs are entitled to Maternity, Paternity, Parental and Adoption leave if the expected week of childbirth (or placement of the child) will occur during the period of their award. You may request up to 12 months of maternity leave in a continuous period. The first 26 weeks will be paid at full stipend rate, pro-rated as necessary for part time PGRs. The following 13 weeks will be paid at the statutory maternity pay (currently £172.48 per week for 2024). The final 13 weeks are not paid.
To request maternity leave from the University you need to complete an INTERMISSION FORM, stating ‘maternity’ as the reason for the intermission and will be required to provide the MAT1B form as medical evidence.
The length of your award would be amended to reflect your maternity period and the intermission taken would not be deducted from your University's intermission allowance.
The maternity leave entitlement also applies to Adoption leave.
Am I entitled to paternity leave?
Yes- Partners are entitled to up to two weeks paid Ordinary Paternity Leave on full stipend. This leave must be taken in one go. A week is the same amount of days that a student would normally study in a week - for example, 2.5 days if you study PT at 0.5FTE. Ordinary Paternity Leave cannot start before the birth and must end within 56 days of the birth.
Partners are also entitled to an extended period of unpaid parental leave, up to a maximum of 50 weeks, with their PGRship extended accordingly. Unpaid parental leave must be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child. This leave may be taken in up to three blocks of leave or all at once. To apply for paternity leave you would need to complete the University’s INTERMISSION FORM, stating paternity as the reason, and also supply a copy of the MAT1B form as medical evidence.
The length of your award would be amended to reflect your paternity period.
The paternity leave entitlement also applies to Adoption leave.
What happens if I take intermission and suspend my scholarship?
If you are ill for longer than 3 months, you will need to request intermission (suspension) rather than sick leave. This option is not available to International PGRS due to the restrictions of their visas.
You can request intermission with an INTERMISSION FORM that is approved by your supervisor and Director of Postgraduate Research before being sent to the Student Records team who update your registration status. You are flagged on the Sussex systems as “temporarily withdrawn”. Your deadline for submitting your thesis is moved back by the length of your intermission.
Do I get paid when I am intermitting?
No. Intermission means that you’ve paused your doctoral research and so we pause your scholarship. You still receive the same number of months of funding overall, but your payments will stop for as long as you are intermitting and your funding end date will be put back by the length of your intermission.
Can I take my scholarship to another University?
This depends on the precise circumstances. It is possible for UKRI scholarships to move between institutions, but only between institutions which are part of a UKRI funded programme. E.g. a CHASE scholarship held by a Sussex PGR could transfer to a university that is part of another AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership if all partners agreed – but not to a University that was not part of an AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
- Changes of Registration
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Can I change to part-time?
Yes. UKRI permits scholarship holders to change between part-time and full-time registration, but there are some restrictions on this:
- Part-time registration cannot be less than 50%
- You cannot change between full-time and part-time in the last 6 months of your funding (unless you are returning from maternity or parental leave)
- We cannot normally approve more than one change of registration during the scholarship (apart from ESRC changing status for fieldwork)
- If there is an external partner involved (e.g. a company involved in your project) or your research is part of a larger project changing to part-time may not be practical.
How do I change to part-time?
You complete the MODE CHANGE FORM , which is approved by your supervisor and your Director of Postgraduate Research. You will receive confirmation of the change with revised dates for the end of your funding and your submission deadline.
When can I change to Part-time?
As a funded student you must change status at the beginning of a month – not the beginning of a term. Ideally, you change at the beginning of a quarter – 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October – so that you avoid being overpaid. However, if this is not possible, we deduct any overpayments from your next payment. You cannot change PT/FT status in the last 6 months of your studentship or without the permission from your UKRI funder.
What happens to my scholarship if I change to part-time?
Generally, you will receive half the funding for twice as long. Part-time fees are 50% of the full-time fees, and UKRI scholarships can be taken up part-time for at least 50% of the full-time equivalent.
What happens to my submission deadline if I change to part-time?
You are encouraged to submit your thesis as close as possible to the end of your funding. UKRI have generally calculated the deadline for PT registration as 24 months after the end of the funding, but a lengthy unfunded “writing up” period is not advised.
- Researching with Partner Organisations
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What if there is another organisation involved in/funding my Research Council scholarship?
If you have a ”collaborative” or “CASE” award, you, the external partner and the University will be asked to sign a studentship agreement as well as your scholarship offer letter. Please ask your contact in Research and Innovation if there is something you don’t understand in the contract. Generally, the contracts say that:
- the University owns the Intellectual Property you create and the University and the partner jointly own the Intellectual Property you create with the partner;
- the University licences this IP back to you for future research and teaching;
- if there was some revenue from the IP the student gets a share;
- the student can publish in academic journals and can publish the thesis, but should show the partner in advance to check that no confidential information is included;
- the student owns the copyright in their thesis;
- the partner may ask external thesis examiners to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements;
- the partner may ask for a delay in publication of your thesis – but the Research Councils specify no more than one year.
- Thesis Submission and Funding End
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When does my funding end?
On your scholarship offer letter you will see the length of your scholarship funding – generally 3, 3.5 or 4 years – although this may be less if you completed a year or more as a self-funded student before receiving the scholarship.
Any changes to your funding end date (due to intermission, maternity leave, additional funding for a placement) will be confirmed to you in writing. If you are unsure of your funding end date, please contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk and they will be able to advise you.
What happens when my funding runs out?
We hope that you are ready to submit your thesis when your funding ends.
When your scholarship ends, your fee waiver ends and so, unless you have moved to “pre-submission” status, you will be charged full PhD fees. Make sure you request transfer to pre-submission status with effect from the end of your funding – if your scholarship end on March 31st and your Pre-Submission registration starts on May 1st, you will be charged full fees for the month of April.
In order to change to pre-submission status, you will need to discuss this with your supervisor complete a transfer to pre-submission form. You will also need to provide a timeline to completion of your studies as a supporting document.
Does my scholarship cover Pre-Submission fees or Extension fees?
No. We assume that your PGR scholarship covers full-time or part-time PhD fees throughout your scholarship. If you are not ready to submit at the end your funded period, you will need to pay personally for any registration fees due – which could be full PhD fees or Pre-Submission fees, depending on your registration.
What happens to my funding if I decide to withdraw from my studies?
You will need to notify the University in writing of your decision and of the date from which you want this to take effect by completing a withdrawal form. Your School may have some additional feedback forms to complete so you should contact your Research and Enterprise Co-ordinator (REC). You will need to pay us back any stipend that we have paid in advance for time after your withdrawal date. But you are not required to pay back any stipend that you have received up to the date of withdrawal.
When is my deadline for submitting my thesis?
UKRI expects scholarship holders to submit their thesis at the end of their scholarship.
If you take intermission or change to or from PT, your email confirmation will specify your new Sussex deadline for submission, and it is important to check this. While most PGRs have a 30th September deadline, where PGRs have switched to or from PT, or taken intermission, the deadline is unlikely to be September.
Is there a penalty for late submission?
There is no UKRI sanction against Individual PGRs for late submission, but there are sanctions against the host universities if a high number of PGRs submit late – universities risk losing the right to host UKRI funded scholarships.
What if I submit my thesis before my funding ends?
You can keep for funding for the whole of the quarter in which you submit your thesis, but we won’t pay you for subsequent quarters. This means, for example, if your funding is due to end in March and you submit your thesis in the previous November, you keep the October to December funding but you don’t receive the January to March funding.
- Funding for Research and Training Costs
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Can I claim for research costs?
Yes. The UKRI scholarships cover your fees, stipend and some research and training costs (often called “Research Training Support Grant “or RTSG). You should follow the guidance for your doctoral training partnership (CHASE, SeNSS, SEDarc, SoCoBio, STFC, EPSRC) as they have difference processes for this. Research costs typically cover laboratory consumables, participant costs, travel, conference registration, training courses, language tuition.
Are there rules on what I can buy?
Yes – but this will be specific to your programme, so consult your programme handbook or forms. There will be a maximum limit on your expenditure and there may be a specific policy on travel expenses.
Can I buy a laptop?
Please see your programme’s purchasing policy as each DTP has its own specific regulation regarding the purchase of laptops. Some funders see the provision of adequate computing resource, whether a University desktop or laptop, as the responsibility of the home institution. In some cases laptop or desktop computers can be justified on the grounds that there is data intensive research requiring non standard computers.
How do I buy a laptop?
We advise you to purchase a laptop via our IT services who can charge the equipment directly to your grant. This can be arranged by contacting your Research and Enterprise Co-ordinator (REC) or mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk
Can I claim for overseas fieldwork?
Yes. Different Research Councils will have different rules, but your scholarship will cover costs of undertaking research overseas within an agreed budget if you detailed the requirement for overseas research in your initial funding application.
Can I claim for research costs after my funding has ended?
No. Any research consumables, travel and conference expenditure must be incurred before the end of your funding. This means that the event must take place before the end of your funding, even if you pay conference fees and pay for travel before the end of your funding.
- Other Paid Work
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Am I expected to teach as part of my scholarship?
No. Your UKRI scholarship provides a living allowance to allow you to concentrate on your research. Any other teaching or demonstrating that you do would be paid employment.
Am I allowed to undertake paid work during my scholarship?
A small amount of other paid work as agreed with your supervisor is permissible with UKRI scholarships. UKRI guidance used to specify a maximum of 6 hours per week but is now less specific.
You cannot be in full time employment and receive a UKRI scholarship. If you enter full time employment before the end of the funded period then you will need to withdraw from your scholarship.
If the opportunity arises for full-time employment for a limited period – e.g. to work on a piece of consultancy for a month or two – then you are advised to take intermission and suspend your award and then resume your PhD afterwards.
I am an International PGR. Can I work?
If you have a visa then the amount of hours per week which you are able to work will be subject to your specific visa regulations. You should consult mailto:researchstudentvisas@sussex.ac.uk
- Publications
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Do I need to mention my funding in any publications and presentations?
Yes. You should acknowledge the source of UKRI funding in your publications with the following text:
‘This work was supported by the XXX Research Council [grant number xxxx]’
Contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk to check your Grant Number.
Is there any funding for Open Access Charges?
Yes as a Sussex UKRI PGR, you can access a Block Grant that Sussex has been allocated for Open Access publications. The Research Librarians can guide you through the process involved, at mailto:openaccess@sussex.ac.uk
Does my thesis have to be publicly available?
Yes. UKRI expects the text of your thesis to be available via Open Access within 12 months of the award of your Doctorate. However exceptions are possible as long as you follow the Sussex Thesis Embargo process.
Is any information about my UKRI scholarship public?
Brief details of your project are publicly available on the UKRI Gateway to Research website. Contact mailto:pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk if your project title or summary should not be in the public domain.
What is Researchfish?
UKRI has commissioned Researchfish to track the impact of its grant funding. UKRI funded PGRs are asked to complete an annual survey on the results of their research.