CASRAI Dictionary

Tag: doctoral training partnership

  • UKRI Training Grant Terms and Conditions Guide

    UKRI training grant terms and conditions govern doctoral studentships and are legally distinct from the standard terms and conditions that apply to UKRI research grants. The two documents share a similar condition-numbering structure but diverge sharply on studentship transfer, extensions, absence/leave, stipend funding shares, and cohort-level data reporting through the Studentship Data System.

    A UKRI training grant funds one or more Studentships at a Research Organisation — typically through a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) or Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) — and is governed by the Standard Terms and Conditions of Training Grant, not by the fEC-based conditions that apply to a standard research grant.

    UKRI revised its training grant conditions with effect from 1 October 2025, following a policy statement published on 30 January 2025 after an equality-focused review. DTP and CDT administrators need to know exactly how the training-grant rulebook diverges from the standard research grant rulebook their finance teams already use.

    How Do UKRI Training Grant Terms Differ From Standard Research Grant Terms?

    UKRI training grant terms and conditions are built around the Student and the Studentship; standard research grant terms are built around the funded project and its staff. Both use a similar numbered-condition format, but the numbering and substance diverge from condition 8 onward.

    The Standard Terms and Conditions of Training Grant run to thirteen Training Grant Conditions (TGC 1–13). The parallel Terms and Conditions of fEC Grants run to fourteen Research Grant Conditions (RGC 1–14) — the extra condition is a dedicated RGC 9 Equipment clause with no training-grant equivalent, and RGC 8 covers Staff where TGC 8 instead covers Student Absence.

    Condition area Standard research grant (RGC) Training grant (TGC)
    Funding basis Full Economic Costing (fEC) — UKRI meets 80% of the assessed project cost At least 50% of the total Studentship cost must be drawn from UKRI; the remainder can come from the Research Organisation or partners
    Condition 8 focus RGC 8: Staff TGC 8: Absence (Student leave categories, including family leave)
    Equipment RGC 9: dedicated Equipment condition No equivalent condition; funds cover stipends, project costs and Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)
    Extensions No-cost extensions for non-people-related reasons capped at six months over the grant’s lifetime (from 1 April 2026) Extensions tied to Student leave categories; Studentship suspension capped at 12 months cumulative absent exceptional circumstances
    Transfer Handled via the standard change-of-institution request process TGC 6 sets an explicit Studentship/Training Grant transfer clause (see below)
    Data reporting Standard financial and technical (final) reporting UKRI Studentship Data System: per-Student records, annual 31 October check, submission-rate monitoring

    UKRI’s own guidance confirms the split directly: TGC 2.10 requires every Student stipend to be at least equal to UKRI’s published minimum rate for the relevant academic year, a rate reviewed annually and typically uplifted from 1 October — a mechanism with no equivalent in the standard research grant conditions, which fund salaries rather than stipends.

    What Are the Rules for Studentship and Training Grant Transfer?

    Under TGC 6, when a Student transfers institutions, the receiving Research Organisation must accept all terms and conditions relating to the Studentship exactly as originally offered — including its start date, duration, registration requirements and submission date. This is training-grant-specific; standard research grant terms have no direct parallel, since a research grant is tied to a project rather than an individual person’s award.

    Where several Students sit on one Training Grant, the two institutions arrange the transfer of funding between themselves; the grant itself stays with the original Research Organisation. Where the transferring Student is the only Student on that grant, UKRI requires the entire Training Grant and any remaining funds to move to the receiving Research Organisation.

    • Receiving institution inherits the original start date, duration and submission date in full.
    • Multi-student grants: funding transfer is arranged institution-to-institution.
    • Single-student grants: the whole grant and remaining balance transfer.
    • Both Research Organisations must record the change in the Studentship Data System.

    What Cohort and Studentship Data Reporting Do DTPs and CDTs Require?

    Training grants carry a data-reporting layer standard research grants do not: the UKRI Studentship Data System, which superseded the Je-S system’s student functionality in 2025. Research Organisations must create a new Student record within one month of starting and log status changes within one month of formal agreement.

    UKRI additionally requires Research Organisations to undertake an annual check of every Student record by 31 October each year, and Councils use submission data from the system to calculate annual submission rates across a DTP or CDT’s cohort — a Studentship terminated before the end of its first year is excluded from that calculation. UKRI states it monitors submission rates and may apply sanctions where they fall short. Standard research grants instead rely on conventional financial and technical end-of-grant reporting, with no equivalent cohort-level mechanism.

    How Do Extensions and Leave Provisions Differ?

    Training grant extensions under TGC 6 are driven by individual Student circumstances rather than project delivery risk. Extensions arise from categories of Absence set out in TGC 8 — family leave (maternity, partner/paternity, adoption, neonatal care and parental leave), medical leave and other specified reasons — and Studentship suspension is capped at a maximum cumulative 12 months unless exceptional circumstances apply. Research Organisations must keep leave records, since UKRI requests this information whenever an extension is sought.

    Standard research grant extensions under RGC 6 work differently: a no-cost extension for a “people-related” reason (parental leave, sick leave, a reduction from full to part-time working, jury service) may run for the full duration of the delay, but extensions for non-people-related reasons — such as recruitment delays — are capped at six months over the grant’s lifetime, and no-cost extensions approved before 1 April 2026 do not count toward that cap. Neither route allows contingency time; every request must state one primary justification.

    Answer-First Q&A on Training Grant Terms and Conditions

    Do UKRI training grants use the same terms as standard research grants?

    No. UKRI training grants are governed by the Standard Terms and Conditions of Training Grant (Training Grant Conditions, TGC 1–13), a separate document from the Terms and Conditions of fEC Grants (Research Grant Conditions, RGC 1–14) that apply to standard research grants. The documents share structure but diverge on funding share, extensions, absence and studentship-level data reporting.

    Can a UKRI-funded studentship transfer between universities?

    Yes. Under TGC 6, a Studentship can transfer to a new Research Organisation, which must honour the original start date, duration, registration requirements and submission date. If the Student is the sole award-holder on that Training Grant, the entire grant and remaining funds move with them; otherwise the two institutions arrange funding transfer directly.

    What is the minimum UKRI stipend requirement?

    UKRI publishes a minimum Stipend rate for each academic year, and TGC 2.10 requires every Student’s Stipend to meet or exceed it. Rate changes should be applied from 1 October, though UKRI permits limited flexibility around that date, and Research Organisations must never link an uplift to a Student’s individual start-date anniversary.

    How long can a UKRI training grant extension last?

    There is no fixed universal cap — extensions follow the Student’s category of Absence under TGC 8. However, Studentship suspension is limited to a maximum cumulative 12 months unless exceptional circumstances apply, which differs from the six-month non-people-related extension cap that applies to standard research grants under RGC 6.

    Implications for DTP and CDT Administrators

    For institutions running a DTP or CDT, grant finance teams cannot apply their standard research-grant compliance checklist to a training grant file. Studentship transfer, cohort-level monitoring through the Studentship Data System, and Absence-driven extensions each require processes that sit outside the fEC grant workflow.

    Since the October 2025 revision followed an equality-focused review, DTP and CDT administrators should treat the current terms as a baseline UKRI is likely to keep refining, particularly around leave, part-time study and international eligibility. Mapping each Training Grant Condition to a named responsible team — anchored in wider research administration standards rather than folded into general grants administration — is the most durable way to stay compliant as the terms continue to evolve, and will make UKRI’s next round of condition updates easier to absorb without re-auditing every open Studentship file.

  • UK Research Council PhD Funding Governance Guide

    UK Research Council PhD funding flows from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to universities as block grants, not to students directly — institutions then allocate stipends, fees and training support through Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) or Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), each carrying distinct governance, co-investment and reporting duties that a graduate school must manage for the full multi-year life of the award.

    UK Research Council PhD funding is the collective term for doctoral studentship grants awarded by UKRI’s seven discipline-specific Research Councils — AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC — to UK higher education providers, which then administer stipends, fees and training support on the Council’s behalf.

    What is UK Research Council PhD funding, and who administers it?

    UKRI does not fund doctoral researchers directly. It issues training grants to higher education providers (HEPs) or consortia of universities and non-academic partners, and those institutions recruit, admit and pay students against the terms of the grant. For 2026/27, UKRI’s minimum stipend is £21,805 a year outside London and £23,805 within it, alongside at least £5,238 towards tuition fees — figures confirmed by sector reporting in April 2026.

    Most studentships also carry a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG), commonly around £5,000 a year, to cover fieldwork, consumables or conference costs. Graduate schools administer stipend, fees and RTSG as a single package per student, but the governance model wrapped around that package differs sharply between a DTP and a CDT.

    How do DTPs and CDTs differ in governance?

    A Doctoral Training Partnership is typically a consortium of universities pooling a Research Council’s training grant to fund a broad, multidisciplinary spread of studentships. A Centre for Doctoral Training is a single institution or tight partnership built around one strategic research theme, with mandatory, deeply integrated industry co-delivery. The consequence: a DTP’s management board answers primarily to partner universities, while a CDT’s governance is shared, by design, with external co-investors.

    Feature Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)
    Structure Consortium of universities, broad disciplinary spread Single institution or focused partnership, one strategic theme
    Governance lead Management board with an administrative lead partner Co-governed with non-academic/industry partners
    Non-academic co-investment Encouraged (e.g. ESRC targets at least 15% of studentships involving non-academic collaboration) Mandatory — at least 20% of costs, rising to 40–50% in some strategic areas
    Cohort model Larger, more diverse cohort across partner institutions Smaller, thematically focused cohort, typically four years
    New-funding alignment Doctoral Landscape Awards Doctoral Focal Awards

    Some Councils layer further structures on this base model. Industrial CASE (iCASE) studentships, run by STEM Councils such as EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and NERC, split funding and supervision between a university and a named industry partner. AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships extend the principle to museums, archives and trusts.

    What financial governance and co-investment rules apply?

    The single biggest governance distinction between the two models is the co-investment threshold. UKRI guidance requires CDTs to secure a minimum of 20% of programme costs from non-academic partners, rising to 40–50% for centres in strategic priority areas — a binding commitment a graduate school’s finance office must track and evidence across the life of the award, not just at bid stage.

    DTPs operate with more flexibility. UKRI provides a training grant covering a set number of “notional studentships,” and partnerships can expand beyond that minimum through co-funding — for example, NERC requires a student to be at least 50% funded by its training grant before that student counts as a NERC-funded place. This flexibility helps graduate schools running large, multi-Council portfolios, but means eligibility for any individual studentship needs award-by-award verification rather than a single fixed rule.

    • Stipend and fee payments are made against the lead institution’s account, not per-student to UKRI.
    • RTSG allocation across individual projects is at the discretion of the DTP or CDT management board.
    • Co-investment from industry partners must be evidenced in financial reporting, not merely pledged at application.
    • Studentships cannot normally combine with other public funding, such as postgraduate loans or NHS bursaries.

    What reporting and compliance duties fall on the lead institution?

    The lead university in a DTP consortium, or the host institution of a CDT, carries formal financial reporting responsibility to UKRI, including interim and final expenditure statements covering the full grant period. Graduate schools and doctoral colleges are typically the operational point of accountability for this reporting, even where the legal grant sits with the university’s central finance function.

    Compliance extends beyond finance. Award holders must embed equality, diversity and inclusion principles in recruitment, support and programme design — a requirement UKRI applies to both Landscape and Focal awards under its core doctoral training offer. Graduate schools must also track the cap limiting international studentships to a defined proportion of a university’s total UKRI-funded places, and confirm any studentship combining loan and stipend funding has been correctly unwound before disbursement.

    How does the shift to Landscape and Focal Awards affect existing CDTs and DTPs?

    UKRI has restructured new doctoral training funding around two award types: Doctoral Landscape Awards, broad flexible investments across subject areas, and Doctoral Focal Awards, targeted at strategic or emerging research themes. Per UKRI’s doctoral training investment framework page, last updated 10 April 2026, “ongoing doctoral training partnerships (DTPs) align with doctoral landscape awards,” while “ongoing centres for doctoral training (CDTs) align with doctoral focal awards.”

    This is a forward-facing reclassification, not a retroactive one: existing CDTs and DTPs continue operating under their original award terms for the duration of the current funding period. New funding rounds, however, are issued exclusively as Landscape or Focal awards, which can fund the same activity as legacy DTPs and CDTs but with greater flexibility. Graduate schools managing a live, multi-year CDT should expect no immediate change to reporting terms — but should budget for the next renewal to arrive under the new architecture.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the difference between a CDT and a DTP?

    A Centre for Doctoral Training concentrates funding on one strategic theme with mandatory industry co-investment of at least 20% and shared governance with non-academic partners. A Doctoral Training Partnership spreads funding across a broader disciplinary range through a university consortium, governed by an academic-led management board with more flexible co-funding arrangements.

    What is a Centre for Doctoral Training?

    A Centre for Doctoral Training is a UKRI-funded, cohort-based doctoral programme, typically four years long, built around a single strategic research theme and co-developed and co-delivered with industry or other non-academic partners. New funding for this model is now issued to universities as a Doctoral Focal Award rather than as a new CDT.

    Why is the DTP label being phased out for new awards?

    UKRI has moved from scheme-based grants to a two-award framework to increase flexibility. New funding is now allocated as Doctoral Landscape Awards or Doctoral Focal Awards rather than as new DTPs or CDTs, though every existing DTP continues operating unchanged under its original grant terms.

    What is a Doctoral Training Partnership?

    A Doctoral Training Partnership is a consortium-based UKRI funding model in which several universities pool a Research Council training grant to support a broad, multidisciplinary cohort of PhD studentships, governed by a joint management board with an administrative lead institution that reports expenditure to UKRI on the consortium’s behalf.

    Implications for graduate schools and doctoral colleges

    For institutional leaders, the governance workload of a CDT or DTP does not end at the award letter. Lead institutions must evidence co-investment, reconcile RTSG discretion against project needs, and maintain audit-ready expenditure statements across award periods that commonly run four or more years — spanning multiple UKRI reporting cycles and, increasingly, a mid-lifetime transition in award architecture.

    Graduate schools should treat the Landscape/Focal transition as a compliance planning trigger: existing CDT and DTP terms remain valid, but any renewal or new studentship round should be assessed against the current framework, not assumed to follow legacy rules. This affects how doctoral colleges structure supervisory panels, partner agreements and financial sign-off within the wider research administration function, and should prompt a fresh look at admissions and EDI processes at each renewal, rather than treating them as one-off conditions.

  • ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026: Eligibility, Host Institution Duties and How to Apply

    The ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026 is a nine-month (up to 18 months part-time) award from UK Research and Innovation’s Economic and Social Research Council, held at an ESRC-accredited Doctoral Training Partnership institution, that lets recent social-science PhD graduates consolidate doctoral research before the full application deadline of 1 June 2026.

    The ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship is UKRI’s route for early-career social scientists to bridge the gap between a doctorate and independent research, funded through ESRC’s network of accredited Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) rather than as a single national competition. This explainer sets out who qualifies, what host institutions must provide, how to apply, and where the fellowship sits alongside ESRC’s larger grant calls.

    What is the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship?

    The ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship funds a defined period of research consolidation, not a new research project. Fellows produce publications from their doctoral work, build networks, develop professional and transferable skills, and may undertake up to six hours of teaching per week where this aligns with the fellowship’s purpose.

    Awards run for up to nine months full-time or up to 18 months part-time (pro-rated to the fellow’s time commitment), with the 2026 round starting on 1 October 2026. UKRI will only consider later start dates in exceptional circumstances, agreed with the host DTP.

    Who is eligible for the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026?

    Eligibility is defined by a fixed postdoctoral experience window, not by a fixed calendar date after graduation. Applicants must have less than 15 months of active postdoctoral experience (at full-time equivalent rate), measured from passing their viva voce to the funding opportunity’s closing date of 1 June 2026.

    • The PhD must have been completed in the UK at a research organisation within ESRC’s doctoral training network.
    • At the deadline, applicants must either already hold the PhD, or have passed the viva voce with only minor corrections outstanding, with the award expected before the fellowship start date.
    • Applicants requiring major thesis corrections are ineligible unless those corrections are submitted and approved by the closing date.
    • Proposed fellowship activities must sit at least 50% within the social sciences, though proposals can span a single discipline or a combination of disciplines.
    • The fellowship must be held at a research organisation that is part of an ESRC-accredited Doctoral Training Partnership, aligned to an accredited subject pathway.

    UKRI states it is committed to equality of opportunity and explicitly supports applications affected by career breaks, caring responsibilities and flexible working patterns, in line with its wider equality, diversity and inclusion commitments.

    What are host institution duties under the DTP model?

    Unlike a single ESRC-run competition, the Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme is administered by each DTP on ESRC’s behalf. Fourteen DTPs are participating in the 2026 round, including Grand Union, Midlands Graduate School, White Rose, LISS, UBEL, SGSSS, South Coast, SEDarc, SENSS, South West, Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences, and CAM DTP, among others.

    • Running the assessment process — expert/peer review of proposals and funding decisions — on ESRC’s behalf, including any expression-of-interest stage and its internal deadline.
    • Publishing the opportunity specification, an FAQ document and the application form on the DTP’s own website (DTPs were required to complete this by 1 April 2026).
    • Assigning a senior mentor to the fellow, ideally someone other than their PhD supervisor, with relevant subject expertise.
    • Providing a research environment, facilities and access appropriate to the fellow’s consolidation activities.
    • Forwarding successful applications to ESRC for final eligibility checks before award.

    Because assessment sits with the DTP rather than ESRC centrally, host institution research offices and DTP administrators are the correct first point of contact for queries — ESRC directs applicants to “contact the relevant DTP directly” rather than UKRI itself.

    How do you apply, and what are the key 2026 deadlines?

    Applications go directly to a single DTP — applying to more than one DTP in the same round results in withdrawal of all submissions. Many DTPs run an expression-of-interest stage before the full proposal, with internal deadlines set independently by each participating university, typically in April 2026.

    1. Expression of interest (where required): preliminary proposal, CV and outline of consolidation activities, submitted to the internal DTP deadline.
    2. Full application: detailed proposal and required attachments submitted to the chosen DTP by 1 June 2026, 23:59 UK time — no submissions are accepted after this cut-off.
    3. DTP review: expert/peer assessment and funding decision made by the DTP.
    4. ESRC eligibility check: successful proposals pass to ESRC for final sign-off.
    5. Fellowship start: 1 October 2026, for a nine-month full-time (or up to 18-month part-time) term.

    Applicants should treat their chosen DTP’s own deadlines as binding, since these internal cut-offs can fall well ahead of the 1 June national deadline.

    How does the fellowship compare with ESRC large grants and responsive-mode calls?

    The Postdoctoral Fellowship is one route among several ESRC (UKRI) offers across the research career stage. It sits at the smallest, most individual end of the funding spectrum, distinct from ESRC’s team-based and larger applicant-led calls.

    Route Typical value Duration Who applies Administered by
    ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Individual stipend/costs via host DTP (no fixed national value published) Up to 9 months FT / 18 months PT Early-career researchers, <15 months postdoc experience Accredited DTPs, on ESRC’s behalf
    ESRC large grants £1 million–£2.5 million at full economic cost (fEC); ESRC funds 80% of fEC Up to 5 years Teams/consortia proposing ambitious, large-scale programmes UKRI Funding Service (national call)
    ESRC research grants (responsive/applicant-led mode) Typically £350,000–£1 million at fEC; ESRC funds 80% of fEC Up to 5 years Established or independent researchers with a track record UKRI Funding Service (open, rolling or periodic calls)

    In practical terms, a Postdoctoral Fellowship is not a stepping stone to a large grant in the same cycle — it explicitly excludes new research. Researchers typically move toward responsive-mode research grants or New Investigator-style routes only once they hold, or are close to holding, an independent academic post.

    Answer-first Q&A

    Who is eligible for the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026?

    Applicants need a UK-awarded PhD (or viva passed with minor corrections) from an ESRC-accredited DTP institution, with fewer than 15 months of active postdoctoral experience at the 1 June 2026 closing date, proposing activities that are at least 50% social science.

    Who is eligible for ESRC funding generally?

    ESRC funds UK-based researchers and research organisations across the social sciences, from early-career fellows through DTPs to independent investigators applying directly to UKRI’s Funding Service for research grants and large grants, each route carrying its own career-stage and institutional eligibility rules.

    What are ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship host institution duties?

    Host DTPs must run the assessment and funding-decision process on ESRC’s behalf, assign the fellow a senior mentor, provide a suitable research environment, publish clear application guidance, and forward successful applications to ESRC for final eligibility checks.

    What is the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship application process?

    Applicants apply to a single DTP only, often via an initial expression of interest, then a full proposal due by 1 June 2026. The DTP peer-reviews and decides funding; ESRC then performs a final eligibility check before the 1 October 2026 start.

    Implications for research administrators and fellows

    For research administration teams, the DTP-devolved model means eligibility gatekeeping, mentor allocation and deadline management happen locally, not centrally — internal EOI deadlines, subject-pathway accreditation and the single-DTP application rule are the most common sources of avoidable rejections.

    For prospective fellows, the decision point is not whether they qualify on paper but which DTP’s accredited pathway, mentor pool and research environment best match their consolidation plans, since the fellowship cannot fund a new research programme.

    Outlook

    With DTP web pages required to finalise 2026 opportunity details by 1 April and the national deadline fixed at 1 June 2026, the window for institutional planning is short and front-loaded. Research administrators supporting research administration functions should treat DTP-specific guidance as authoritative over generic summaries, and confirm mentor availability and subject-pathway accreditation early, since these are DTP-level constraints that sit outside ESRC’s own eligibility text.