Funding Information (Updated for 2026 entry)

UK (home) students will be eligible for a full NERC studentship. More information can be via the University's website and the UKRI Training Grant Guide. A full studentship will cover the cost of fees and the student will receive the standard NERC maintenance allowance (for 2025/26 this is £20,780 pa), as well as a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) for training, consumables and travel.

The CREATES NERC DLA is also able to offer a limited number of studentships to international students, and funding from UKRI will cover both fees at the UK rate, the NERC maintenance allowance (stipend) to support living costs, and an RTSG. The University of Cambridge has agreed to waive the difference between the international and home fee for DLA students, so international students will also be fully funded. Note that the DLA cannot support other costs such as visa and health surcharges. For this reason we strongly recommend that international students make clear on their Cambridge application form that they wish to be considered for other funding (such as the Gates or Harding scholarships, or the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust) as well as the DLA because some of these funders may cover other costs that the DLA cannot.

Please note that most EU, EEA and Swiss students commencing their studies from October 2021 are classified with ‘overseas’ fee status.

Further details are available on the University's fee status page.

*CASE* (Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering)

CASE studentships (Collaborative awards in science and engineering) provide doctoral students with a first-rate, challenging research training experience within the context of a mutually beneficial research collaboration between academic and non-academic partner organisations.

NERC permits (and indeed requires) Doctoral Landscape Awards to award a number of its studentships as CASE studentships.

NERC require the CASE partner to meet the extra expenses incurred by students visiting and working in their establishments. They are also expected to contribute in cash or in kind towards necessary materials.

The student must spend between three and eighteen months in total with their CASE partner in a workplace outside the academic environment.