How to Apply (Updated for 2026 Entry)

NERC-funded PhD Studentships

For students starting in October 2026, the University of Cambridge will offer fifteen 3.5 year NERC-funded PhD studentships through the Cambridge Research Experience and Advanced Training for Environmental Scientists (CREATES) Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA). DLA is the new terminology for Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs), and CREATES is our new programme, which will take in 5 cohorts of students. It replaces C-CLEAR which has recruited 6 cohorts of students. Various departments of the University of Cambridge, as well as the British Antarctic Survey, are eligible as hosts for students. More funding and eligibility information can be found on our website here.

The CREATES NERC DLA and University of Cambridge actively support equality, diversity and inclusion and we encourage applications from eligible applicants from all sections of society.

How to apply:

Overview: When you are ready to complete your application you will fill in a form applying for a PhD in a department of the University of Cambridge. This form has two distinct purposes: to allow a department to decide whether it is happy to accept you as a student (independent of whether there is funding), and to allow the DLA and other funding bodies within Cambridge to choose those who will receive funding.  Depending on the department you will apply to, you will see slightly different questions. However if you are applying for DLA funding you should follow the steps below before you start on the form.

1) Browse through the list of topics and supervisors to find those that particularly interest you. For each potential supervisor you will find information about their research interests and some ideas about the kind of projects they would be keen to supervise. However, we do not list finalised project titles as the intention is that you express interest in a topic, and develop the final project with your supervisory team in the first term of your studies. We strongly advise you to contact prospective supervisors before applying, to further explore your mutual interests, and to get additional advice and information.

If you are interested in an area of our science but your preferred supervisors don't respond (perhaps they are on fieldwork), or if you feel uncomfortable making a direct approach, then please mail our DLA administrator, Ruth Noble, (dtp-admin@esc.cam.ac.uk), and she will find an academic to contact you and help you take the first steps.

There are several ways to search:1) by broad theme (Climate Change and Environmental Processes, Biology and Conservation or Solid Earth and Geological Hazards); 2) by staff member/department (Staff Directory); or 3) by searching for keyword (e.g. 'Palaeoenvironments' or 'informatics' using the CTRL+F function).

Please note that academic staff can act as lead supervisor for one CREATES studentship per application round. To avoid potential clashes at appointment we recommend that you provide a prioritised list of topics and supervisors that you would consider. You may choose supervisors in more than one department, and we will ensure that each relevant department sees your application, although you will be considered for other funding (non-NERC DLA) in the host department you have applied to only.

In order to be eligible for funding through the NERC DLA, you must list topics that are within the NERC remit.  Of course you may also list in your application projects or topics that would be covered by another Research Council, but we will only consider you for DLA funding if one of your proposed subject areas fits the NERC remit. If you are accepted by us, then during project development in your first term, your topic must remain within that remit.

2) Before starting the application, please ensure you are eligible to apply for admission

Competition for admission to the University of Cambridge graduate programme is intense. We require our graduate entrants to have:

  1. at least a 2.1 in an Honours degree from a UK University or equivalent standard from an Overseas University (e.g. CGPA 3.5/4.0) in a relevant subject (but see funding information).
  2. two outstanding references, please see the Graduate Admissions pages below for more details (We advise that you request these well in advance of the application deadline)
  3. fluency in the English language - full information on the University's requirements can viewed here.

For more details of the University's academic requirements see the University's Graduate Admissions pages.

3)You will need to apply through theUniversity's Applicant Portal.  Apply to the course that is relevant to your first choice supervisor.

As you complete your application, please note the following:

Please select a Michaelmas Term 2026 start (01-Oct-2026).

Funding section: When asked ‘Do you wish to apply for funding?’ please tick the box ‘Yes-I wish to apply for funding’.

(Note: if you are applying to projects based at the Departments of Geography (including the Scott Polar Research Institute) or Chemistry, you may not see the funding section after 1 December; in this case you can still apply to the NERC DLA up to our 7th January 2026 deadline, but must indicate the NERC DLA topics and supervisor(s) in the respective research section of your application).

Cambridge Trust & Gates Cambridge Pages: We encourage you to complete the Cambridge Trust and Gates Cambridge sections so that you are eligible for as many sources of PhD funding as possible beyond the DLA (be aware that earlier deadlines may apply, please see the deadline section below)

UKRI: please answer 'yes' that you wish to apply to the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership section and list the CREATES DLA topic(s) and supervisor(s) here. You will also need to complete the text box asking for a 250 words summary of your research interests in the NERC remit. 

If listing multiple studentships please indicate these in priority order, and apply to the course for your top priority project.

About your planned topic (and eventual project): Depending on the course (and hence department) that you apply to, you will see a different set of questions, and of course you should answer them fully to allow the department to decide whether it is ready to admit you (irrespective of funding). However, for the DLA you will definitely need to list:
(a) Prospective supervisor(s)
(b) Topic(s) (description (a few words) of one or more areas of research) and
(c) Complete the text box with a slightly extended summary (250 words) of the area(s) of research you are interested in (some departments will ask for a longer research proposal, but the DLA will concentrate on your 250 word summary).

Where to put this information in the application form: As you work through the application form you will see (on the left) that the form is broken down into sections, staring with "About you", then "Course application", followed by "Funding" and other sections. Within "Course application", there are three subsections where you may be asked to (or be able to) enter information regarding (a), (b) and (c) above. These sub-sections are labelled "Research", "Other information" and "Course specific questions", but not all of them exist in the form for some departments so please don't worry if one of these is missing from your form.

If "Research" is present, you will be asked to answer a question "Do you have any research information to add?". Click "yes", and boxes will appear that ask you for proposed supervisor(s), title, and summary of proposed research . Please use this for (a)-(c) above. Under title, there is probably enough space for two topics, while supervisor is big enough for you to list several names. However, if you find you don't have enough space to explain all the topics and supervisors you are interested in, then please use the next section ("Other information", see below) to explain more fully.

If there is not a research section, then you will find questions about your planned research in the section "Course-specific questions". This again has a box to list prospective supervisors. Project topics can be listed in the box "Project title" if it exists; if not then there will be a box "Project / Studentship Applications" where you can list possible topics.

Finally if you have not been able to list the topics and supervisors you are interested in satisfactorily elsewhere in the form (for instance if you wish to explain that you would be interested in topic A with supervisors M or N, but topic B only with supervisor P), then use the box "Additional information to support your application" which is found under "Other information".

We emphasise again that you should answer all other questions on the form (not mentioned here). This text was designed only to ensure that you can find the right place to enter the CREATES-required information about what research topics you are interested in.

Finally in the funding section of the form be sure to indicate that you want to be considered for NERC funding. You will likely be asked to list your preferred supervisors again here. Please do so even if it seems repetitive.

Timeline:

A) Announcement:Supervisor pages for 2026 entry are now live.

B) Deadlines:

The final deadline / closing date for CREATES DLA applications is 23:59 GMT, 7th January 2026.  All supporting documentation including references must be submitted by this date.

By completing your application by the above date, the course you have applied to should also consider you for other PhD funding schemes (Cambridge Trust, etc). Three exceptions of schemes with earlier deadlines that we are aware of are:

C) Interviews:

It is anticipated that interviews will be held online the week of 23rdFebruary 2026.

D) Offers

Initial offers will be communicated starting in late February with decisions to be made by the Universal Acceptance Date agreed by NERC on noon 18th March 2026.

If you have any questions, we're happy to help. Contact the CREATES DLA Administrator at dtp-admin@esc.cam.ac.uk or the departmental Graduate Administrator.