Funding opportunities for graduate students

Where to Start

There are many sources of funding available to graduate students at the University of Oxford. This document lists a sample and is not intended to be exhaustive.

Student Funding Services provide the most comprehensive details of scholarships and funding opportunities available to all students across the University. A good place to start is the Scholarship Search.

Further particulars are updated regularly. However, prospective applicants for any of the schemes below are advised to check carefully with the administering body, or Student Funding Services before submitting an application, especially with regard to eligibility and deadlines.

If you are successful in being offered a place on a programme at Oxford, whether as a new or continuing student, you will, in due course, be asked to provide a Financial Guarantee. The purpose of this is to ensure that both you, and the college accepting you, are confident that you are in a secure financial position to undertake study. A lack of funding during the course of your studies is likely to hinder your academic progress and cause you anxiety. Ultimately, if you are unable to pay fees, you may not be able to continue with your studies. This guarantee ensures you have given full consideration to the need to have sufficient funding to cover you for the full duration of your time with us. Further detail about the Financial Guarantee, including details about tuition fees, college rates, the cost of living in the UK and a fees calculator, can be found on the University's fees and funding pages.

Funding Opportunities for Graduate Study at the Centre for Criminology

Criminology Graduate Studentships

The Centre for Criminology is pleased to offer graduate studentships for 2011-12. The studentships last for one year, and are intended to contribute towards the full cost of fees, for home, EU or international students. The awards are administered by the Centre for Criminology, and further details can be found below.

MSc Studentships

A number of small bursaries may be made available to those successful in obtaining a place on the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice and the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Research Methods) for 2012-13. Please quote CRIM/MSc/CGS1213 on your application form if you want to be considered for these bursaries.

ESRC DTC Studentships

The Centre for Criminology is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as a Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) and has received two ESRC funded scholarships. These studentships can be either two +3 scholarships allowing the study of the three-year DPhil in Criminology or one +3 scholarship for the DPhil in Criminology and one 1+3 scholarship allowing the study of the 1-year Masters followed by the three-year DPhil in Criminology.

For UK students these studentships cover the cost of fees for respectively three or four years together with a stipend for each year commencing at £13,590 (2010-11 rates) per annum. For EU students, the studentship covers the cost of fees only.

The application deadline for the academic year 2011-12 has now passed. Further details on the ESRC DTC scholarships for 2012-13 and on how to apply for them will appear here in January 2012.

Further Funding Opportunities

The Law Faculty’s website provides details of further schemes available to students following, and applying for, research degrees.

St Cross MPhil Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences
St Cross College invites applications for this MPhil Scholarship from students who will begin studying at the University of Oxford in the academic year 2012-2013 for an MPhil degree in any of the humanities and social science disciplines. Applicants must list St Cross College as their first choice college on their Graduate Admissions application in order to be eligible to apply for this Scholarship.

British Chevening-Oxford Australia Scholarships: Since 1998, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Oxford Australia Fund have endowed annual scholarships to enable excellent young Australian scholars to take up places at Oxford. A grant towards living expenses to the value of AUD$12,000 p/a and the equivalent of GBP£7,500 is available. Applicants should normally be under the age of 35 on 1 January in the year in which the scholarship is to be taken up. Eligible applicants should be applying for either of the Centre’s MSc programmes, but should note that strong preference is given for studies in science and innovation, new and renewable energy resources and energy security, global environmental issues, science policy, sustainable development, human rights and political science. Applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree with first or upper second class honours or equivalent from a recognised university.

Chevening Scholarships are funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and administered by the British Council, and enable overseas students to study in the United Kingdom. They are offered in over 150 countries and enable talented graduates and young professionals to become familiar with the UK and gain skills which will benefit their countries. Fully funded scholarships (covering fees, a monthly stipend and various one-off allowances) and part-funded scholarships are available. You must apply to The British Embassy/High Commission or The British Council in the country of which you are a citizen. Please see the Chevening website for further details.

Clarendon Bursaries are awarded from an Oxford University funding programme open to new graduate students in any subject who are liable to pay tuition fees at the overseas rate, for taught programmes as well as research degrees. The scheme enables outstanding candidates who have already been accepted onto programmes to take up their places. Only full awards are made. Some are offered in conjunction with particular colleges. Applications are submitted by completing the funding sections of the relevant graduate application form. As part of the admissions process, the Law Faculty will decide which applicants to nominate to the University for a Clarendon Bursary.

Commonwealth Scholarship Awards cover the full duration of an approved postgraduate programme, to Commonwealth citizens and (some) Commonwealth permanent residents by the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

Freshfields Studentships in Law are available to five students embarking on a one-year research degree, or the final year of the DPhil. These are open to EU/UK students, and are for one year only.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation offer Research Grants (for one or two years) and Dissertation Fellowships (to students in their final year of writing up). The Foundation welcomes proposals that promise to increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence, aggression, and dominance in the modern world. Particular questions that interest HFG concern violence, aggression, and dominance in relation to social change, the socialization of children, intergroup conflict, interstate warfare, crime, family relationships, and investigations of the control of aggression and violence. Research with no useful relevance to understanding human problems will not be supported, nor will proposals to investigate urgent social problems where the foundation cannot be assured that useful, sound research can be done. Priority will also be given to areas and methodologies not receiving adequate attention and support from other funding sources.

Hardship funds are available to students where unexpected circumstances may lead to financial hardship once their programme has started. This website provides details of the Access to Learning Fund, University Hardship Fund, Wolfson Childcare Scholarship and the Churches Commission for International Students Hardship Fund and Emergency Grants from the British Federation of Women Graduates.

Lionel Murphy Overseas Postgraduate Scholarships are available to Australian citizens or permanent residents who have completed, or be about to complete, an undergraduate degree in science, law or legal studies, or other appropriate discipline from an Australian tertiary institution, and intend to pursue a postgraduate degree in science, law or legal studies, or other appropriate discipline overseas. The applications must be lodged with the foundation by 1st September. The scholarships are tenable for one year only, and are currently valued at $40,000.

Rhodes Scholarships are two-year scholarships (renewable for a third year) available to applicants to Oxford from a number of countries around the world.

Weidenfeld Scholarships are awarded under a new scheme to graduate students who have completed their first degree at a university other than Oxford. The accompanying Leadership programme aims to cultivate the leaders of tomorrow and is open to candidates primarily from Eastern Europe, Russia, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Around 25 Scholarships will be awarded each year in the first three to five years of the scheme, with financial support to cover all University tuition fees and living costs - amounting to £25,000 per annum for each student. Candidates may be interviewed; expenses will be met.

Wingate Scholarships aim to award funding for projects that may not fit into any of the conventional funding categories. They welcome applications from mature students and those from non-traditional academic backgrounds. Awards are designed to help with the costs of a specific project, which may last up to three years.

The Winter Williams Studentship is awarded annually to an EU or non-EU student working towards a taught or research postgraduate degree in Law. Applicants may be new students or those already part way through their course. The studentship may be held for one or more years. Application forms and further details can be obtained from the Scholarships page on the Law Faculty website.

There are many other possibilities to consider. For more information visit the Graduate Finance Guide, or read about opportunities for scholarships not administered by Oxford.

Graduate Funding Team

A quick reference guide is available on the work of the Graduate Funding Team in the Department of Graduate Admissions & Funding at the University of Oxford together with a brief overview of the amount of scholarships available for each scholarship that they administer.