FAQs

You will primarily be based in the University to which you applied to for your chosen programme (Brighton, Chichester, Portsmouth, or Southampton). There will however be events and training accessible for all DTP funded students at each of the institutions. For events and training has been organised by the DTP for its students, transport costs between institutions will be reimbursed.

Not all disciplinary pathways are eligible for SCDTP funding. The list on this page details all available disciplines and at which institution studentships are available.

Students who are awarded a 1+3.5 award will undertake a Masters programme in the Department where they will undertake their PhD.

Your PhD award will be disciplinary specific and be dependent on the programme on which you are enrolled at your host institution.

The South Coast DTP is a consortium of the Universities of Brighton, Chichester, Portsmouth, and Southampton with staff based at each of the partner institutions.

Yes. Students are eligible to receive funding if they wish to carry out their MSc or PhD studies on a part time basis. The overall amount of funding received will be the same as that of a full-time student but is paid on a pro-rata basis. ie for the PhD: 3 years full time rate paid at 50% over 6 years.

Unfortunately we are not able to fund students wishing to carry our their studies by distance learning

Please contact the South Coast DTP directly via email at scdtp@soton.ac.uk

We will be happy to answer any queries you may have regarding data protection rights.

Applicants can apply for 3 different types of funding.

1+3.5 – Funding is provided for students to undertake a Masters programme followed by 3.5 further years during PhD funding, including a Research-in-Practice placement.

+3.5 – Students receive 3.5 years funding whilst undertaking an accredited PhD programme at one of the partner institutions, including a Research-in-Practice placement.

+4.5 – Exceptionally a +4.5 award will be made available to students who are undertaking research of a particularly interdisciplinary nature, and including a Research-in-Practice placement. In recognition of the additional training requirements of the research, 4.5 years funding will be provided whilst undertaking an accredited PhD programme at one of the partner institutions. Students will be required to complete a tailored programme of 60 ECTS points, identified by the Development Needs Analysis which will be completed during their programme.

In addition students awarded funding to complete an Integrated PhD in Economics, Education or Gerontology (only in Southampton) will be awarded +4.5 funding, which includes a Research-in-Practice placement.

In addition to covering the costs of your programme fees, the DTP studentship also provides a basic annual maintenance grant of £18,622 (2023/24 UKRI Rate). This is not classed as income so is therefore not liable for tax.

You will also have access to a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) to fund attendance at other training courses, conferences or to purchase essential equipment for your research.

SCDTP students are also able to apply for additional funding opportunities such as Overseas Institutional Visits, and Internships.  Further details can be found on our funding webpage.

To apply for funding you will need to complete 2 applications forms.  You will need to complete an online application form for your programme of study via your chosen institution’s website.

You will also need to complete an SCDTP Funding Application form.

Further details can be found on our ‘Apply’ page.

The deadline for the receipt of applications will be 17:00 GMT on 19th January 2024.

It is very important that both forms must be submitted before the deadline.

The SCDTP Selection Committee for entry in 2024/25 will meet in March 2024. We hope to have informed all applicants of the outcome of their application by mid-April 2024.

Yes, there are word count limits for the research proposal in the South Coast DTP application form to ensure equity when assessing applications from each of our partner Universities.  Each partner may have different application requirements in their own institutional application form, so the SCDTP Funding application form aims to provide consistency of information provided.

For 1+3.5 funding applications the word count limit is 750 words.

For +3.5 funding applications the word count limit is 1,500 words.

No. The word count limits on the SCDTP application form are exclusive of references.

For all studentships, students must have qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first- or upper second-class level, from a UK academic higher education institution. Degree qualifications gained from outside the UK, or a combination of qualifications and/or experience that is equivalent to a relevant UK degree, may be accepted.

The ESRC reserves the right to deal as it sees fit with applications of an unusual character.

+3.5 Awards – The ESRC expects that applicants embarking on a +3.5 programme would have achieved a level of research training that would allow them to proceed directly to PhD; this is usually through the attainment of a previous Master’s qualification in the social sciences. In addition, +3.5 awards assume that the student will undertake a Research-in-Practice placement during their PhD. Where such placement has not taken place by the end of the third-year of studies, the SCDTP reserves the right to remove 0.25 of the +3.25 duration of funding. For more information on the Research-in-Practice, please see the Training section.

The South Coast DTP is able to accept applications from UK and International applicants to all of our accredited disciplines/pathways, however due to UKRI funding conditions, awards to non-UK residents are capped at 30% of our overall allocation.

To be classed as a home/UK student, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements below), or
• Have settled status, or
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements below), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

You should refer to the UKRI terms and conditions of training grants for full details.

Following the ESRC’s commitment to increasing the diversity of the student population, the SCDTP uses a set of assessment criteria which aim at assessing the applicants’ potential in a more holistic manner. These criteria include:

i) Applicant’s academic potential;

ii) Proposed research; and

iii) Feasibility, Aptitude & Fit.