Many students successfully fund their studies through scholarships, but you may also need to consider alternative sources, including student loans, part-time work, or savings.
Below, we discuss some ways to navigate the funding landscape, how to prioritise your efforts, and some key resources and links you can explore for further support.
You can also discuss your PhD plans and funding at a PhD-specific careers appointment with LSE Careers.
PhD funding sources
Institutional funding
As a first step, always look at institutional funding for PhDs. Options for this are usually linked to an institution’s admissions and applications pages.
For institutional funding information at LSE, check out:
Other funding sources
You may also consider other funding sources during your PhD.
LSE has a subscription to the Research Professional funding database – this means you will be able to create an account from within LSE and then access it off-site using your account. The database includes funding options at all levels including conference funding, travel funds, and early-career research fellowships.
Here are some other useful sources to check out:
- All-Acad.com – Search thousands of positions and grants in economics, social science, in research and industry at worldwide leading universities, colleges, schools, research institutions and companies.
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – Small and large grants, and project grants for students in humanities-based social sciences.
- Chevening Scholarships – Chevening Scholarships enable outstanding emerging leaders from many countries in the world to pursue a PhD degree in the UK.
- Commonwealth PhD Scholarships – For applicants from least developed countries and vulnerable states, as classified by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), in the Commonwealth, for full-time doctoral study at a UK university. See also: Commonwealth Scholars – LSE Information.
- Commonwealth PhD Scholarships for high income countries – Commonwealth PhD Scholarships are for candidates from high income Commonwealth countries (as defined by the OECD), for full-time doctoral study at a UK university.
- Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) – Information on European research initiatives, including EU-funded research programmes.
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – The UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues.
- eduPASS – Wide range of information about studying in the US as an international student on undergraduate, graduate or professional education programmes. Includes information on paying tax on pay, scholarships, grants and other funding.
- FindAPhD Funding Page – List of funding opportunities for PhD students from the FindAPhD website.
- FindAPhD – Postgraduate research degrees, PhDs, studentships and scholarships.
- Ford Foundation – Provides grants to support research into social change and development.
- Fulbright Scholar Program – The US government's flagship program in international educational exchange.
- Funding for US Study – A database of scholarships, fellowships and grants organised and maintained by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) – scholarship database – Database of scholarships and funding opportunities in Germany.
- GlobalGrant – Database of international scholarships and grants.
- International Education Financial Aid (IEFA) – Searchable for scholarships and other sources of funding, eg, financial aid, college scholarship and grant information, for US and international students wishing to study abroad.
- Jobs.ac.uk – Leading UK site for academic and academic-related jobs; includes some overseas jobs and PhD funded scholarships.
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation – Endowed charity that funds a large, UK-wide research and development programme focussing on social policy issues, maybe of limited use for individuals.
- Leverhulme Trust – Funding for cross disciplinary research.
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) – Supporting researchers in health and social care. #
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) – The UK's main agency for funding and managing research, training and knowledge transfer in the environmental sciences.
- Nuffield Foundation – Fund research and innovation in education and social policy.
- Research – News, funding opportunities and jobs for researchers. A paid subscription is required for certain news stories and funding opportunities.
- Research Professional – Source of information about international research, has UK and international funding and jobs.
- SOAS Funding – Information from SOAS listing external sources of funding to fund or supplement the funding of a PhD.
- Social Science Research Council (SSRC) – An independent US-based nonprofit organisation devoted to the advancement of social science research and scholarship.
- UK Research Office – The UK's leading information and advice service on European Union funding for research and higher education.
- Wellcome Trust – Grants for research related to human health.
Using AI to search for funding
Generative AI (GenAI) can be used to identify potential sources of funding for your PhD, but you must use it carefully.
Below is an example prompt you could adapt to start an AI search for sources, in addition to using the resources above. However, make sure you use critical judgement to consider the results it produces to confirm your eligibility, as well as the relevance and availability of the funding option in your own context. Underneath the sample prompt is further information about how to use any information you gather in this way.
Sample GenAI Prompt:
"I am a prospective student looking for funding for a PhD postgraduate course in the UK. I would like you to act as a researcher and scan databases online to create a list of a range of possible funding sources and charities that I may be eligible for – a minimum of 25 for me to explore. Below are some facts about me, my course and more details that you should take into account that may affect my eligibility:
About me: I am 24 years old, female, an Austrian citizen who would be an international student in the UK, with a place on the full-time PhD in international relations at LSE, I am looking to raise funding towards the overall costs of fees and living expenses.
About the degree: full-time PhD in International Relations at LSE, the course description is here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-relations/research/mphil-phd-programme-ir?entryId=2319c173-7bdc-45d3-9a69-d12fd54340d7&nodeId=e2e64854-5d30-44fa-a289-a5ef76104f3e and more details are here https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/graduate/mphilphd-international-relations. It is a postgraduate research course and will be taught at the LSE on campus in London.
About grants: I would be open to all types of grant – unrestricted, fees and maintenance, research/travel/conference, study costs, or contributions towards writing up / researching a final thesis or dissertation. Please generate me names of the funding bodies and charities/organisations, a 100-200 word summary of the organisation and the grants or funding potentially available, plus their web address or contact details so I can explore further. Include specifically the range of the value of the funding or grants if specified, when they are available, any key eligibility criteria also. Do this for all 25+ sources. Also, do not include any sources that require a paid licence or membership to access."
Using AI generated information
Always verify the information provided by AI with the official funding body's website, as details can change. Whether prompting GenAI or using agents, specific dates and figures can be misrepresented or hallucinated by the platform, so you must only use AI as part of the process, and not just accept your final output at face value – use critical judgement to check and evaluate the information the AI tool has given you.
When approaching use of GenAI in your career planning, you can use LSE Careers’ ACRES model for AI prompt design to support you:
- Assess your needs, then Clarify and contextualise: The prompt is highly specific. It doesn't just ask for "funding"; it details the user's nationality, age, course, and the type of grants they're interested in. However, it is mindful of security and doesn’t provide a level of detail that would be identifiable at an individual level or confidential. Providing context is crucial for getting relevant, targeted results.
- Engage, Refine, Synthesise: While the prompt itself is the first step, its detailed nature is designed to produce a high-quality initial output. This allows you to effectively engage with the results, refine them with follow-up questions, and synthesise the information into your own research notes.
By using AI in this structured way, you are empowering yourself to conduct effective research while taking accountability for the final output. This approach also encourages you to check the reliability of the AI's output by cross-referencing with the official funding links provided.