The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) sets out residency requirements for the award of DTP studentships. See details on eligibility for an ESRC studentship. All LSE ESRC DTP studentships are available either full or part-time.

If you are eligible and want to apply for an ESRC DTP studentship at LSE you only need to apply for a place at LSE; there is no separate application process for LSE’s ESRC DTP studentships. See details on applying for a place at LSE. All queries regarding the applicaton process should be addressed to LSE Graduate Admissions.

All students interested in being put forward for an ESRC DTP studentship at LSE must contact the academic department in which they want to be based in the first instance, to express their interest in being considered for an ESRC award. For contact details and links to relevant web pages for LSE’s academic departments see academic departments and contacts.

The process of awarding the studentships will involve the academic departments responsible, and a central panel of academic staff. Each department will nominate offer holders for studentships to the selection panel on the basis of academic merit and research potential. The panel will make the final selection.

Deadlines

Deadlines for the current round of applications are published on this webpage. Applicants wishing to be considered for LSE ESRC DTP studentships should ensure they have submitted a complete application for admission to LSE, including transcripts and references. 

If you wish to be considered for an ESRC MRes/PhD or MSc (Research)/PhD programme, you must include with your application an outline research proposal. This proposal should be a brief description of the research topic you are considering pursuing during your PhD and should explain why you are interested in this area of research.

As your research interests will develop over the year of your master's training your proposal need only be indicative. Applications for MSc (Research) programmes received without this outline research proposal will not be considered for LSE ESRC DTP studentships.

Nomination Process

Once an academic department receives an application for admission, it will consider the candidate for admission to the relevant programme. Admission to an LSE doctoral programme and the award of an ESRC studentship are separate decisions. Applicants who receive an offer of admission may also be considered by their department for nomination for doctoral funding.

ESRC studentships are awarded by the LSE ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) through LSE’s competitive doctoral funding process. Departments assess eligible candidates and make nominations for consideration by the DTP. Departments assess eligible candidates and decide which candidates to nominate for consideration by the DTP. As part of the nomination process, departments complete a Development Needs Analysis (DNA) for each nominated candidate, proposing an appropriate studentship structure and duration based on the candidate’s prior training and further training needs. Those nominations are then considered competitively by the DTP through Central Monitoring Panel (CMP) process. The main allocation process takes place in March, with successful candidates normally notified in early April. Where a studentship is subsequently declined, funding may become available for reallocation.

The DTP oversees the ESRC studentship allocation process and monitors recruitment, nomination and award outcomes as part of its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. The same academic standards and studentship selection criteria apply to all candidates. The DTP does not operate quotas, preferential selection criteria or ringfenced studentships for particular groups.

LSE ESRC DTP collaborative studentships are advertised separately and are not allocated through the CMP. Information on collaborative studentships can be found here.