Following are the minimum amounts a studentship will provide each year for a stipend and allowances for students supported by a full PhD award. Research organisations will determine exactly how much support they provide.
Minimum stipend
This is a tax-free payment made to the student based on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) minimum rate. Fees-only awards do not permit a maintenance stipend. ‘Inside London’ means in the City of London or a Metropolitan Police District.
2022/23:
Outside London: £17,668
Inside London: £19,668
Indicative fee level
Sessional fees including tuition, supervision, registration and bench fees. Since 2011 this includes an uplift to support researcher development and transferable skills training sometimes referred to as ‘Robert’s Money’.
2022/23: £4,596
College fees are not provided as a separate, additional fund and UKRI-approved tuition fees do not include payment for college membership costs. Research organisations may use the flexibility provided by the training grant to pay college fees, provided that:
- all other reasonable external sources of college fees have been exhausted
- the student benefits in terms relevant to their research training.
Students should not be required to pay college fees from their stipend.
Research training and support grant (RTSG)
Contribution towards consumable costs of training research students.
2022/23: £5,000
All MRC PhD studentships should be allocated a minimum £5,000 MRC-funded RTSG per year. Exceptionally, the research organisation may allocate a lower MRC-funded RTSG, where £5,000 per year is in excess of individual project requirements (for example “dry-lab” based projects or where consumable funds have been drawn from external sources where possible). Research organisations are required to keep a record of such exceptional cases, which the MRC may request for monitoring purposes. MRC units and institutes should award a minimum of £1,000 RTSG per student.
Travel and conference allowance
Contribution to the costs of attending scientific conferences, workshops or visits to collaborators.
2022/23: £300
iCASE studentships
For industrial CASE studentships, the industrial company is expected to make a financial contribution to the cost of the studentship. Read more about converting MRC DTP studentships into iCASE studentships.