Scholarships to support the most outstanding international applications
The President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Award is the University's flagship funding initiative and gives outstanding students from around the world a foundation to support research training.
The awards are allocated to our most outstanding international (non-UK) candidates seeking PhD opportunities at Manchester and are open to all nationalities and research areas.
For 2025 entry, we will award nine fully-funded scholarships within the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. This will include applicants and projects which align with our Global South Initiative.
On this page:
Opportunities
Successful PDS Award holders will benefit from:
Research leadership
You'll benefit from international research leadership under distinguished scholars.
Exclusive events
You'll be invited to exclusive events with our President and Vice Chancellor, academic community and other PDS Awards students.
Transferable skills
Benefit from our extensive transferable skills training for PhD researchers.
Funding
Fully-funded scholarship
The 3.5-year fully-funded scholarships will cover:
- all university tuition fees at the international rate;
- a tax-free annual stipend (at UKRI rate) plus a £1,000 stipend enhancement.
Eligibility
Eligibility criteria
To be considered for this award, candidates must meet all of the following criteria:
- hold a conditional/unconditional offer for a PhD programme to commence in September 2025;
- hold (or are about to obtain) a first-class honours undergraduate degree (or international equivalent) from a reputable institution;
- ideally, hold a master's-level qualification at merit or distinction (or international equivalent);
- have a track record of engaging with research. This may include contributions to publications/articles, promoting their research to a wider audience, prizes for research or project work;
- be interested in attending a series of exclusive events to facilitate interactions with our academic community and network with other PDS Award holders.
We will only consider applications for these full scholarships once you receive a formal offer.
Application forms will be provided to the Primary Supervisor following the issue of an offer letter to the candidate for a PhD programme.
How to apply
Step-by-step guide to applying
Applications are now open for 2025/26
If you wish to be considered for this award, you must first find a project, contact the listed project supervisor to discuss your suitability for the project and apply for the project before Wednesday 15 January 2025. You can find out more about projects, supervisors and applying on our getting started and applying pages.
When applying you should state that you intend to apply for a PDS Award on the application form.
Once you have been interviewed and offered a place for your chosen project, you will need to be nominated for the PDS Award by your supervisor. You'll work with your primary supervisor to complete the PDS nomination form and this will need to be submitted to the Faculty Doctoral Academy by Friday 21 February 2025.
All PDS applications will be reviewed internally and a shortlist of candidates will be interviewed before final offers on funding are made.
Interviews are expected to take place in March 2025.
To support the development of links with Global South, should two candidates of equal quality be identified following the panel interviews, priority will be given to the project/candidate linked to that region.
President's Doctoral Scholar Award at Manchester
Learn more about the University's flagship funding scheme for postgraduate research studentships.
