Funding postgraduate study at the MRC CBU

The Cambridge postgraduate finance pages provide the most up-to-date information about Home and Overseas fees, additional costs for overseas students, and funding. You will also find additional relevant information, including answers to many frequently asked questions and a Contact Form to facilitate inquiries to the Postgraduate Admissions Office (PAO), on the Postgraduate Study page.

Applying for funding

To be considered for funding, you must apply in advance of the early December deadline (unless you are a US citizen wishing to be considered for US Gates, in which case you must apply in early October) – the key dates are here

An offer of a place on our courses and an offer of funding are independent processes. If we offer you a place, we will nominate you for all available funding schemes (Cambridge Trust, Gates, Cam DTP, DTP-MR) that we consider you to be eligible for. The Cambridge funding landscape is competetive, however, and being offered a place in any of our programs does not guarantee funding. Please also ensure in your online application that you highlight any funding you are eligible for so that you are considered in the relevant competitions. These may require you to write a statement to explain why you would benefit from a particular funding award.

You can explore the different University and College funding opportunities using the University’s Postgraduate Funding Search. Please see the External Funding Page for information about funding sources outside the University.

Once we have entered you into the above funding competitions, decisions are out of our hands. Successful applicants begin to hear about funding in March, though decisions are sometimes communicated as late as June or July. As the University funding competition is highly competitive, we always recommend that you seek out and apply for any additional funds that could support your PhD (e.g. from your home government or a charity). We are happy to assist you with this, so please do reach out to us.

A final note, previously Doctoral Training Programme in Medical Research (DTP-MR) studentships offered by the School of Clinical Medicine required a separate application. This is no longer the case, however. Candidates now instead make a single application in which they identify a proposed supervisor and host department. If the department interviews the candidate and makes an offer of a place on the course, the candidate might be invited for a second interview at School-level that focuses on non-academic criteria. The DTP-MR is structured as 0.5 + 3.5 years. with students completing two 3-month rotation projects in different laboratories and different disciplinary areas from their main field of research in the first 6 months. It is towards the end of the second rotation that students confirm their preferred project and supervisor for the remaining 3.5 years of the PhD. Both Home and Overseas applicants are eligible.

A note about self-funding

For the PhD, CBU admits only applicants who are awarded funding for the duration of their PhD from e.g. the Cambridge Trusts or Gates Cambridge, home country, or charitable organisation. This equates to a minimum 3 years of funding that covers both the University composition fee and maintenance stipend. In other words, CBU does not permit prospective appicants to ‘self-fund’ their PhD.  This approach was adopted after much careful consideration, motivated by CBU’s commitment to inclusivity and equality of opportunity and to mitigating the significant pressures that in our experience can otherwise impact both student and supervisor alike.

Note this is not the case for our master’s level couses (research MPhil in Medical Science, taught Master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience, or taught Master’s in NeuroAI and Intelligent Systems) where self-funding is permitted.