Responsive studentships allow the student or supervisor to choose the research topic.
Students can draw on any topic from any area of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) science remit.
Responsive studentship funding forms over three quarters of all NERC studentship and training investment.
Students cannot apply directly to us for studentship funding. They need to apply to the institution where they want to study.
Responsive studentship schemes
Doctoral Landscape Awards
In 2024, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched a new doctoral investment framework under which all UKRI-funded doctoral training will be delivered.
The investment framework sets out that our doctoral support will be framed around two types of awards, Doctoral Landscape Awards and Doctoral Focal Awards.
NERC will take a flexible approach to commissioning Doctoral Landscape Awards.
Over time a mix of mechanisms including ‘broad’ and ‘flexible’ funding opportunities will allow us to adapt and respond more to broader challenges across our own remit while also considering collective opportunities across UKRI.
In 2024 NERC, with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), launched a funding opportunity for Doctoral Landscape Awards where applicants applied for studentship funding to train the next generation of researchers in the environmental sciences.
This marks an important step in UKRI’s transition to a collective talent funding model.
NERC will fund 14 new Doctoral Landscape Awards from this opportunity.
Together, BBSRC and NERC will invest £293 million in more than 2,300 studentships at 21 universities across five cohorts.
The successful awards that are funded by NERC are:
- Queen’s University Belfast and University of Aberdeen Research and Training in Life and Environmental Sciences (QUARTILES), joint award. Lead institution: University of Aberdeen
- BBSRC-NERC joint Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award, joint award. Lead institution: University of Oxford
- NERC, Iapetus DLA: delivering excellence in interdisciplinary PhD training for future leaders in environmental science. Lead institution: Durham University
- Training, Research and Equity in Environmental Sciences (TREES) Doctoral Landscape Award. Lead institution: University College London
- NERC: Central England NERC Training Alliance 3 (CENTA3). Lead institution: University of Birmingham
- NERC GW4+ Doctoral Landscape Training Partnership (DLTP). Lead institution: University of Bristol
- NERC CREATES: Cambridge Research Experience and Advanced Training for Environmental Scientists. Lead institution: University of Cambridge
- NERC ARIES: Advanced Research and Innovation in the Environmental Sciences. Lead institution: University of East Anglia
- NERC Edinburgh Earth, Ecology and Environment Engagement (E5) DLA. Lead institution: The University of Edinburgh
- NERC ExaGEO: Exascale computing for Earth, Environmental, and Sustainability Solutions. Lead institution: University of Glasgow
- NERC Yorkshire Environmental Science Doctoral Training Network (YES.DTN). Lead institution: University of Leeds
- NERC Addressing the Challenges of Changing Environments (ACCE+). Lead institution: University of Liverpool
- NERC Climate system and biodiversity science for Challenges, Risks, and Opportunities – Collaborating in Understanding and Solutions (CROCUS). Lead institution: University of Reading
- NERC IGNITE: Enabling next generation environmental research and innovation. Lead institution: University of Southampton
Doctoral Training Partnerships
Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) are held by an institution or consortia and offer responsive mode NERC-funded studentships.
DTPs provide PhD training and offer studentships in a range of areas from the NERC science remit.
Large grant associated studentships
Large grant associated studentship discovery science (responsive mode) large (consortium) grants may also include funding for project students.
The research done through a project studentship will be aligned with, but independent of, the work carried out in the grant.
The research topic of large grants can be from any area of the NERC science remit.
Last updated: 5 December 2024