How to apply for an open studentship

The LAHP Open studentship competition for 2025/26 entry will open for applications in December 2024.

LAHP is a Doctoral Training Partnership co-funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and eight Higher Education Institution (HEI) partners:

• King’s College London
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• Queen Mary University of London
• Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
• Royal College of Art
• Royal College of Music
• School of Advanced Study
• University College London

LAHP funds up to 90 PhD studentships each year at these HEIs in subjects across the Arts & Humanities. Of these studentships, 10% are Collaborative Doctoral Awards with a cultural or other external partner. There are separate competitions for CDA and open studentships.

The information and FAQs on this page focus on the open studentship competition. See here for information about the CDA competition.

Please read the information and FAQs on this page as you prepare your application. There is also an FAQ section for supervisors available here.

Information sessions will be held in November and December 2024. Further information on these will be updated here in due course.

LAHP welcomes applications:

• From ‘home’ and ‘international’ (including EU) applicants (Please refer to ‘International Students‘);
• Across all of LAHP’s subject areas and approaches in the arts & humanities, including for inter-disciplinary and practice-based research;
• From applicants who have completed the required qualifications to be eligible for your chosen doctoral programme (e.g. a Masters degree) and those with relevant professional and/or practitioner experience;
• From those wishing to study on a full-time or part-time basis;
• From applicants of all ages and backgrounds.

To be eligible for a LAHP open studentship in the forthcoming recruitment round you must either:

• Have submitted an application to commence a programme of postgraduate study at a LAHP partner institution in the 2025/26 academic year (i.e. to start in October 2025), or
• If you have already commenced doctoral study, you may apply for funding for the remainder of your study, providing that, at the start of the AHRC award (1st October 2025), you will have at least 50% of the period of study remaining (excluding the ‘writing-up period’).

Funding is available for both full-time and part-time students. Awards cannot normally be deferred. Successful candidates will be assumed to be starting their studies in October 2025 unless there are exceptional circumstances approved by LAHP and your Research institution.

Structural inequalities in education have resulted in the under-representation of Black and Global Majority doctoral students. LAHP is committed to increasing the number of awards made to British Black and Global Majority doctoral students. A minimum of five studentships across LAHP’s open competition will be awarded to Home status Black and Global Majority students for entry in October 2025. The award of these studentships will be confirmed by LAHP’s Studentship Award Panel.

Students who identify as People of Colour, BAME and/or part of Black and Global Majority racial and ethnic groups will be eligible to be considered for one of these studentships. We aim to award a minimum of three of these studentships to Black British students (Black or Black British African, Black or Black British Caribbean, Black or Black British other or Mixed Black or Black British) because these students are disproportionately under-represented at LAHP.

All students should apply to LAHP’s open competition in the normal way. There will be a tickbox to indicate your eligibility to be considered for one of these studentships.

We welcome applications for all studentships:

• across all of LAHP’s subject areas and approaches, including for inter-disciplinary and practice-based research;
• from those who have recently completed their Masters’ programmes and those with relevant professional and/or practitioner experience;
• from those wishing to study on a full- or part-time basis;
• from applicants of all ages and backgrounds.

LAHP can award up to 30% of its studentships (including stipend) to international students. The AHRC will only fund the Home fee. The difference between the Home and International fee must be found elsewhere, e.g. from the HEI, an external funder or student contribution. Applicants should discuss this further with their prospective supervisors.

LAHP encourages all international applicants to apply to other funding sources that could cover the difference between the Home and International fee.

Please refer to the UKRI eligibility criteria for further information about ‘Home’ and ‘International’ fee status .

The timeline for the 2025/26 application cycle will be updated here shortly.

Before applying for a LAHP open studentship you must either have applied to commence a programme of postgraduate study in the 2025/26 academic year or be a continuing student on an eligible programme at one of LAHP’s partner institutions. You are advised to apply for your place of study well in advance of the LAHP application deadline to ensure that you have time to discuss your application with your proposed supervisor.

After submitting an application for a programme of postgraduate study at your chosen LAHP institution, you will receive an application ID number from the institution. Question 1 of the LAHP application form asks you to provide this ID number. If you have already commenced doctoral study, please enter your existing student ID number.

If your project crosses the remit of the AHRC and another UKRI Research Council, it is possible for you to apply to both LAHP and another DTP funded by a different Research Council. Note that LAHP does not forward your application to other DTPs for consideration. You must apply separately to each DTP. If you are successful in both the LAHP competition and that of the other DTP, AND you are applying through a university that is a member of both DTPs, LAHP may approach the other DTP to discuss possible joint funding of your studentship.

You would need to be successful in both the LAHP competition and the other DTP competition in order to be considered for a joint studentship. Joint funding would not affect the value of your stipend. You would be registered in the institution of your first supervisor, receive a degree from that institution and be subject to its regulations. One DTP would be identified as your ‘home’ DTP for administrative purposes, but you would be a member of both DTPs and have full access to their training and events programmes.

Applications are assessed against clear criteria (Assessment Criteria). Scoring will be based on:

• Quality of the research proposal (worth 50%): significance, originality and clarity of the research proposal; underpinning ideas, aims and research questions; research design, methodology and/or sources; suitability of the proposal for doctoral research; dissemination and potential impact of the research.
• Preparedness of the student (worth 25%): previous academic achievements in relevant subject areas and/or relevant professional / practitioner experience (particularly for applicants with non standard academic trajectories); relevant knowledge, skills and/or training – and identification of training needs
  for proposed research.
• Feasibility of proposed research (worth 25%): likely completion within the timeframe; identification of training needs; justification of fieldwork and study visits; synergy with proposed supervisors’ research and wider intellectual culture of the department, HEI and LAHP.

There is a three-stage assessment process (assessment process – visual representation):

• Stage 1: applications will be assigned to one of 25 Subject Area Groups (SAGs). The SAG members are from each of LAHP’s HEIs that accepts PhD students in that subject area. Each SAG agrees a ranked list of applications to forward to the next stage of the competition.
• Stage 2: the ranked lists of applications from each SAG will be assessed by one of four Disciplinary Clusters (DCs). The chair from each SAG will sit on one DC. The DCs are chaired by LAHP’s Director and Deputy Director (Training & Cohort Development). Each DC agrees a ranked list of applications to forward to the next stage of the competition.
• Stage 3: ranked lists of applications from each DC will be assessed by the Studentship Award Panel (SAP). The academic members from LAHP’s Core Management Group (from each of its eight HEI partners) sit on SAP. SAP is chaired by LAHP’s Director. SAP will confirm the award of a minimum number of Black and Global Majority studentships.
  Please note that applications will be read by subject specialists in Stage 1, and then by assessors across a range of subject areas. It is important to frame your research proposal in a way that conveys its quality and originality both to subject specialists and those across different subject areas in the arts and humanities.