College of Social Sciences Graduate School

The minimum stipend for full-time funding recipients matches the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) minimum stipend level. The stipend value will be stated in the funding offer letter.

Stipends can only be paid into UK current accounts and cannot be paid into foreign (non-UK) bank accounts. It is the responsibility of the funding recipient to enter and update (if applicable) their banking details in MyCampus (See ‘How to add your bank account details’ guidance).

Stipends are paid monthly in line with the Student Stipend Calendar. Advance payments are not possible.

Tuition fees will be covered at the rate specified in the funding offer letter. Tuition fees will only be covered for the funded period. Tuition fees generated after the funded period will not be covered. The following possible additional fees are not covered by the fees component of any funding (see also Postgraduate Research Tuition Fees):

• Re-submission by a research student;
• Submission for a higher degree by published work;
• Submission of thesis after deadline lapsed;
• Submission by staff in receipt of staff scholarship.

Additionally, the following potential fees and charges are not directly covered by any component of the funding and would be the responsibility of the funding recipient:

• Payment for residence in college;
• Any examination which is taken for the second time;
• Any deposit which is ultimately repayable to the funding recipient (for example caution money);
• Charges for typing and binding a thesis or dissertation;
• Payment for any expense incurred either before the funding starts, or after it is formally ended.

All funding recipients are eligible for a RTSG which is used to pay for expenses which the funding recipient, their supervisor/s or their school deem to be in direct support of the research students PhD research.

A RTSG should not be considered as a personal allocation for each individual funding recipient as the RTSG is intended to be used based on a funding recipient’s needs and priorities. However, funding recipients are entitled to a notional amount per academic year, over the course of their funding. The value of the yearly notional amount as well as the total amount of RTSG over the funded period will be stated in the funding offer letter.

Funding recipients applying for a RTSG can spend more than the notional amount in a given year, so long as the overall spend does not exceed the total RTSG allowance over the funded period.

Notional RTSG values are not increased to cover extensions, however funding recipients can spend their remaining RTSG during extension periods. It is advised for funding recipients to keep a record of how much RTSG funding they have claimed.
Applications for RTSG funding should not be made retrospectively, but rather in advance of the activity. Applications are made differently depending on a funding recipient’s funding source, please refer to the Graduate Schools’ RTSG webpage for details on how to apply for RTSG.

Receipts are required for all claims. In addition, claims can be submitted up until a funding recipient’s PhD submission date (assuming the initial claim/expense occurrence took place prior to the end of the funding).

Examples of RTSG expenses are:

• Fieldwork expenses;
• UK, EU and overseas conferences and summer schools;
• Language training courses usually undertaken in the UK prior to an overseas fieldwork trip;
• Reimbursement of interpreters, guides, assistants;
• Purchase of small items of equipment e.g. cameras, tape recorders, films;
• Gifts for local informants;
• Books and other reading material not available through libraries.

RTSG is not to be used for:

• Laptops (or other computing equipment). In exceptional circumstances, we may consider requests from funding recipients to purchase a laptop or other computer equipment from this allowance. Such requests must be clearly rationalised based on the requirements of the research and the successful completion of the PhD. In such circumstances, any equipment purchased over £200 will remain the property of the funder and should be returned upon submission of the thesis;
• Visa/Immigration expenses to enter the UK to commence study or extend stay;
• Subscription costs to academic societies or professional bodies;
• Proofreading;
• Journal subscriptions;
• Job interview expenses;
• Business cards.

If a funding recipient is unsure as to whether they may claim for a particular item, they should contact the relevant RTSG contact.

All funding recipients must be resident in the UK and within commutable distance to the University campus at which they are registered for the majority of their studies.

In order to receive your Stipend, or access your Research Training Support Grant, you must be a fully registered student during the current academic session.

Stipends will only be processed after you have completed full registration prior to commencing your programme of study and will only be processed in each subsequent academic session after you have completed full registration for the current session.

Access to RTSG will similarly only be available if you are fully registered for the current academic session.

If you are not registered in the current academic session, your stipend, and access to any RTSG funds, will be paused until such time as you complete full registration. Your stipend payments will be backdated in this scenario.

Please see Registration section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook

Funding is intended to be held on a continuous basis. Sometimes, however, a funding recipient may need to interrupt their studies, for example as a result of their own persistent health problems or those of dependents, or to take up the opportunity of a temporary, short-term post which can be justified as being highly relevant to their thesis or research training.

Suspension of Studies can be requested for the following reasons:

• Care reasons
• Health reasons (see 3.4 Sick Leave and Sick Pay)
• Maternity/Adoption/Parental (see 3.5 Maternity, Shared Parental and Adoption Leave)
• PGR Internship (See 3.6 PGR Internships)
• Other Personal reasons

Suspension of Studies requests from funding recipients cannot be considered on the grounds of financial hardship.

All Suspension of Studies requests, for any reason, are subject to approval by your Supervisor, School PGR Director, Dean of Graduate Studies and, in the case of ESRC funding recipients, the SGSSS (via the University of Glasgow HEI Admin Lead).

Please note that suspensions can only be considered during the funded period. If a funding recipient interrupts their registration after their funding has finished a suspension cannot be considered.

A period of suspension cannot exceed 12 months in any one instance, and the total periods of suspension should not exceed 12 months during the lifetime of the funding. The funding recipient’s supervisor must confirm that the suspension of studies will not delay the submission of the final thesis by more than the length of the suspension. Retrospective requests cannot be considered.

Due to the nature of training received in the Master’s year/s of 1+3 or 2+3 funding (and equivalent structures), suspensions should be for 12 months to allow the funding recipient to re-join the course at the same point at which they left it.

With the exception of Suspensions for the reasons outlined in 3.3 – 3.4 below, all suspensions pause the payment of a stipend.

Please see Suspension of Study section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Funded students who are in receipt of a stipend can take up to 13 weeks (3 months) paid sick leave within any academic year, and their funding will be extended accordingly. Beyond 13 weeks, a stipend will be paused. Suspensions on account of illness cannot normally exceed 12 months and cannot be applied retrospectively.

Requests for Suspension of Study for Health reasons (paid sick leave) must be accompanied by appropriate medical documentation clearly stating the funding recipient is unfit to work for the entire period being requested.

Due to the structured nature of most Master’s programmes, the above sick leave policy does not apply during the masters’ year/s of 1+3 or 2+3 funding. Funding recipients who are taken ill during the Master’s for more than a few weeks will normally need to request a one-year suspension and return to the programme at the same point the following year.

Please see Suspension of Study section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Funded students who are in receipt of a stipend are entitled to 52 weeks (12 months) of maternity/adoption leave if the expected date of childbirth or adoption will occur during the period of funding. The first 26 weeks (6 months) are paid at full stipend rate (pro-rated for part-time funding recipients). The following 13 weeks (3 months) are paid at a level commensurate with employee entitlements to statutory maternity pay. The final 13 weeks (3 months) would be unpaid.

Partners are entitled to up to two weeks paid shared paternal leave on full stipend (pro-rated for part-time funding recipients). This leave must be taken in one go.

Partners are also entitled to an extended period of unpaid shared parental leave, up to a maximum of 50 weeks, with their funding extended accordingly. Unpaid shared parental leave must be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child. This leave may be taken in up to three blocks of leave or all at once.

Requests for Suspension of Study for Maternity, Shared Parental or Adoption Leave must be accompanied by either a Maternity certificate (MAT B1), birth or adoption certificate.

Due to the structured nature of most Master’s programmes, the above maternity, shared parental and adoption leave policy does not apply during the masters’ year/s of 1+3 or 2+3 funding. Funding recipients will normally need to request a one-year suspension and return to the programme at the same point the following year.

Please see Suspension of Study section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

The College of Social Sciences encourages participation in PGR Internships (including, but not limited to, those offered via SGSSS Internships; SGSAH Internships and Artist Residencies; CoSS PGR Internships; Careers Service Internships Hub or an externally sourced internship). It is expected that for the duration of any full-time Internship, funding recipients would take a Suspension of Studies. If the Internship is being undertaken on a part-time basis (14 or more, but less than 35, hours per week), funding recipients should request a temporary change in academic load (see also section 3.10 Change in Academic Load (Full-time to Part-time and vice versa) below).

Requests for Suspension of Study or temporary change in academic load for PGR Internship reasons must be accompanied by the Internship offer letter detailing the dates of the Internship.

Please see Suspension of Study and Changes in Circumstance sections of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Full-time funding recipients are allowed up to eight weeks’ annual leave (including public holidays) each academic year (pro-rated for Part-time funding recipients) as approved by their supervisor. Note that Annual Leave does not pause your PhD or funding, and your PhD and funding end dates will not be extended by the duration of the annual leave.

Please see Annual Leave section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Funding recipients are permitted to undertake a certain amount of paid teaching or other research work during their funding provided that they spend a minimum of 1,800 hours each academic year on their doctoral research and research training. Their programme of postgraduate training must be compatible with such work and their primary supervisor must formally approve this.

Where funding recipients undertake demonstration or teaching, or other types of employment at the University of Glasgow, they should be paid for this in addition to any stipend they receive. It should not be treated as a compulsory element of the funding or of any research training.

Funding recipients may undertake a small amount of other paid work either in term time or during holidays, but the College does not encourage such work, especially during the times when funding recipients are expected to be fully engaged in research training and thesis preparation.

Funding recipients should not be overcommitted during the period of their funding. Full-time funding recipients cannot hold either a full-time job, permanent part-time job or temporary role for an extended period of time during the period of their funding. Part-time funding recipients cannot hold a full-time job.

Full-time funding recipients cannot change to part-time for reasons of employment during the final six months of their funding.

It is important that the College is kept up to date with funding recipients supervisory teams – this means that we need to be kept informed of all proposed permanent changes to supervisory teams.

Temporary changes due to sick leave or study leave should be discussed with the PGR Director and agreed with the Head of School. CoSS Graduate School needs to be informed of such temporary changes and these will be recorded on MyCampus.

Where a proposed permanent change involves a like-for-like subject replacement (for example, a supervisor in sociology is to be replaced with a colleague in sociology within the same school), then this should be discussed with the PGR Director and agreed by the Head of School. CoSS Graduate School should be informed of the change prior to the change taking effect in order to inform your funder, as appropriate, and record the change in MyCampus.

Where a proposed permanent change involves a replacement with a colleague from a different discipline and/or school then a request should be made to CoSS Graduate School 6 weeks in advance of the proposed change with the same discussions and agreements at a school level. This is to give adequate time to inform your funder, as appropriate, and record the change in MyCampus.

Ordinarily, changes to supervisory teams should be identified during the Annual Progress Review (Please see Annual Progress section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook). If, however, a change to the supervisory team is required out with the Annual Progress Review period, this request should be made initially through the School PGR Director.

Changes to supervisory teams may impact on a funding recipients eligibility to continue receiving funding, especially where the funding has been granted through a supervisor-led competition.

Please see Supervision, Roles and Responsibilities and Changes in Circumstance sections of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Minor changes to thesis titles and research outlines should normally be identified during the Annual Progress Review (Please see Annual Progress section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook). Significant changes to the title and/or focus of research need to be approved in advance by the funder. Such approval may not be given unless a clear justification is provided.

It is recognised that research outlines and proposed titles are likely to change during the Masters programme of 1+3 or 2+3 funding, prior to the commencement of the PhD. Funding recipients should still notify their funder and CoSS Graduate School of any significant changes. Only in exceptional circumstances will a major change in topic or direction be approved during +3 funding, or during the +3 phase of 1+3 or 2+3 funding.

Please see Changes in Circumstance section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Unless specifically stated by the funder, funding recipients can undertake their programmes on a full-time or part-time basis. Stipend payments will be pro rata for part-time students at a rate of 60% of the full-time rate. Stipend payments made during a part-time Masters year of 1+3 or 2+3 funding will be made at 50% of the full-time rate.

It is possible for a funding recipient to apply to change between full-time and part-time funding, or vice versa. Funding recipients need to apply for this change to the CoSS Graduate School via their supervisor. The CoSS Graduate School recommends that, where possible, changes of academic load should take effect from the beginning of a month, i.e. 1st of the month.

While it is expected that changes would only occur once during the life of the funding, it is recognised that there may be exceptional circumstances, such as changes to domestic arrangements or undertaking of fixed term part-time employment, where a funding recipient needs to revert to their original status. Such fixed-period changes will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the CoSS Graduate School and funders. As above, funding recipients should apply for a temporary change of academic load to the CoSS Graduate School via their supervisor.

The rules governing change of academic load are:

• A case cannot be considered if it is made in the last six months of the funding or will apply only to the last six months of the funding except in very exceptional circumstances, i.e., illness or students returning from maternity/adoption leave.
• A change will not normally be allowed for acute health problems where suspension of studies is the appropriate course of action. However, where a health problem might prevent the funding recipient from permanently studying on a full-time basis, a case for a change to part-time can be considered.
• A change from part-time to full-time cannot involve employment that would prevent the funding recipient from working on the PhD on a full-time basis.
• A change from full-time to part-time will be considered where a change in domestic circumstances means that a dependant requires more of the funding recipients time, or where the funding recipient has taken up part-time employment.
• Fixed-period changes are unable to be considered with a pre-described Masters programme reserved for the research training element of the funding,

Please see Changes in Circumstance section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

The CoSS Graduate School expects doctoral projects to be designed and supervised in such a way that funding recipients can submit their thesis by the end of their funded period, as defined at the outset of the project. The CoSS Graduate School will inform funding recipients of any changes to their submission date resulting from suspension of study periods.

Funding recipients can no longer access RTSG or other benefits after the end of their funding. Funding recipients will have to pay for any fees or charges, if relevant, incurred after the funding ends. If a funding recipient submits their thesis before the end of the funding, the date of submission will become the funding end date and no further payments will be made.

Any overpaid maintenance (stipend) will be reclaimed by the University’s Finance Collections & Credit Control team.

All full-time funding recipients must submit no later than one year after their funding end date and part-time funding recipients must submit within two years of their funding end date.

Please see Thesis Submission and Examination section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

The CoSS Graduate School will consider termination of funding as a last resort and, when a funding recipient is identified as experiencing difficulty, every effort will be made by the supervisor/s, School and Graduate School to work with the funding recipient to enable successful completion of their studies.

Funding is provided to support recipients undertaking a PhD; therefore, if a funding recipient completes their studies and submits a doctoral thesis before the end of the funding, the funding recipients funding will be terminated.

If a funding recipient takes up paid full-time employment before the end date of their funding, the funding will terminate on the date of appointment.

If funding is prematurely terminated for any reason, the funding recipient must repay any monies including maintenance grant (stipend), RTSG, etc. overpaid to them. All debts that arise as a result of overpayment, for whatever reason, will be reclaimed by the University’s Finance Collections & Credit Control team.

Funding recipients may become liable for the payment of tuition fees after the termination date of any funding.

Please see Thesis Submission and Examination section of the Postgraduate Research Handbook.

Please also see Student Services and Information A - Z.

4.1. College of Social Sciences Graduate School

4.2. School PGR Administrators

4.3. School PGR Directors

4.4. Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS)