Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships
Leverhulme have confirmed that the next round of Doctoral Scholarships will open in November 2025, with a deadline of 6 March 2026. This call is to establish a cohort of up to 30 PhDs in an interdisciplinary priority research area for the host institution.
Please note – this call is open to all disciplinary backgrounds. Last year’s disciplinary restrictions on Leverhulme Centres does not apply to this scheme.
You can find further information about this call can be found on the funder webpage.
You can also find previously made awards under this scheme on the funder’s webpage.
Leading on a Submission
University of Glasgow is permitted to lead ONE application. This means we are putting in place demand management (find out more about demand management and why we use it)
Before selecting University of Glasgow’s application, we want to make sure people have chance to get feedback on their ideas, and potentially combine proposals where there is overlapping interest and expertise. We are therefore using a two-stage process. Both stages are mandatory.
Stage 1: Mandatory Expression of Interest
- EOI deadline: 4pm, Thursday 25 September 2025. https://forms.office.com/e/ivDpP8rhLdInternal
- This EOI is not assessed, however, you will not be able to proceed further in the internal process without completing it.
- We strongly recommend discussing with your College Research Office before submitting an EOI. All EOIs will be shared with College Research Offices once submitted.
- Submitted EOIs will be invited to an online pitching and feedback session during w/c 6 October. This is optional but recommended.
- Submitted EOIs will then receive the internal application form, and assessment criteria.
Stage 2: Internal Application
- Internal application deadline: 4pm, Tuesday 18 November 2025.
- Only those who completed an EOI are eligible to submit an internal application for the formal selection process.
- The selection process will be chaired by Professor Chris Pearce, with a panel being held Wednesday 3 December.
- This is to enable the selected applicant/team enough time to begin work on the full proposal, before the winter break.
Partnering on a Submission
The funder has also put restrictions in place re. partnering on a submission. Specifically, we can only submit one bid in any one disciplinary area to this call. Here, disciplinary area refers to the overall submission – the funder has acknowledged this will not always be straightforward given the interdisciplinary focus of many submissions.
What this means:
- We cannot partner on a bid if we are also leading a bid in that overall disciplinary area.
- We cannot partner on two bids in the same overall disciplinary area.
We therefore need to keep track of potential bids where we are a partner, to avoid multiple bids in the same disciplinary area. It also means that we cannot confirm whether we are able to partner on specific bids for this call, until we have selected and know the disciplinary area of the bid we will lead on.
Partnering on a bid with another institution
- Anyone interested in partnering on a bid should submit an EOI by 4pm, Monday 1 December. This is a different EOI form than for leading a bid.
- We will cross-check partner EOIs received by this date, and confirm there is no overlap in the overall disciplinary area (either with the selected lead bid, or with other potential partner bids).
- In the event of disciplinary overlap between partner bids, we may need to introduce a short selection process.
- Requests to partner on bids received after 1 December may be considered, but you MUST liaise with your College Research Support Office to check that we are not already involved in another bid in that disciplinary area.
Summary of Key dates
|
Lead |
Mandatory EOI (not assessed) |
4pm, Thursday 25 September 2025 |
|
Lead |
Pitching and feedback session (not assessed) |
w/c 6 October (online) |
|
Lead and partner |
Funder formally opens call |
Monday 3 November 2025 |
|
Lead |
Internal application (assessed) |
4pm, Tuesday 18 November 2025 |
|
Partner |
EOI for partnering on a bid (may be assessed if more than one EOI received for same disciplinary area) |
4pm, Monday 1 December |
|
Lead and partner |
Selection complete and applicants notified |
No later than Friday 5 December 2025 |
|
Partner |
Additional EOIs may be considered where we are not already involved in a lead/ partner bid in that disciplinary area - must still complete partner EOI form |
December 2025 – February 2026 (EOIs considered on “first come first served” basis) |
|
Lead and partner |
Funder deadline |
12pm Friday 6 March 2026 |
|
Lead and partner |
Decisions announced |
July 2026 |