Scholarships & funding

Carnegie Vacation Scholarships

Carnegie Vacation Scholarships enable undergraduate students to develop their abilities and knowledge through the design and execution of an independent summer research project.

The scheme is open to students from low-income households who are ordinarily resident in Scotland and enrolled on an undergraduate degree course at an eligible Scottish institution. Scholarships are intended to cover recipients living costs while they undertake their research, learning how to design and manage a self-developed project, gaining useful experience and skills in preparation for postgraduate study or the workplace. Students often see their research results published in academic journals or reported in conference presentations.

You are eligible to apply for this Scholarship scheme if you:

• are ordinarily resident in Scotland and were so before beginning your degree. This means that your permanent home address was in Scotland prior to starting university (if you are in Scotland purely to study, but otherwise would be living elsewhere, you are not considered to be ordinarily resident);
• reside in a low-income household (please refer to the Guidance on Total Household income);
• are an undergraduate student at one of the following institutions:
• universities: Aberdeen, Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Highlands and Islands, Queen Margaret, Robert Gordon, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, West of Scotland;
• Glasgow School of Art
• Royal Conservatoire of Scotland;
• are enrolled at that institution for the full duration of your degree, or have transferred to that HEI after completing an HNC/HND from a Scottish college;
• are in the 3rd year of a 4 year degree, OR in the 3rd or 4th year of a 5 year degree OR in the 2nd year of a 3 year degree (for example Nursing, Midwifery, BA Acting/Ballet etc.). Part-time students must be at an equivalent stage in their course.
• are entitled to live and work in the UK. Where applicable students will be asked to prove that they hold the right to work full-time in the UK.
• have never previously held a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship.

 

Who can’t apply

You are not eligible for this award if:

• your permanent home address is outside Scotland
• you are not an enrolled undergraduate at one of the 17 eligible Scottish institutions listed
• you are in the final year of your course and are scheduled to graduate in summer 2026
• you have held a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship in the past
• your migration status does not entitle you to work in the UK.

If you are unsure about any aspect of your eligibility, please submit an enquiry by email to vacation-scholarships@carnegie-trust.org.

Value

How to apply

Information on how to apply can be found at https://carnegie-trust.org/award-schemes/vacation-scholarships/

For more information contact: admin@carnegie-trust.org