Payment of maintenance grants (stipends)
The payment of maintenance grants (stipends) to postgraduate research students whose awards are paid via the University and not direct from the Funders are paid monthly in advance through payroll. Students will receive their payment through their bank on the same day as staff – the last Friday of the month. This does not affect the tax status – it is tax free.
Students need only complete one form which will cover the whole of their studies - unless, of course, there is a change in the bank details originally supplied.
Please note if you wish to change your bank details or address, the information must be received at least 10 working days before pay day. (Please also note that address information is held by the Payroll department and is separate from any details held in the Faculty, therefore if changing address in the Faculty you must specify whether the maintenance grant details also need amending).
Click here to download the Postgraduate Research Maintenance Grant
Research Training Support Grants (RTSG)/Bench Fees
Research councils automatically provide, as part of the studentship, a bench fee (RTSG) normally in the region of £750-£1000 per annum. However, students who are offered a place subject to finding their own source of funding are asked to pay bench fees on top of their tuition fees to cover the cost of consumables, fieldwork costs, training courses etc. The amount charged will be explained in individual offer letters.
Previously schools have charged the following standard amounts per annum to cover such costs:
BIO £1,000-£3000; CHE: £4,000; CMP £1,000; ENV £1,000; MTH £500; PHA £1,500
In exceptional circumstances school have waived such fees, but this is at the discretion of the appropriate Head of School.
All such monies received are credited to a RTSG/Bench fee account under the student’s name, with all expenditure relating to the student’s study being debited against this account. Students are notified of their account numbers at the beginning of their studies.
Wherever possible items of expenditure should be charged direct to these accounts. In some cases this is not possible and instead an ‘average’ amount for such items such as telephones, stationery, faxes, photocopying, computing cons, interlibrary loans etc., is top sliced from the student’s account at the beginning of each year. No other expenditure is automatically debited from these accounts without the authority of either the student and/or supervisor.
Expenditure, on a daily basis, will be monitored by the Science Finance Team.
NERC – additional 6 month stipend (applicable to BIO and ENV students only)
NERC now provides an additional 6 month stipend along with its studentships. The Graduate Studies Executive have decided that these additional funds will be allocated as follows:
‘It was recognised that, during any PhD, some unexpected delays will occur and an allowance for these should be made when completion schedules are drawn up at the start of studentships. It is important that the remit of studentships is appropriately specified from the outset to allow timely completion. The expectation of NERC is that theses should normally be submitted within three years of the commencement of studentships. Hence applications for support via the additional NERC stipend will only be considered in cases where considerable delays that could not be anticipated or planned for have taken place. Examples of such situations could be the unexpected failure of a large experiment (for example, a crop dies or a machine malfunction takes place resulting in the loss of samples or data), the unexpected closure of a facility that was to be used by the student, or a significant delay or failure in the provision of crucial materials, data, or analytical facilities by a research partner. An unrealistically high workload in the remit of the studentship or the occurrence of minor delays or those which could have been anticipated and for which provision could have been made would not be qualifying criteria for the allocation of the stipend.
School Specific Funds
If no other source of funding is available then it might be possible to apply to your school for support. Each school has their own procedures; please see individual entries below which gives information on the appropriate points of contact:
School of Biological Sciences
Head of School Secretary, Mrs Carol Knock (room S0.22).
School of Chemistry
Primary supervisor
School of Computing Sciences
Head of School Secretary, Mrs Sue Koria (room S2.01).
School of Environmental Sciences
Complete an ‘Application for Financial Support’ form and return it to Carrie White, Faculty Manager, ENV (room S0.35)
School of Mathematics
Head of School Secretary, Mrs Anna Holdom (room S1.30)
School of Pharmacy
Primary supervisor
