SENSS student-led ESRC PhD studentships

UEA is a member of the South and East Network for Social Sciences (SENSS), which is a research and doctoral training partnership funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The SENSS consortium, comprised of eight universities engaged in internationally recognised social sciences research, offers ESRC studentship funding for postgraduate studies as well as a range of other training and development opportunities.

SENSS offers funding for 4.5 year Masters plus PhD studentships, as well as 3.5 year PhD-only studentships, across six themes, in the following schools of study at UEA:  Norwich Business School; School of Economics; School of Education and Lifelong Learning; School of Global Development; Law School; School of Psychology; School of Social Work; School of Media, Language and Communication Studies and School of Environmental Sciences.

Each SENSS studentship includes three-months of funding dedicated to undertaking a mandatory placement with a collaborative partner, for example a business, charity or think tank. Applicants do not need to have identified where they will do their placement at the point of applying for a SENSS studentship. Please visit the SENSS Student-Led Studentships webpage for further information.

From December 2025, there will also be some collaborative, project-led SENSS doctoral studentships available with the UEA, for an October 2026 start. For more information on this scheme, please visit the SENSS Collaborative Studentships webpage.

Entry Requirements

Residential criteria: studentships are available to all applicants, regardless of nationality or residency, across all 8 SENSS universities and al 6 SENSS interdisciplinary Thematic Areas. However, there are only a limited number of studentships (approximately 10 each year) available to international applicants. You can view the full residential eligibility guidance here.

To apply for a Masters plus PhD (4.5 year award), you will need: qualifications or professional experience equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree (Honours).

To apply for a PhD only (3.5 year award), you will need: qualifications or professional experience equivalent to a Masters degree, or a Masters degree and already have the research skills needed to successfully complete your research project.

If you have already started your PhD, you are eligible to apply for SENSS funding, but only if you have not already completed a substantial proportion of your studies.

Applicants will also need to meet institutional entry requirements, for example for English language proficiency.

Funding

Successful candidates will be awarded a SENSS ESRC studentship, which pays tuition fees and a stipend, to cover your living costs, at standard UKRI rates (currently set at £20,780 per year for the 2025-26 academic year).
Additional funding is available to help students with disabilities meet additional costs in relation to their studies.

International students in receipt of a SENSS studentship will also receive an exemption from the higher international tuition fees. This means that, whether home or international, no SENSS-funded student will have to pay any university tuition fees for the duration of their funding award.

In addition to the funding above, SENSS-funded postgraduate researchers are able to access funds to cover research and training costs linked to their PhD.

Unfortunately, SENSS is not able to provide any additional assistance with costs associated with relocating to the UK, such as visa costs or the health surcharge.

How to Apply

Early contact:

Applicants should make early contact with potential supervisors, well before the deadline. This will ensure that the applicant’s research proposal can be fully discussed and refined before their application is submitted.
Those applying for Masters programmes at UEA should ensure that they allow sufficient time to complete their applications before the deadline.

Applications:

Those wishing to be considered for SENSS studentship funding must submit two applications (or three, if applying for a UEA Masters degree):

1. Application(s) to UEA
Applications for a place to study for a PhD (and a Masters, if required) must be submitted to UEA using the University of East Anglia online application form by Monday 15 December 2025.
Current PhD students do not need to submit a new PhD application to UEA, only a SENSS application as below.

2. Application to SENSS

A separate application to SENSS for studentship funding must be made by midday on Wednesday 14 January 2026, via the SENSS online application platform. Your supervisor’s supporting statement must also be completed and submitted by this deadline.
We recommend that the SENSS application guidance is consulted as early as possible, and followed when drafting the research proposal for both the UEA PhD and SENSS applications.

Please contact senss.dtp@uea.ac.uk if you have any questions about the SENSS funding or application process.

SENSS student-led ESRC PhD studentships

Welcome to Norwich