Current STARS studentships are only available to UK or EU applicants, who fulfil the NERC residence requirements outlined below:
To be eligible for a full award a student must:
- Settled status in the UK, meaning they have no restrictions on how long they can stay
- Been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the studentship. This means they must have been normally residing in the UK (apart from temporary or occasional absences)
- Not been residing in the UK wholly or mainly for the purpose of full-time education. (This does not apply to UK or EU nationals).
To be eligible for a fees only award a student must:
- Students from EU countries other than the UK are generally eligible for a fees-only award. To be eligible for a fees-only award, a student must be ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU, in the same way as UK students must be ordinarily resident in the UK.
For purposes of residence requirements the UK includes the United Kingdom and Islands (i.e. the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).
Further details about eligibility can be found on the RCUK website under “Terms and conditions of training grants” para 37 and 43.
Those students eligible for a full award will be supported by a tax free stipend (£14,777 in 2018/19), typically for 3.5 years.
All STARS students will have a Research and Training Grant to fund their research, conference attendance and networking and will be able to bid into a cohort development and mobility fund. This will support students attending subject-specific courses that require a payment, student travel to partner sites to attend courses or other research-related activities, and for students to develop and lead their own programme of community building or outreach events (e.g. student-led conferences, reading groups). Funding such as travel bursaries or existing funding within institutions (e.g. travel prizes) will also be available.
