--- title: "Imperial College President's PhD Scholarships 2026" description: "Full tuition plus a stipend of GBP 27,036 a year for a new 3.5-year PhD at Imperial, open to candidates from Imperial, the UK and worldwide. Considered in three rounds a year; the next closes 2 November 2026." url: "https://worldwide-scholarships.com/scholarships/imperial-college-presidents-phd-scholarships/" type: "website" --- [All scholarships](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/scholarships/) Imperial College London # Imperial College President's PhD Scholarships Full tuition plus a stipend of GBP 27,036 a year for a new 3.5-year PhD at Imperial, open to candidates from Imperial, the UK and worldwide. Considered in three rounds a year; the next closes 2 November 2026. Checked 14 Sept 2026 [Apply on the official site](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/postgraduate-doctoral/grants-scholarships/presidents-phd/) - **Deadline:** Earliest round · 7 · days left - **Study in:** United Kingdom - **Level:** PhD - **Covers:** Tuition fees, Living costs, Other costs **Why there is no date here.** There is no single closing date. Imperial considers applications for 2027-28 entry in three rounds. Apply by 23:59 UK time on 2 November 2026 and, if awarded, you are notified by 31 January 2027. Apply by 23:59 UK time on 11 January 2027 and you are notified by 15 April 2027. Apply by 23:59 UK time on 1 March 2027 and you are notified by 31 May 2027. Funded start dates for 2027-28 run from 1 August 2027 to 1 November 2027. Applicants not selected for the scholarship are automatically considered for a standard, unfunded PhD place instead. What you get Full funding for tuition fees. A stipend of GBP 27,036 a year (2027-28 rate) to assist with living costs, for the full 3.5 years of study. A consumables fund of GBP 2,000 a year for the first 3 years. A programme of bespoke opportunities and events delivered by the Early Career Researcher Institute. Fifty scholarships are available. Travel to the UK and visa costs are not listed as covered. Covers - Tuition fees - Living costs - Other costs ## Who can apply - Open to new PhD applicants from Imperial College London, the UK and worldwide; no restriction by nationality, though some departments may be unable to support international candidates - Already registered Imperial PhD students are not eligible - In receipt of, or due to receive, a first-class or equivalent undergraduate or integrated Master's degree; or, failing that, a distinction in a standalone Master's, with evidence of high performance if the result is still pending - Must have already contacted a supervisor in an Imperial academic department who has agreed to supervise the proposed research project; a supervisor may take only one President's Scholar at a time - A department may put forward a candidate as a special case if grades fell short for extenuating reasons but the candidate is otherwise judged to be of the required calibre - Applies to both full-time and part-time study - There is no separate scholarship application form; select the scholarship option in the funding section of the online PhD admissions form, and your department puts you forward based on academic merit and potential - Nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar or Sudan should check the UK government's current "visa brake" policy on gov.uk before applying: since 26 March 2026 it refuses Student visa applications made from outside the UK by nationals of those four countries, even where an offer or scholarship is already secured, and it is reviewed periodically rather than indefinite ### There is no separate scholarship form, only a box to tick There is no separate scholarship form here. You apply for PhD admission through Imperial’s own online system exactly as any other applicant would, and inside that form’s funding section you simply select the President’s PhD Scholarship option. Your department then puts you forward for the scholarship itself, based on academic merit and potential, alongside deciding your admission. Applicants who are not selected for the scholarship are automatically considered for a standard, unfunded PhD place instead, so applying for this does not put your admission at risk. ### Line up a supervisor before you do anything else Before you can meaningfully apply, you need to have already contacted a supervisor in an Imperial academic department and secured their agreement to supervise your proposed research project. This is the real bottleneck: supervisors are limited to taking on only one President’s Scholar at a time, so a popular supervisor may simply not be available, regardless of how strong your own application is. Check Imperial’s own Unavailable Supervisors page before you invest time reaching out to someone who cannot take a scholar this round. ### Three rounds a year, each with its own notification date Applications are considered at three points across the academic year rather than against one annual deadline. Apply by 2 November 2026 and, if successful, you hear by the end of January 2027. Miss that and there is a second round closing 11 January 2027, and a third closing 1 March 2027, each with its own later notification date. Funded places for the 2027-28 year can start any time from 1 August to 1 November 2027, so an early-round offer does not necessarily mean an early start. ### The personal statement has a fixed two-page structure The personal statement here is not a single free-form document. Imperial’s own guidance is specific: it is a two-page document, with the first page a personal statement of motivation and the second page your actual research proposal, written in the first person. A separate, more detailed research proposal document can go in a different field if your department asks for one. You also need to name two academic referees, and they must not be your proposed PhD supervisor, a detail easy to get wrong if you assume your supervisor doubles as a referee the way they might for other applications. ### A bar set higher than “good enough for a PhD” This is a competitive scheme with a bar set above ordinary PhD admission, not level with it. Imperial’s own eligibility criteria call for a first-class or equivalent undergraduate or integrated Master’s degree, or, failing that, a distinction at standalone Master’s level. If your grades fell short for a genuine, extenuating reason but your research potential is otherwise judged strong enough, your department can put you forward as a special case, but that route runs through the department directly and is worth raising with them before you submit anything. For a similarly funded UK doctoral route to compare against, see the [Clarendon Fund Scholarships](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/scholarships/clarendon-fund-scholarships/) at Oxford, which works on a broadly similar automatic-consideration principle but through a different admissions calendar entirely. Where this comes from Every fact above was read on **imperial.ac.uk**, the awarding body's own website, and last confirmed on **14 September 2026**. Nothing here is taken from another directory. Funding bodies change deadlines and eligibility rules without notice, and we are not affiliated with Imperial College London. Always confirm on the official site before you apply. Reviewed by the [Worldwide Scholarships editorial team](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/about/) [Apply on the official site](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/postgraduate-doctoral/grants-scholarships/presidents-phd/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MonetaryGrant","name":"Imperial College President's PhD Scholarships","description":"Full tuition plus a stipend of GBP 27,036 a year for a new 3.5-year PhD at Imperial, open to candidates from Imperial, the UK and worldwide. 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