Hi All,

I am from Germany and currently studying at MA level in UK. I would like to continue my studies with a PhD in UK, but read that full AHRC funding is only available to people with 3 years of residency in UK prior to their AHRC funding application. I do not fulfill this requirement. What other possibilites are there to secure PhD funding in the humanities field? Any help and suggestions are highly appreciated.

Thanks.

You can still apply for funding from the AHRC, but if you are successful you will only recieve funding for the PhD fees. You will need to cover living costs yourself.

However, there may be other sources of funding (such as University Studentships) which are available to all EU students and will fund you for both fees and living costs. Keep your eyes open for these as they will probably be advertised late this year/early next year to start in September 2008.

hey there,
yes, do apply for AHRC - it will be "fees only" but that is a lot of money! if you have the fees taken care of for all three years, you can be quite optimistic of finding a way to muddle through even if things don't go perfectly.
many universities also give one-off, yearly grants, that you need to re-apply for every year. usually the deadlines are quite early.
check out german sources of funding. i think there might be age restrictions, but otherwise the government and diverse foundations do fund PhDs abroad.
then, look for topic-related funding, try the german member federation of the IFUW if you are a woman, look at what scholarly organisations have to offer (for example there is a society for the sociology of health and medicine which provides funding for PhDs in this area, and such things).
also, contact your potential future supervisor who might have further ideas for funding!

Both of you encourage me to look further. I guess the reality in my case is, that I will have to do more work in applying each year for example, than others who receive full PhD funding for three years.
Thanks so much.

Hi again. Is it possible to apply to two funding bodies at the same time? That would be at my own university for a fellowship and the AHRC for example?

There are other universities in UK that offer better funding opportunities. Is it possible/advisable to apply to two universities at the same time as a backup? Would be helpful to know how others handle these situations. Thanks.

yes, you can apply to several funding sources. you should, too, as each individual application can, of course, fail.

it does not hurt to apply to several universities, either. being fully funded at the second best university choice is probably more promising than being unfunded at your first choice.