I'vebeen told by a friend at uni that the ESRC require a 1st at UG and aDistinction at PG before they'll consider funding a student's PhD - can anyoneconfirm/deny this? their website doesn't seem to address this.



Also,how do 'internal' funding systems work? is that again down to previous academic'grades' or is it more down to the research topic, supervisor availability,interest to the dept etc etc?



Thanksall

Hope:)

Hi Hope,

The ESRC doesn't set that requirement - they require a 2:1 for basic eligibility if I remember correctly. But the competition is so high that in practice Doctoral TRaining Centres are looking for more than that. Certainly, the one I work for warned us last year that applicants without either a 1st or a Masters distinction had very little chance of being shortlisted, because the numbers of applicants with those grades was so high. The pathways that are less competitive tend to be tied to either quantitative methods or language-based area studies - there might be more of a chance of getting through with lower marks but a strong proposal with good supervisor fit.

Internal funding schemes - it depends. General scholarship schemes are likely to put a lot of weight on academic grades - again it's the level of competition. There is so little social science funding available for PhDs nowadays. Grants attached to particular research projects might be more interested in specific skills e.g. languages though.