Diabetes UK PhD Studentships

Diabetes UK’s PhD Studentships fund three-year doctoral projects in diabetes research and sit under the charity’s wider research programme. The scheme is aimed at supervisors rather than students, so the application is built around the host academic team, the project design, and the institutional setting more than around an individual candidate at the point of submission. Each studentship supports a PhD position with an annual stipend in the UKRI band used by the scheme, plus a £10,000 research allowance per year, conference support of up to £2,500, and training support of up to £1,500. The route is open to UK academic institutes and NHS Trusts, and the lead and co-supervisors need to sit at the same institution with tenured or guaranteed-salary posts. The panel looks closely at diabetes relevance, the supervisor’s training track record, the suitability of the PhD project, and the quality of the science. The scheme is deliberately selective and produces only a small number of awards each year, so applicants need a tightly argued project and a supervisory team that can show they know how to train a doctoral researcher well. It is strongest where the proposal is clearly anchored in diabetes, the supervision plan is already settled, and the project can stand on scientific merit without relying on external peer review to carry it.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.