The Studentship Data System is now live. It will enable research organisations to manage studentship records more efficiently, improving data accuracy and supporting better reporting and analysis across UKRI.
The annual training grant report will also be submitted through this system from autumn 2026 onwards.
Training videos and the webinar recording are available from the UKRI YouTube Studentship playlist.
Accessing the studentship data system
New accounts have been created for nominated lead and user accounts. Studentship Data System lead account holders have the ability to create user accounts for members of their organisation.
Final expenditure statement process
The final expenditure statement (FES) process will continue to be processed through Je-S and the UKRI Funding Service. The studentship details will be downloaded from the new system using the FES export function, and attached to the final expenditure statement submission.
Improvements to data capture
The data fields that we collect have been reviewed and consolidated. Where possible, we have aimed to reduce the amount of information requested as well as make it clearer what we need. For example, we have reduced the number of ‘dates’ and ‘funding’ data that is required and strengthened guidance and validation in the system.
The diversity data question set has also been reviewed across UKRI, and we have aligned this with what the Higher Education Statistics Agency currently collects. These will be the questions used for the applicant pool data set in the UKRI training grant annual reports (2026 reports onwards). These questions should be built into your next recruitment cycles so that the data is available.
Training grant holders may not be able to report on all categories for the 2026 intake. You should make sure this is in place for the next recruitment cycle.
We will no longer collect information on the supervisors linked to the studentships.
Student references
UKRI will be transferring from Je-S Personal Identifiers (PIDs) to a UKRI Studentship reference number (UKRI SRN). This reference should be used when entering details into the HESA data collection exercise. All existing studentships have a UKRI SRN and both the Je-S PID and UKRI SRN are available on the new system.
The annual submission rate survey
This will no longer be a separate exercise.
The data requested will form part of the main studentship record once it has been created. This gives the research organisation flexibility to update the records at any point in the year.
Research councils can take a snapshot of the data and use this to review the submission rates.
UKRI studentships funded through research grants
All UKRI-funded studentships will be captured on the new system, so research organisations can link studentships to relevant research grants as well as training grants.
Student records
Information on the studentship is provided by the research organisation and contains:
- the diversity profile
- details of the research project
- studentship dates
- associated funding
Individual diversity profiles are not shared on any UKRI websites, and the data is strictly controlled within UKRI.
For UKRI to meet its obligations, aggregated information relating to the research funded will be made publicly available. This information is made available via UKRI websites, UKRI Gateway to Research and other publicly available databases, reports and other public fora.
The following information is published to Gateway to Research in relation to the studentships we fund:
- student name
- project title and summary
- lead research organisation and department
- studentship period of study
- the type of award – studentship
If details need changing contact your research organisation. This includes name changes as well as project title and project summary updates. This will then be updated in the next available data refresh on our system.
Data is kept in line with UKRI’s retention schedule and Information Management policy and is processed in accordance with the UK’s current data protection legislation.
Special category data will only be processed where UKRI needs to do so in order to comply with its legal obligations (particularly employment, social, health, disability and protection laws) or where otherwise specifically notified. For instance, special category data is used to evaluate our funding from an equality, diversity and inclusion perspective and we review this data across our doctoral funding.
The data is encrypted using strong industry-standard encryption (AES-256).
As the information is processed under UKRI’s lawful basis of public task, the rights to be forgotten and erasure do not apply in this case. UKRI hold this information for students funded under a studentship, and we must maintain our obligations under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.
Ask a question about the studentship data project
If you need help with technical issues email support@funding-service.ukri.org.
For policy queries relating to the UKRI training grant terms and conditions, email talent@ukri.org.
Last updated: 22 July 2026