We give grants to higher education providers (HEPs) or consortia of universities and non-academic partners. Usually large awards supporting multiple intakes, the HEPs use the funds to recruit and support doctoral researchers. Universities award studentships directly to students to cover fees and stipends.
Through collective talent funding, we developed a doctoral investment framework. This sees all UKRI-funded doctoral training delivered through two types of awards, underpinned by a core offer that will apply to all doctoral awards. The two award types are:
- doctoral landscape awards, which are broad, flexible investments across subject areas
- doctoral focal awards, which are targeted investments in areas of strategic importance or emerging areas of research
Both doctoral award types:
- support doctoral students to develop a breadth of knowledge, research skills and transferable skills for academic and non-academic careers
- can include tailored support and be aligned to individual project, student and supervisor needs within the award’s scope
- can support collaboration with non-academic partners including industry or other sectors
- expect award holders to embed principle of equality, diversity and inclusion in recruitment, support and programme design
We have moved away from scheme-based grants to increase the flexibility and innovation in what can be supported.
Doctoral landscape awards
These awards focus on supporting the UK’s overall doctoral capability and capacity needs. While we may target awards into specific areas, most of our investments will support studentships across very broad areas of our research portfolio.
Landscape awards:
- support a broad and diverse array of research
- can rapidly respond to support emerging research areas
- allow award holders to define specific studentship topics within broadly defined disciplinary areas
Ongoing doctoral training partnerships (DTPs) align with doctoral landscape awards as do many of our previous collaborative schemes (like CASE). New funding will be allocated as landscape awards. These can support the same types of programmes and activity but with greater flexibility and the potential for other training models.
Doctoral focal awards
This type of investment provides support for areas that require a concentration of studentships in combination with a highly tailored training programme.
They primarily focus on one or more of the following aims:
- exploring a strategic research theme
- meeting a specific challenge that require collaborative research
- developing research skills where a gap in skills has been identified
To achieve these aims, focal awards often promote collaboration between disciplines within and between councils, and between academia and industry or other non-academic partners.
Ongoing centres for doctoral training (CDTs) align with doctoral focal awards. New funding will be allocated to focal awards which can support the same type of activity as CDTs, but with greater flexibility and the potential for other training models.
Last updated: 10 April 2026