Doctoral College

Welcome to our world-class research community

Your research degree offers more than a chance to dive deep into your chosen subject. It’s an opportunity to challenge yourself, grow and prepare for a fulfilling career.

The Doctoral College is here to support every aspect of your growth: academic, personal and professional.

From inter-disciplinary development programmes to wellbeing workshops, you’ll find all the opportunities you need to realise your goals.

We’re also here to connect you to an inspiring network of peers, academics and support staff. Together we form a community that’s world class in many areas of research.

Browse the links below to learn more about the opportunities and support you can access.

New policy and options for postgraduate students who teach

We are committed to providing opportunities to acquire transferable skills that will enhance your preparation for a variety of careers. For some of you, experience of teaching is one of those valuable skills.

We are also committed to giving all of our students the best possible educational experience and outcomes, and we recognise the important contribution that postgraduates who teach play in providing that experience and as members of the university community.

With all this in mind - and in light of recent debate in the sector about employment of postgraduate students, as well as recent Newcastle survey and audit results highlighting inconsistencies in practice - in April 2022 we committed to undertaking a review of the existing policy for ‘Students Who Teach’.

The revised policy, which was approved by Senate on 1st March 2023, seeks greater clarity and consistency for postgraduate students, supervisors, Academic Units, and students in receipt of teaching. It lays out the mutual responsibilities of Academic Units and postgraduate teachers. It also defines the contractual options available for employment/remuneration for those of you who wish to apply to undertake teaching.

Postgraduates who Teach

Covid 19 update

The University, through the Doctoral College, has provided support for Doctoral and MPhil students where their research activity was impacted by the onset of Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020. This support has been in the form of academic mitigations, fee-free extensions, as well as funding support through the Covid-19 Impact Fund. A significant number of students have benefited from fee free extensions to complete their primary research and/or the writing up of their thesis and we have supported over 600 students through the Covid-19 Impact fund with funding ranging from 4 to 26 weeks.

From academic session 2023-24 there will be some changes to these Covid-19 mitigations:

Covid-19 Impact Fund

This stream of specific funding for the Covid-19 Impact Fund has ceased and ongoing funding support has transitioned into the Doctoral College Research Enhancement Fund (DCREF) for which an additional category has been added to the options on the application form. We anticipate providing funding for periods up to a maximum of 12 weeks and for funds to be spent during academic session 2023-24. Please note there are limited funds available in each call, it may not be possible to support all applications and/or if supported they may not be to the level requested.

You may be able to access the Student Financial Support Fund. This fund is available to PGR students but is only intended to assist students in cases of unexpected or immediate financial difficulty. Awards are therefore designed to alleviate immediate difficulty while students are encouraged to pursue alternative funding sources. Further information is available here.

Tuition Fee Free Extensions and Covid-19 Impact Statement

We will continue to support students whose research progress was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic during the 23/24 academic year. Details of the support available are at the Student Progress webpages.

Doctoral College Research Enhancement Fund

The Doctoral College Enhancement Funds support a range of research-orientated activities, the funding is there to provide opportunities for Doctoral and MPhil students to enhance their experience, develop their academic profile by presenting at key conferences in their field, enhance their networking skills and to develop their career prospects. There is also a small amount of funding available if you have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are Doctoral College Funds to support activity in the following areas: