Doctoral College Research Enhancement Fund

Registration:

• Applicants must be registered on a Doctoral or MPhil programme at Newcastle University.

Funding Status and Focus:

• DCREF is dedicated to support postgraduate research students and is focused on activities that enhance your research

We cannot support applications: Seeking support for your primary research activities, which should be covered by your academic unit.

• We will give preference to those applicants who have not been in receipt of travel and conference funding in previous calls.

For Travel and Conference or Additional Training, we will give priority to applications that:

• Demonstrate that the funding would add significant value or impact to your research.
• Where there has been no clear opportunity during your studies to present at a high-level conference.

For Post-Submission Bursaries:

You must be:

• Under examination or planning to submit your thesis by end of April 2026 with no maintenance stipend of more than 3 years duration.
• Have discussed your proposed activity with your Academic Supervisor prior to your application and they must be supportive of your application.

Travel and Conference/Additional Training Funding

It is important to balance the financial, environmental, health and safety, social impacts, and risks of activity. We would recommend that you read the travel guidance for PGR students and the University travel and expenses policy before arranging any travel. To reduce the environmental impact of your travel you are expected to assess alternative modes of engagement, for example participating online rather than in-person. Please do this before any commitments to travel are made.

Please read the guidance below before completing the application form. 

Travel and Conference Funding and Additional Training Funding

• Applications will be considered for travel and conference activities taking place between the 1^st of November 2025 and the 31^st of July 2026.
• Applications must be made in advance of the activity, and we are unable to accept retrospective applications for funding.
• We would recommend that applications are made at least 2 months prior to the start date of the event to enable you to take advantage of early bird deals and competitive prices. 
• For successful applicants, all costs must be incurred (and paid for) by mid-July 2026. This is so they can be processed before the financial year-end on the 31^st of July 2026. Activities conducted beyond this date cannot be reimbursed.
• You can only submit one DCREF application.
• Provides an award of up to £1650 to support you to engage in a conference, an event or residential course, such as a summer school.
• The application must demonstrate the value or impact to your research, as well as the outcomes and outputs resulting from the activity.
• Consideration will be given to applications where other funding sources have been either sought or secured and top-up support is required.
• Only travel and conference costs (travel, accommodation, and conference fees) will be reimbursed. We will be unable to cover subsistence costs and other expenses.
• You must attach quotations obtained from Selective Travel, giving realistic costings for the proposed activity and demonstrate value for money. If quotations are not yet available due to the date of travel, please give the best estimate you can and then send quotations once available.
• All international travel must be arranged via the University’s travel management company Selective travel. Please note third party websites (such as Trainline) must not be used and LNER (https://www.lner.co.uk/business-travel/lner-4-business/) is the University preferred provider for rail travel. Failure to do this may mean that any outlay incurred organising travel through another route cannot be reclaimed.
• Please do not pay in advance for any travel costs or fees incurred under DCREF from other research accounts or grants that you may have access to. This complicates payment arrangements and will delay the process.
• If a visa is required for overseas travel, please ensure there is sufficient time to arrange this (including any interviews you may need to attend at relevant embassies in the UK).

Post Submission Bursaries (PSB)

• Our PGR Students contribute to some of our best research papers and a Post Submission Bursary is intended to support the time needed (post thesis submission) to write, revise and submit papers for publication in high-quality journals and periodicals, other activities may include preparing and delivering an exhibition or performance of your work, or further dissemination activities or community engagement.
• If successful, the fund will support you with a stipend (at the UKRI rate at the time of the application) for a period of 6 weeks to a maximum of 3 months depending on the impact and scope of the additional research needed. please note the level of the Post-Submission Bursary may be less than requested.

Eligibility

• You should have submitted your thesis and already be under examination or planning to submit your thesis by end of April 2026.

 Application Guidance

• Your application should articulate the benefits of the bursary to you and the University, as well as the outcomes and outputs that would result from the bursary.
• Funding must be used within the financial year (by end of July 2026) so your thesis must be submitted by end of April 2026, to enable funding to be paid in May, June, and July prior to the end of the financial year.
• Bursary payments will not commence until the Doctoral College has received confirmation of your thesis submission, and your registration status has changed to 'under examination'. Note this may take up to two weeks from your submission date.
• If you complete your programme whilst in receipt of a bursary, payments will cease once you are no longer a registered student.
• If you commence employment while in receipt of the bursary, you should advise the Doctoral College, and this may result in a cessation of the bursary and any overpayment of your bursary would need to be refunded.
• If you have any questions on DCREF eligibility criteria or application process, please contact the Doctoralcollege@ncl.ac.uk

The application process is straightforward.

Please take time to read the eligibility criteria before completing the application form.

You must be a registered as a Doctoral or MPhil Student at Newcastle University, unfortunately, due to limited funding this funding is not available to Research Masters Students, e.g., MRes (Master of Research), MMus, MLitt.

• This is the Doctoral College Research Fund Application Form DCREF Application Form is Open (from 1^st of July 2025)
• Please refer to the DCREF funding criteria (100.1 kB)before completing your application.
• You must show how your proposed activity aligns with your research priorities and those of your academic unit. 

To be considered for funding you must ensure your application:

• Clearly sets out the positive impact that a Doctoral College award would have on the quality of your research, and the value of the additional activities undertaken to both your research and your personal development. 
• Demonstrates value for money, with realistic costings for the activity or opportunity, bearing in mind the guidelines for maximum expenditure for the different types of funding.
• Is timed appropriately. Awardees must spend their funding within the same budget year that it is awarded as funding cannot be rolled forward to subsequent years.
• For Post Submission Bursaries you must already be under examination or due to submit within three months of your application date. Please ensure you apply as soon as possible to enable you to fully utilise available funding.
• For Travel and Conference Fund Applicants you will need to indicate if you have been provided with opportunities like this previously, for example UKRI funded students who already have RTSG (Research Training and Support Grants funding).

• Ensure you hit submit after completing the final question to send your application to the Doctoral College for consideration.

Important Deadlines

Post – Submission Bursaries will operate on an open call basis. The call will open on the 1^st of July 2025 and will be closed for applications on the end of April 2026. (date). PSB applications will be assessed on a monthly basis.

It is expected that applicants  will receive the outcome of their PSB application by the end of the following month (please leave at least 4 weeks before contacting the Doctoral College for the outcome of decisions. Decision making may take longer over the summer and winter holiday periods due to limited staff availability.

Travel and Conference Fund applications will operate through three calls in 2025-2026, as follows:

• Following the closing date for applications, the Doctoral College will triage your application. Checks include ensuring the eligibility criteria have been met, compliance with the University Travel Policy, and that costings are realistic.
• Each application will then be ranked by a cross-Faculty Decision Panel made up of Postgraduate Research Deans and Doctoral College representatives. Checklist for DCREF Decision Panel
• The Decision Panel will rank each application using the and only the best applications will be funded, and each call will have limited funding/awards available.
• This means there will be a finite number/value of awards under each call. It may not be possible to support all applications and/or if supported it may not be to the level requested.

There is separate guidance for awardees and for action to take post-award. This is circulated to all successful applicants.

If you are unsuccessful and require any feedback that may inform future applications, please contact us at doctoralcollege@ncl.ac.uk

Further Information

Additional Guidance can be found here:

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• Guidance for Academic Units (here)  -
• Process Information for Professional Support Colleagues (here)
• If you have any queries, please contact doctoralcollege@newcastle.ac.uk 

This will provide an award of up to £1650 to support you to engage in a conference or an event.  The application would need to demonstrate that this will add value or impact to your research and you will need to demonstrate the outcomes and outputs that would be result of this activity.

Applications must be made at the appropriate call prior to the event date.  We are unable to accept retrospective applications for funding and students can only submit one application for travel at each call.  

We would recommend that applications are made at least 2 months prior to the start date of the event to enable you to take advantage of early bird deals and competitive prices.  If a visa is required pleae ensure there is sufficient time to arrange this and your overseas travel.  All international travel must be organised via Selective travel. Please note third party websites (such as Trainline) must not be used and LNER (https://www.lner.co.uk/business-travel/lner-4-business/) is the University preferred provider. for rail travel.  Failure to do this may mean that any outlay incurred organising travel through another route cannot be reclaimed.  We would recommend that you read the travel guidance for PGR students and the University travel and expenses policy before arranging any travel.

Please read the additional guidance on travel and conference funding before completing the application form.  Please note all international travel must be arranged via the University's travel management company Selective.  Third party websites, such as Trainline, must not be used.

Applications must be made at stated calls and any funding awarded must be used withn the financial year (1st August - 31st July) in which it is awarded.

SAgE student feedback - "Attending the conference was an extremely valuable experience as it is a platform for exchanging ideas, findings, and advancements in my research field, as well as forming part of a network with fellow researchers which could potentially lead to collaborations or future research partnerships. I am very thankful for getting support from this funding."

This will provide an award of up to £1650 to support you to engage in additional training that you wish to undertake in support of your research project or for any other activities.  The application would need to demonstrate that this training will add value or impact to your research and you will need to demonstrate the outcomes and outputs that would be result of this activity.

This funding can be applied for at any time throughout your studies.  

If the additional training is an event or a residential course, such as a summer school, the additional guidance on travel and conference funding should be read before completing the application form.  

We would recommend that applications are made at least 2 months prior to the start date of the event to enable you to take advantage of early bird deals and competitive prices.  If a visa is required pleae ensure they is sufficient time to arrange this and your overseas travel.  All international travel must be organised via Selective travel. Please note third party websites (such as Trainline) must not be used and LNER (https://www.lner.co.uk/business-travel/lner-4-business/) is the University preferred provider. for rail travel.  Failure to do this may mean that any outlay incurred organising travel through another route cannot be reclaimed.  We would recommend that you read the travel guidance for PGR students and the University travel and expenses policy before arranging any travel.

Applications must be made at the appropriate call prior to the training date.  We are unable to accept retrospective applications for funding and students can only submit one application for additional training at each call.

Applications must be made at stated calls and any funding awarded must be used withn the financial year (1st August - 31st July) in which it is awarded.

HaSS student feedback - "The doctoral college funded my attendance at an online course .... Without this financial assistance I would not have been able to attend .... I have now passed the course and have already felt it to be beneficial in my communications."

Our PGR Students contribute to some of our best research papers, the Post Submission Bursary was established to support the time needed (post submission) to write, revise and submit papers for publication in high-quality journals and periodicals. If successful, the fund could support you with a stipend (at the UKRI rate at the time of the application).  The duration of this funding varies between one and three months depending on the impact and scope of the additional research needed, and the benefits to the individual and the University must be clearly articulated in applications.  The application would need to demonstrate to demonstrate the research value to the student and the University and the outcomes and outputs that would be result of this bursary.

To be eligible you must be a Doctoral or MPhil student who is already under examination or will be submitting your thesis within three months of the application date.  Funding must be incurred within the financial year (1st August - 31st July) in which you apply so your thesis submission date can be no later than April of that year.  This will enable funding to be paid in May, June and July prior to the end of the financial year.

Funding will not commence until the Doctoral College has received confirmation of your thesis submission to your Graduate School and your registration status has changed to 'under examination'.  If you complete your programme, or start full time paid employment, whilst still receiving this funding, payments will cease once you are no longer a registered student.

FMS Student feedback - "The post submission bursary was fantastic to receive and use. Having received the funding almost 2 months after submitting my PhD it enabled me to take a step back and think of my PhD in a new way. .... This therefore has meant my research will be published which benefits myself, my supervisors and the university."