Newcastle University COVID-19 Impact Funding Scheme
(Supported by the Development Trust).
This scheme (previously the Covid-19 Impact Scholarship Scheme) was revised in March 2021 and a further review will take place in September 2021
Purpose and Process
The purpose of this funding scheme is to provide eligible Doctoral and MPhil students with stipend support at the UKRI rate of payment beyond the end of minimum candidature (during the Pending Submission year) where a student has no other source of stipend funding. This includes self-funded students and students whose original funding body is not providing further funding.
The funding scheme will normally provide stipend support for up to 12 weeks. However, applications for longer periods of stipend support (up to 26 weeks) will be considered in cases where a student has made limited progress towards their degree, as a consequence of Covid-19, for longer than 12 weeks.
The scheme is open to all eligible Home, EU and International research students.
Your minimum candidature should normally end between 1st July 2021 and 30th September 2021
The submission deadline for the current application round is 6th April 2021.
If you apply by 6th April 2021, we will provide you with a decision by 1st May 2021
(The end of your minimum candidature is one year before the “thesis deadline” as shown in ePortfolio. If you are in any doubt about your minimum candidature end date and your eligibility for this funding scheme, please contact the Doctoral Collegeand we will check this for you.)
Future Application Rounds
If your minimum candidature ends after 30th September 2021, you may be able to apply in one of the future application rounds below, approximately 5-6 months before your minimum candidature period ends:
1st July 2021 submission deadline for students whose minimum candidature ends between 1st October 2021 and 31st December 2021
1st October 2021 submission deadline for students whose minimum candidature ends between 1st January 2022 and 31 March 2022.
If the end of your minimum candidature has already passed and you are currently without any source of funding, we will consider applications outside the usual application rounds. Where such applications are made, we will provide you with a decision normally within 2 weeks of your application.
We recognise that there will be a continuing need to provide support to our research students exiting minimum candidature after 1st April 2022, and the scheme will be reviewed in September 2021 and an update on support for students will be announced in October 2021.
Funding from this scheme is not normally available for those students whose original funding body already provides stipend support for longer than 3-years or has agreed to fund a specific extension to an original 3-year funded period because of Covid-19 impact.
However, where students can demonstrate need and where they have no other source of stipend funding, a student can apply to this funding scheme for consideration, which can also be outside of the usual application rounds outline above. Where such applications are made, we will normally provide you with a decision within 2 weeks of your application.
Application is via this Webform. You should complete all sections of the webform and upload a Supporting Statement, which contains space for you and your supervisor(s) (or School Director of PGR or Institute PGRSC) to provide information in support of your application. To help you complete the Supporting Statement the Criteria for Consideration of the Period of COVID-19 Impact Funding shows a non-exhaustive list of examples of reasons why you might require additional funding under this scheme together with representative periods of funding that might be granted.
If you are requesting a funding award of longer than 12 weeks, your application should contain a plan indicating a realistic timeline (e.g. Gantt chart) for completion and submission of your thesis. You will need to indicate how you will be adjusting your work to ensure you complete within this timeframe. If you previously prepared a suitable Gantt chart for your most recent APR, this could be used in support of your funding application.
Further Applications
An eligible student will be able to make a further application for financial support if their circumstances have changed since their first application or there is a continuation of pre-existing circumstances related to Covid-19. The limit of financial support across applications would be limited to a total of no more than 26 weeks (6 months).
Applications submitted via the webform will be passed to the Doctoral College for consideration. To ensure fair allocation of funding through this scheme, the Doctoral College is using cross-university academic panels to scrutinise each eligible application in line with the Criteria for Consideration of the Period of COVID-19 Impact Funding, These panels will determine whether funding should be awarded and the length of the award. If you are successful, the funding awarded may differ to what you requested, it could be increased or decreased in line with the criteria.
If you are awarded funding and the length of the funding period goes beyond your current thesis submission deadline, the Doctoral College will automatically approve an extension to your thesis submission deadline to align with the end of the funding period awarded.
If you are awarded funding and the length of the funded period does not go beyond your current thesis submission deadline, no automatic extension will be approved. However, should you require an extension to your thesis submission deadline due to Covid-19 disruption, the University will approve a fee-free extension of up to 3 months in the first instance, with a further 3 months available if your progress continues to be disrupted. You can apply for this extension through ePortfolio
