Newcastle University COVID-19 Impact Funding Scheme
(Supported by the Development Trust).
This scheme (previously the Covid-19 Impact Scholarship Scheme) was reviewed in January 2022
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 of 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 and International Doctoral and MPhil research students.
reach the end of your minimum candidature between 18th March 2020 and 31st March 2023
and
be currently without any source of funding
(The end of your minimum candidature is one year before the “thesis deadline” as shown in thePGR Code of Practice System. If you are in any doubt about your minimum candidature end date and your eligibility for this funding scheme, please contact theDoctoral Collegeand we will check this for you.)
Regular panel meetings are held to consider eligible applications (approximately monthly), following which you be notified of the outcome of your application.
On receipt of your application the Doctoral College will advise you of the approximate date of the next panel meeting and when you are likely to receive your outcome.
Funding from this scheme is not normally available if you 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, if you can demonstrate need and where you have no other source of stipend funding, you can apply to this funding scheme for consideration.
Funding from this scheme is not available if you have already submitted your thesis for examination.
If you receive a studentship extension from your original funding body after being awarded a Covid-19 Impact Funding award, you should advise the Doctoral Collegeimmediately, so they can advise on any implications to your award.
Application is via this Web form. 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 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
If you are an eligible student you will be able to make a further application for financial support if your circumstances have changed since your initial 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 web form 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 is supporting fee-free extensions to thesis submission deadlines and further information is available here.
