Frequently Asked Questions

Home, EU and international students are all eligible to apply. However, the total number of international studentships a DTP is able to offer has been capped by UKRI at 30% of the total number of studentships awarded each year, and so studentships for international students will be limited in number and competitive. LISS DTP institutions will fund the difference between the UKRI Home Tuition Fee and International Fee for a limited number of international students and at this stage we cannot guarantee that every international student offered a LISS DTP studentship will receive this funding as part of their studentship.

Contact the Admissions team at the institution to which you have applied if you are uncertain of your tuition fee status. LISS DTP is unable to advise on complex cases and will abide by your institution’s assessment of your status.

Due to the limited number of studentships available, successful applicants are likely to have:

• a very good first degree (BA or BSc Honours or equivalent) at 1st class standard or upper 2nd with average of 65% or above,
• for +3.5 awards, an appropriate Masters degree (at distinction or at least high merit level) is expected,
• other qualifications relevant to the proposed area of study, such as professional or work-related expertise, will also be considered.

The following are NOT eligible:

• Students who will have less than 50% of their study time (usually 3 years for a full-time PhD) remaining when they start their LISS-funded studentship.  In practice, this means that students in their first year of doctoral study can apply for funding for the second and third years.
• Distance learning programmes .
• Applicants who have already been awarded a PhD or equivalent degree.

Open Competition Studentships: Applications close on Friday 24th January 2025 at 17:00 GMT. Late applications will not be accepted. Please follow the 8- step guide listed on our Open Competition webpage.

CASE Competition Studentships: applicants must apply directly to the supervisor recruiting to the CASE project. All CASE studentships available for 2025 will be listed on our CASE studentships webpage, please follow the application details listed for each recruiting project.

CASE Projects are usually advertised from January each year, with recruitment and selection being handled by the supervisor. Each project listing will include details of how the student should apply and you can contact the supervisor directly for further information.  Students should be identified by March each year ready to commence study the following October. 

For the Open Competition, you must have one reference from a person other than your supervisor who can testify to your potential to undertake doctoral study. You can invite your referee to submit their reference as a collaborator in the application portal or upload the reference yourself as a part of the application submission process. The reference must be on a letterhead paper and include contact details for your referee.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure the reference is submitted by the application deadline. The LISS DTP Team will not contact your referee to request their reference. Be sure to start your application before the deadline to allow your referee sufficient time to submit the reference.

We expect references to at a minimum summarise:

• applicants’s suitability and preparedness for Doctoral study  
• the capacity in which they know the applicant   
• comments on the applicant’s previous performance and achievements  
• comments on the applicant’s preparedness for doctoral study
• the applicant’s predicted or actual degree result if applicable.

Each LISS DTP application has four parts to be considered a complete application. All elements must be submitted by Friday 24th January 2025, 17:00 GMT:

1. An online LISS DTP student application form (either 1+3.5 or +3.5).  Links to the forms are given in Step 6 here: Open competition. 
2. A supervisor statement. The applicant’s proposed primary supervisor must complete the supervisor supporting statement of the application by the application deadline. A link to the online application is given in the collaboration invitation email. It is the applicant’s responsibility to invite collaborators and check they have accepted the collaboration request and chase the statement if necessary.
3. Copies of your degree transcripts (or interim transcript) should be uploaded to your application as part of the application process. Please do not password protect your documents. You should request your transcript from the relevant university well in advance as they can take some time to be supplied. If you are unable to supply a final transcript you  should include an interim transcript to show your progress to date. If you are applying for a +3.5 (PhD only) studentship, we would expect to see transcripts for both undergraduate and masters degrees. Degree certificates are not acceptable; we need to receive transcripts with your module names/credits/grades listed on them. If your transcripts are in a language other than English please have them translated.
4. A reference from a person other than your supervisor who can testify to your potential to undertake doctoral study The referee must submit the reference through the collaboration task in the application portal (it is the applicant’s responsibility to invite collaborators, monitor that they have accepted the task and submitted the reference) or applicant upload the reference letter themselves as a part of the application procedure.

All parts must be submitted by the deadline of 24th January 2025, 17:00 GMT. Late applications will not be accepted. We strongly recommend that you consult with your proposed primary supervisor, who will provide a supporting statement for you, before starting the online form and prepare all the materials you need to answer the questions in advance of starting to work on the application form. 

Please have a look see below the timeline for Open Competition applications. This also provides details on the application stages after your application is submitted. Applications submitted after the closing date will not be considered.

We advise that you do not wait to submit your application until close to the deadline, as you need to allow your collaborators (supervisor and referee) sufficient time to complete their part. You will not be able to submit your application if the collaborator has not accepted the collaboration request emailed to them.  Applications missing mandatory attachments may not be considered for shortlisting.

Students who have started their PhD and have more than 50% of their study time remaining (usually 3 years for a full-time PhD) when they start their LISS-funded studentship are eligible to apply for the remaining time to be funded.  In practice, this means that students in their first year of doctoral study can apply for funding for the second and third years.

Please submit any interim transcripts demonstrating progress on your Masters. 

The LISS DTP Team will contact all applicants by 7th February 2025 to confirm that we have received all elements of your application, and that your application is being progressed for shortlisting. Please do not email to enquire before this date.

Please contact the Admissions team at the institution to which you have applied if you are uncertain of your tuition fee status. LISS DTP is unable to advise on complex cases and will abide by your institution’s assessment of your status. See our ‘Funding Eligibility’ guidance for more information: Apply now – LISS DTP (liss-dtp.ac.uk)

Please see Step 7 of our application guide for more information.

Please see our application guide for more information.

All applicants whose application has been progressed for shortlisting will receive an email update on the status of their application in late April 2025. We cannot confirm the outcome before this date.

The outcomes are: 

• Successful – studentship awarded 
• Reserve Candidate
• Unsuccessful – application not successful in being considered for funding. 

Successful applicants will be asked to accept/decline it by a given deadline (usually within two weeks of the studentship award offer).  If a successful candidate fails to respond by the deadline or declines the offer, their award will automatically be transferred to a reserve candidate who is next in line for the award. 

We are unable to tell reserve candidates their position on the reserve list.

If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and you started living in the UK on or before 31 December 2020, you could apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

If you’re coming to the UK from 1 January 2021, you’ll need to apply for a Student Visa to study in the UK.

This guide managed by the Student Visa and International Advice team at King’s College London can help you choose the correct visa for your studies. Please also ensure that you liaise with the team at your host institution.

Please note that Visa costs and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) are not covered by the LISS DTP and you need to be able to meet those costs through your own funds. Equally, the ESRC grant does not cover costs for e.g COVID tests / hotel quarantine for international students in the same way it does not cover VISA costs – these are part of the cost of relocating to undertake the studentship and you must meet the costs through your own funds.

We understand that in rare instances circumstances do change and you may wish to decline your offer. If you do so, it is important to do the following:

1. Contact the LISS DTP Team as soon as possible
2. Contact your supervisor

A LISS DTP studentship will normally start on 1 October. A later starting date may be possible in exceptional circumstances, for example in the case of illness, or if a student needs to give notice to a current employer. Please contact the LISS DTP Team as soon as possible if you would like to discuss a later start date as an option.

As studentship allocations are made for a minimum number of studentships to be funded annually, studentships cannot be deferred a full academic year. Studentships can be deferred to a later date within the academic year, if the student’s supervisor and host department/ course of study approves this. 

If a candidate wishes to defer a full academic year, they will need to reapply for the next round of studentship funding. If in those circumstances the funding for the award should come from the following year’s allocation.

Please refer to the visa guidance on your host institution’s website. 

• Information about costs associated to a Student Visa applications can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa
• Specific information about extending your Visa from inside the UK can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa/extend-your-visa
• Specific information about switching to a Student Visa from another Visa if you are already in the UK can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa/switch-to-this-visa
• Additional related costs for the Immigration Health Surcharge can be found at: https://www.immigration-health-surcharge.service.gov.uk/checker/type

Please note that these figures and the information are subject to frequent changes.

If you have any additional queries you are invited to contact the Admissions Office at your host institution and/or speak with the International Student Advice team (or equivalent) at your host institution.

Yes! All new students will receive ‘Keep Warm Communications’ from the LISS DTP Central Administration Team from June – September (monthly) before their studentship starts in October. We’ll share updates, actions for you to complete and let you know more about what to expect when you join the LISS DTP. You can also follow our social media channels and get in touch with the team with any enquiries; visit our ‘Contact us’ page.

For October entry, new students will be invited to the LISS DTP Induction by the end of July. We tend to host our induction in late September/early October and our keep warm communications over the summer will confirm the date.

LISS DTP will invite all new students to register for courses a couple of days after induction, we will circulate an ‘Autumn Training Announcement’ that will confirm courses running for Autumn and how to book onto these.

We have frequently asked questions specifically about the LISS DTP Training Programme on our website, see this page. If your question is not clarified on this page, you can reach us via liss-dtp@kcl.ac.uk