Restricted Call: Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships (internal deadline: 23rd October 2025)
Ten awards of up to £5 million will be made to UK universities in this round, with each award to fund up to 30 Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships in a priority research area for that institution.
The Trust and the scheme have a focus on funding interdisciplinary research, and it is therefore expected that topics will involve more than one discipline.
For further information about the call, see the funder’s guidance and the attached bid guidance document from the Postgraduate Research Office.
University Internal selection process
A university may submit only one application as lead but may partner in multiple applications, provided they are in different disciplinary areas. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls policy for both Cambridge-led applications and those where Cambridge would be the non-lead partner.
To take part in the internal selection, please complete the online form by 23rd October 2025 (if asked to log-in, please use your University SSO details). You will need the following information and documents to complete the form:
- Name(s) and affiliation(s) of principal applicant and co-applicant(s) at the University Cambridge and any partner institution, plus brief biographical details about the principal applicant (max 200 words)
- The title and disciplinary area of the proposal
- If the proposal is collaborative with another institution, whether the University of Cambridge would be the lead or non-lead partner
- A programme synopsis covering the following (max 1200 words):
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- An outline of the topic and fields of study, and alignment with strategic priorities of the University/Schools/Departments. For collaborative applications, please also outline the basis and history of the partnership and how the programme will be managed.
- An overview of plans for the supervision of doctoral scholars, including the arrangements for selecting supervisors and monitoring student progress.
- A brief overview of the proposed training and cohort-building activities.
- An outline of how the proposed programme would utilise and administer the post-doctoral support element.
- A brief summary of the relationship between the proposed Doctoral Scholarship programme and any current doctoral training awards in this area, if applicable.
- How the Leverhulme Scholarships would provide added value in the chosen research subject area and to the university/universities and how the University might sustain a legacy of the Scholarships in the chosen area.
- A letter of support from the principal applicant’s Head of Department, countersigned by the relevant Head of School.
Applications will be assessed against the following subset of the funder’s general criteria and specific criteria for this call:
- The originality, importance and significance of the programme.
- The strength of the case for the choice of subject area identified as a priority for doctoral training.
- The quality of the proposed plans for the supervision of doctoral scholars, and the training and cohort-building activities.
- How well the proposed scholarships fits within the current institutional provision for doctoral training (at both universities, where applicable) and the extent to which the award would add value and deliver a legacy for the research in the chosen area
The outcome of the internal selection will be announced in November 2025 and support will be available to the selected application(s) to develop the proposed programme.
Funding call information session (online)
To support prospective applicants and Departmental colleagues in understanding this call and applying to the internal selection, we plan to hold an information session together with colleagues from the Postgraduate Research Office via MS Teams on Friday 26 September at 11:00-12:00. Please register to attend the session and you will then receive the joining link.
Funder’s timeline
- Scheme Opens: 03 November
- Funder deadline: 06 March 2026
- Decision: July 2026
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk
Posted on 07/10/2025
