125th Anniversary Scholarships for Black British Researchers

On your application, you will have been asked for contact details of one or two references. For some courses, you will need the references before a decision to be made.

Please make sure you tell your references to expect contact from the University of Birmingham via email, requesting their reference. Please note that the contact email address of the referee must be an official email address and not a personal one (for example, gmail). We recommend that the referee sends back the reference in a PDF format as it is preferred if:

• The reference is on official headed paper with the organisation or university’s logo and address
• It includes the date, your details and the details of the referee
• A summary of how they know you and confirm your suitability for studying on the course you have applied for
• It should be signed by the referee with their official contact details.

If both your referees send back references which are not on official headed paper, you may be asked to send in additional references.

If you already have a written reference(s) and want to upload it on behalf of your referee(s), make sure the reference is a scanned copy of the original and that it is on official headed paper.

If you input your referee details, your referees will receive a reference request email from us as soon as you submit your application. When a referee provides the reference by clicking on the link in the reference request email, it will be automatically uploaded to your application.

Your online portal will be updated when a reference has been received and processed but please allow at least 15 working days for this. If your portal has not been updated, this does not necessarily mean that the references have not been received as there can be a delay with the processing of references.

Please note that for the vast majority of our programmes, we do not require references in order for a decision to be made and your application will still be processed as usual. If an offer is made and the references are still outstanding, they will form part of the conditions of the offer.

If you have graduated

You will have been asked to upload a scan of your original or certified copies of your degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) on the Postgraduate Application Portal.

If you have not done so already, you can go back into the portal to upload your documents. Otherwise your application cannot be considered.

Please be prepared to send in your original or certified copies of your documents if the Admissions team requests to verify them.

If you don’t have certified copies of your documents and would prefer not to send the original, you can get copies certified by either the institution where you studied or by a notary.

If you are currently a student

You will have been asked to upload an interim transcript from your latest exams.

If you have not done so already, you can go back into the portal to upload your interim transcript. Otherwise your application cannot be considered.

Please be prepared to send in your original or certified copies of your degree certificate and final transcript upon graduation if the Admissions team requests to verify them.

If you don’t have certified copies of your documents and would prefer not to send the original, you can get copies certified by either the institution where you studied or by a notary.

If you are required to submit a piece of example work— usually a short written piece (common for programmes such as Creative Writing or English Literature); music composition or performance for those looking to study music related programmes— you will be notified by the academic tutor before they can access and make a decision on your application.

Please make sure you submit these as soon as possible and in the format requested by the academic tutor.

A research proposal is only required if you are applying to the project 'Christian Connections and Faithful Citizenship: Black Majority Churches in Birmingham' due to the choice of pursuing one of four thematic focuses.

A research proposal is a concise and ‭coherent summary of your proposed research. ‭It is a key part of your application, on which ‭potential supervisors will decide if your ‭research is something they can support. This is typically between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length.

A research proposal generally consists of an outline of your proposed research project, including your main research questions and the methods you intend to use. You should also comment on the potential impact and importance of your intended research and on how your work would interact with current trends in your academic field.

We have prepared further guidance on writing your research proposal including what it should include; how to structure your proposal; and top tips to ensure your proposal demonstrates originality and its research impacts.

In round one, applications were open for all twelve PhD projects. If you applied before 30 April 2024, you would have applied during the first round if you submitted an application for any of the following projects:

• A new toolbox to monitor molecular switches
• Between 'Global Britain' and national health: The role of Parliament in tackling immunisation inequities of minoritized groups
• Connecting Communities and Promoting Inclusion: Black Majority Churches as Alternative Anchor Institutions
• Space-based solutions for improved space sustainability
• Recycling of Carbon Fibre Composites with Deep Eutectic Solvents
• Exploring Antimicrobial Resistance in the human GI Microbiome
• Energy, efflux and resistance in bacteria
• ‘WHOSE AFRICA?’: Connecting Art and Communities through the University of Birmingham’s African Collection
• Christian Connections and Faithful Citizenship: Black Majority Churches in Birmingham
• Transforming the development and use of diagnostics to optimise and accelerate clinical care pathways
• Mathematical modelling of biotechnologies for clean water
• Understanding the health benefits of exercise on the liver within the paradigm of small extracellular vesicle crosstalk

For the second round of applications, the following projects are open for applications:

• Mathematical modelling of biotechnologies for clean water
• Understanding the health benefits of exercise on the liver within the paradigm of small extracellular vesicle crosstalk

Yes. You are able to apply to more than one PhD project on offer. However, you should be mindful that each PhD is a unique and specialist project that requires academic excellence and competencies. You should therefore ensure that you meet the entry requirements for each project, and that your application is appropriate to each project that you apply to.

Yes. It is recommended that you make contact with the lead supervisor for the PhD project that you intend to apply to. This will give you the chance to learn more about the project proposal, the supervisor and the academic environment at the University of Birmingham. Supervisors may be happy to contact you via email and then may be able to offer you further opportunities to talk with them, such as online video calls. You can contact the lead supervisor via the individual project webpages listed above. Our supervisors have a wide range of responsibilities, duties and commitments so there may be a slight delay in their response to your email as a result; they endeavour to reply back to you as soon as possible. 

Each PhD project and its accompanying scholarship will be only available to the one successful student. As postgraduate students make up over 40 per cent of the University's student population, the successful student will be welcomed into a thriving and collaborative research environment that champions innovation and meaningful change.

Yes, if you have pre-settled or settled status, or indefinite leave to remain, or a similar settled status, you are likely to be eligible for 'Home' tuition fees and therefore may be eligible for the scholarship. You should check the UK government webpages for guidance on settled status; the University is not responsible for this.

If you have settled status, you may need to provide evidence of this to the University when submitting your study application. You should do this as soon as possible to ensure that your tuition fees are classified as 'Home' and thus deem you eligible for the scholarship. You should aim to provide the necessary evidence before any deadline(s) above for the scholarship scheme. If you do not provide evidence to show you are eligible for 'Home' fees before the deadline(s), it may be the case that your scholarship application will not be considered and you will not be eligible for the PhD.

The first round of applications for the scheme closed at 23:59 (UK time) on 30 April 2024. All applicants who applied before the round one deadline would have received an update via email by Friday 10 June to confirm whether they had been made an awardee or reserve, or whether their application had been rejected. 

If you were successful, you would have received two emails that required a response: one offering you the scholarship, and another containing your study offer and admission onto the PhD course. Closer to September 2024, you would also be receiving another email to input your bank details so that you can receive your regular stipend instalments.

If you were made a reserve, you would have been updated on your scholarship and study applications' statuses as soon as it were possible.

If you have not received the emails notifying you of an awardee or reserve status by 10 June 2024, it is the unfortunate case that your application was unsuccessful. You would have received emails notifying you that you scholarship application and course application were unsuccessful.

If you were unsuccessful in round one, you are welcome to apply to the PhD projects available in round two. You will need to submit both a new scholarship and course application to be considered for round two. Your application(s) are not carried over between rounds.

If you have been successfully awarded the scholarship, you will be notified via email. This email will contain a form for you to respond to: whether you accept or decline the scholarship offer. Typically, you will have a maximum of two weeks to respond to this scholarship offer. Once you have accepted the scholarship offer, you will be issued with another email to offer you admission onto the PhD course. You will then need to ensure that you read this admissions offer letter, including its terms and conditions, and then you will need to accept the admissions offer as per the instructions on the admissions offer letter.

If you do not respond to the scholarship offer by the deadline outlined in the email, your scholarship offer will be reallocated and you will no longer be able to accept the award nor be admitted onto the PhD programme.

Once you have accepted both your scholarship offer and admissions offer, you will receive an email to input your bank details closer to your course's start date. These bank details will be required to pay you your regular stipend instalments.

If you are made an awardee for the scholarship, you will receive a formal study offer letter for admission onto the PhD programme. This letter will contact the official start date of your PhD.

• For PhD projects offered in round one, your course will commence from September 2024.
• For PhD projects offered in round two, your course will commence from January 2025.