The William Paton Award

The William Paton Fund supports teaching and education in Theology and Religion. This award supports Masters level (taught) students by covering up to 100% of their tuition fees (at home or international rates).

Who can apply?

• Applications for funding can only be considered alongside an application to study any Masters level (taught) programme offered by the Department of Theology and Religion or MA Philosophy of Religion and Ethics: Global Philosophy of Religion pathway.
• This award is open to Home and Overseas students, who will commence their study at the start of the 2026 academic year.
• These awards are not available to current Masters students.
• This award cannot be held in conjunction with any other scholarship (including partnership scholarships).

Students of any nationality can apply for the scholarship. This means that all students can apply whether they're classed as Home or International for tuition fee purposes.

How to Apply

In order to apply, you must have completed an application to study. You will then need to complete our online funding application form. Your application must also be supported by two references.

• You'll need to complete the online funding application form
• You'll also need to get two referees to supply references via the funding reference form
• The deadline for applying is Wednesday 25 March 2026 at 12:00 noon GMT.

By applying you will be automatically considered for relevant College of Arts and Law scholarships (apart from the William Paton MA Stipends in Global Philosophy of Religion which requires a separate application).

Only complete applications submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Further information

It is your responsibility to contact your referees with the link to the online College of Arts and Law funding reference form. You'll need explain to them the importance of the reference being completed on the online form and submitted by the deadline.

We would recommend that you are in touch with your referee ahead of the deadline to ensure that references have been completed. There is no leeway with references. These must be received by the deadline.

If references are received late they will not be considered. If references are received but are not on the correct online funding reference form they will not be considered. In any of these circumstances your application will be deemed incomplete and will be withdrawn from the competition.

For your application to be considered we need to have received a complete application, i.e. study application, online funding application form and two online references by the deadline. Your application will then be graded and ranked by School Panels and each School will recommend their top applicants for an award.

We will let you know as soon as possible the outcome of your application - usually within the period from early May to the end of June.