SEED

Maintenance awards

How will I receive my maintenance stipend from my internally funded, ESRC or AHRC award?

Maintenance awards are paid directly into your bank account via Campus Solutions. Most awards are paid monthly. You must ensure you have input your UK bank account to your record. You do this by going into your MyManchester, choosing the funding portal and selecting the ‘Bank Account Details’ link.

You can view your maintenance award when you log onto self-service, choose campus finances then financial aid. When you log onto this service if you see a button to put on your bank account details please do so as this means that the University does not have these details on your record.

When you log on, if you cannot see your maintenance stipend or if it has not been set up as you expected, you need to let the funding team know as soon as possible on HUMS.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk so that we can sort this out for you. 

Please note that payment of maintenance awards will automatically stop if you have not fully completed registration. Most maintenance awards also stop during periods of approved interruption.

You can find the award payment dates on Student Support website.

I have not received my maintenance payment, what should I do?

You should contact the Student Funding Team in the Student Services Centre in the first instance.

Early thesis submission

For students receiving funding administered/funded by The University of Manchester, please note that funding terminates at the point of thesis submission. Students receiving funding from external bodies should refer to their funder.

Fieldwork bursary

Doctoral research students who undertake approved fieldwork away from The University of Manchester may apply for fieldwork support funding.

The support is available to help you with the added expenses of fieldwork. Your fieldwork costs must entail a level of cost above and beyond the normal expenses of attending the University as a student.

To be eligible to apply you must:

  • be fully registered for your Doctoral programme of study.
  • have applied to, or be in the process of applying to, all other plausible sources of financial support*.
  • have successfully passed the probationary year (Year 1 for full-time students, Years 1 and 2 for part-time students)
  • be undertaking approved fieldwork normally for a period of not less than one week and not more than twelve months.
  • your application should not be retrospective.

The maximum award payable under this scheme is £1,000 for UK fieldwork and £1,500 for overseas fieldwork for those on a full-time programme and half of these amounts for those on a part-time programme. Successful applicants can submit more than one claim up to the maximum permitted.

Note: If you receive funding through a UK Research Council or another fund provider, you will need to show, through a detailed budget, how you will use the School’s fieldwork support allowance to complement the resources offered by external bodies.

Additional 'top up' support

Students whose fieldwork requires reconfigurations of fieldwork that may incur higher costs not envisaged from the start can apply to increase their bursary by £500. A detailed case and justifications will be required with a full supporting statement from their supervisor and the form signed off by their Department Coordinator.

How to Apply

Applications for fieldwork support can be submitted at any point in the academic year, however, students should not submit an incomplete application or submit an application without receiving the relevant ethical clearances (if applicable).

Please submit an application via the online form and select ‘Fieldwork Funding’ on Question 7:

You must have also had permission for fieldwork absence. If not, please submit the completed Humanities Doctoral Academy research fieldwork application form as soon as possible.

For PGRs on Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DECP) or Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (DCP) programme, please apply using this form.

Applications will be considered by a sub-Committee of the School Postgraduate Research Programmes Committee. You will be informed by email of the outcome of your application by the Doctoral Academy Funding Team approximately 7-10 working days from submission of the funding application.

Payments are conditional on:

  • you receiving formal approval to undertake the fieldwork
  • you receiving ethical approval to undertake the fieldwork
  • completion, where applicable, of risk assessments and insurance forms 
  • completion of the Student Absence Request Form found at the top of this page.
  • no Negative Service Indicators (NSI) present on student record. 

Students registered for the submission pending (writing up) period or have completed their programme are not eligible to claim from this support and should endeavour to make any claims prior to registering for the submission pending period. 

Examples of acceptable expenditure:

  • Travel - air, rail, petrol use
  • Travel books, stationery, batteries
  • Data pens
  • SIM Cards
  • Survey costs, e.g. printing, telephone calls
  • Reimbursement of interpreters, guides, assistants, transcription services
  • Purchasing inter-library loans / unavailable essential research texts

The above list is not exhaustive and just an example of what you could use. The School is unable to cover subsistence or accommodation costs under this fund.

Sustainable Travel

The university is committed to sustainable travel, where possible. There is a Sustainable Travel Top-Up Fund available via a separate application form. If your travel costs are more expensive due to selecting a journey with lower carbon emissions, you can apply for this top-up via the Sustainable Travel online form.

NB: If your application for the Sustainable Travel Top Up Fund is accepted, please inform the DA via hums.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk as the Top-Up Fund is not currently managed by the DA Funding Team.

Travel insurance

The University travel policy provides cover for students travelling on business such as fieldwork, conferences etc. and for any travel that is a compulsory element of a University award-bearing degree programme of study. For other travel, you should arrange your own insurance cover. For more information please see the Insurance Office website.

Liability cover

The University also has other insurance policies in place for protection in relation to public liability. Please see further information and contact the Insurance Office if you have queries.

 

Key Travel Process

Key Travel is a specialised procurement system the University of Manchester uses to make academic transportation and lodging arrangements much more efficient and easy to arrange. Your profile details, which you only need to input once, will be imperative to any University-funded travel arrangements you need to make during the rest of your time at The University of Manchester.

As a doctoral PGR with scope for conferences and fieldwork, we ask that you now please register with Key Travel by following the information below.

Step 1: Create a login

  • Go to the Key Travel website select ‘New online user’ and enter your university email address and click 'Request new password'.
  • Email Key Travel as soon as possible with your user ID should you have any technical difficulty procuring your login.

Step 2: Create a traveller profile

  • Select 'Create your own profile'
  • Refer to the Key Travel webinar if you are unsure of any details required to create your profile.
  • Please note that the fields relating to 'Redress number' and 'known traveller' relate only to specific travellers to the USA.
  • Please be aware that your preferences, for example, which direction you may prefer to sit on a train, may not be taken into account by all suppliers.
  • Profiles can be viewed and edited by the authorised person(s) only. For example, arrangers will not be able to view your personal information.
  • All profile data is encrypted and stored as per the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Information is only used for the purpose of each trip.

All the PG Researchers are activated on Key Travel with Standard access (look not book) and can follow the steps in the attached Getting started with key travel.

After you have created your profile, you are now ready to proceed with a booking once your funding is approved and secured.

Instructions to book

  1. View travel options (flights, hotel, and rail)
  2. Select your preferred travel options and add to basket
  3. View Basket
  4. Share Quote - Once you’re happy to proceed with your selected options, send quote to seedschooloffice@manchester.ac.uk by sharing the quote details. If you need further help, please refer to the full documentation.

NB: Please note, you should obtain approval from the PGR Research and Training Support Grant (RTSG) application process before proceeding with a Key Travel booking.

Postgraduate researchers should contact Key Travel on 0161 819 9797 for price matches if a cheaper quote is available on a different site.

Research support expense claims

You may be able to claim expenses from the PGR Support Awards fund. You should consult the information provided on PGR Support Awards and make an application if appropriate. However, please note that students are encouraged to apply for a PGR Support Award in advance wherever possible.

We cannot guarantee that an application for a PGR Support Award can be granted, so if you decided to pay for a conference and later submit a PGR Support Award application, this is at your own risk.

If you are granted a PGR Support Award and you need to claim back expenses, you need to submit a completed copy of the form below, along with all original receipts (photocopies or scanned copies cannot be accepted).

Completed forms and receipts should be submitted to the Doctoral Academy, CG6 Ground Floor, Ellen Wilkinson Building or by email at Hums.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk.

EPSRC DTP-funded students

For EPSRC DTP-funded students, your research training support grant allocation is indicated in the award letter. To make expense claims from your allocation, please contact your Department administrator in the first instance.

Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) allowances/expenses

The SEED Research & Training Support Grant provides an equitable process to support PGRs in presenting at conferences. Awards can cover travel, accommodation and conference fees. The award does not cover subsistence costs.

  • Awards will only be made to applicants who have a paper accepted and is a conference speaker. Poster presentation can also be considered under this fund.
  • All PGRs currently registered for either their prescribed programme of study (and part-time equivalent) on any doctorate programme within SEED are eligible to apply. PGRs who have submitted their thesis or where conferences take place after the submission pending period are not eligible to apply and will not be supported. Co-authored papers will only be considered if the amount of input is clearly defined. 
  • PGRs can receive funding for one conference per academic year only. The absolute maximum amount of School support is £1,500 per conference. 
  • This is a competitive process and the value of award granted may not always cover the full cost of conference attendance. An application for the RTSG can be made at any point in the year.
  • Applications will be considered by the PGR Director, and you will be informed of the outcome of your application approximately 7-10 working days after the request has been made. 
  • To be eligible, PGRs must upload proof of having an abstract accepted by the conference (a confirmation email from the conference will suffice). PGRs also require supervisor support for the application and will need to ask their supervisors to write a supporting statement indicating the relevance of the conference.
  • Please note that we are unable to award funding to PGRs with A Negative Service Indicator (NSI) on their student account. Any outstanding debts should be cleared prior an application being made
  • Travel and Accommodation: All travel and accommodation should be accurately costed using Key Travel prior to making an application. Please refer to the Key Travel drop-down below for instructions on how to access and set-up a profile on the service. All travel and accommodation should be booked through Key Travel via the SEED School Operations team. The School are able to cover accommodation up to a maximum of £100 per night. Accommodation requests should only be for the duration of the conference. We can also cover the night prior to the conference start date.

How to apply

Please submit an application via the online form:

Completing this form may require the following material:

  • Supporting statement from your supervisor
  • Proof of presenting at conference (if applicable)
  • Travel risk assessment (if applicable – see below for links to risk assessments)
  • Invoice and costings if requesting a procurement of goods
  • Information about suppliers if requesting a procurement of services

All PGRs taking fieldwork leave must also complete the Research fieldwork application form.  

PGRs on Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DECP) or Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (DCP) programme should apply using the same form linked above.

Review process

The PGR Director and Doctoral Academy Funding team will review applications and grant awards. Successful applicants will be sent notification via their university email account.

The RTSG tends to be a highly competitive award and we do not anticipate being able to make an award to all students who are eligible. We expect all applications to be budgeted competitively, so, for example, the committee would not expect to fund expensive accommodation if adequate cheaper accommodation were available. (Please note that the University is unable to support bookings made through AirBnB).

If you have any further questions regarding the SEED Research & Training Support Grant please contact the Doctoral Academy on Hums.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk.

Travel risk assessment

Sustainable travel

The university is committed to sustainable travel, where possible. There is a Sustainable Travel Top-Up Fund available via a separate application form. If your travel costs are more expensive due to selecting a journey with lower carbon emissions, you can apply for this top-up via the Sustainable Travel online form.

NB: If your application for the Sustainable Travel Top Up Fund is accepted, please inform the DA via hums.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk as the Top-Up Fund is not currently managed by the DA Funding Team.

Travel insurance

The University travel policy provides cover for students travelling on business such as fieldwork, conferences etc. and for any travel that is a compulsory element of a university award-bearing degree programme of study. For other travel, you should arrange your own insurance cover. For more information, please see the Insurance Office website.

Liability cover

The University also has other insurance policies in place for protection in relation to public liability. Please see further information and contact the Insurance Office if you have queries.

ESRC and AHRC studentships

AHRC and ESRC funded PGRs

NWCDTP and NWSSDTP-funded PGRs are eligible for funding to support their research as outlined in the studentship offer letter. This includes Research Training Support Grant (RTSG), Overseas Fieldwork Funding (OSFW), Internships, Overseas Institutional Visits (OIV) and Fieldwork and Conference Fund, subject to eligibility. They must therefore apply for such support from NWCDTP or NWSSDTP rather than from the School.

Further information including funding guides and contact details can be found on the Faculty of Humanities intranet:

Research council funded students should direct their queries to their School doctoral programme office in the first instance. 

ESRC NWSSDTP and AHRC NWCDTP doctoral studentships

PGRs in the first year of their doctoral degree may apply for ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership studentship or AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership to fund their second and third years, subject to eligibility.

To find out about the details of the studentships, eligibility criteria and how to apply please visit:

Other funding opportunities

The University of Manchester Living Cost Support Fund

The Living Cost Support Fund is a University scheme that exists thanks to generous donations from alumni and friends who want to ensure that no Manchester student is left struggling. If you are experiencing financial hardship, either as a result of the COVID-19 crisis or otherwise, please apply to us for support.

The fund is open to all students, regardless of level of study or nationality. It is open all year round and can award grants and loans to help you overcome financial hardship or unforeseen expenses.

For information about eligibility criteria and application process, please see Living Cost Support Fund website. 

UK Doctoral Loan

If you’re coming to Manchester this year to begin or continue postgraduate doctoral research, you could qualify for a loan from the UK government. Please see eligibility criteria and how to apply on the website below.