School of Life Sciences - Black British Scholars programme scholarship 2024-25

Eligibility 

The awards are for students starting a Masters by Research in academic year 2024/25

All candidates must be from the UK/UK Domiciled and from one, or more, of the following backgrounds:

• Black – African 
• Black – Caribbean 
• Black – Other 
• Mixed – White and Black African 
• Mixed White and Black Caribbean 
• Other Mixed background including Black African, Black Caribbean or Other Black background. 

All candidates must qualify for Home fees. 

Applicants must meet a minimum academic threshold (at least a 2:2 Honours). Interviews will seek to establish critical thinking ability rather than knowledge of a specific subject and we will seek to prioritise scholarship awards to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. 

School of Life Sciences Black Scholars Programme 

Masters by Research Scholarships for UK students from Black or Black-Mixed Backgrounds. 

This scholarship will fund talented UK-domiciled Black and mixed Black heritage students who wish to pursue a Masters by Research in Life Sciences. By offering these scholarships, we aim to encourage a diverse research community and help nurture a more inclusive pipeline for future researchers. As a Masters by Research student you will be contributing to our cutting-edge research with societal impact. 

Our Masters by Research course offers you the opportunity to carry out an in-depth life sciences research project in one of the leading and most productive research universities – the top University for Biological Sciences in REF2021. 

You will gain valuable real-world experience working in a live research environment alongside our expert staff, many of whom are world-leaders in their respective fields. As a part of our collaborative team, you will be helping to break new ground on real and challenging research projects. 

Projects are offered across many areas of research, including –  

• antimicrobial resistance 
• agritech and plant sciences 
• artificial intelligence 
• biochemistry, molecular and cell biology 
• cancer 
• computational biology 
• cell signalling 
• developmental and stem cell biology 
• drug discovery 
• gene regulation and expression 
• immunology/immunotherapy 
• microbiology 
• neurodegeneration 
• structural biology 

You can view the full list of available projects on our Masters by Research programme page.

What the Scholarship covers 

Successful applicants will be awarded a fully-funded place on our course – home tuition fees will be paid for (currently £13,625 per year) and in addition to this, we will provide you with a tax-free stipend of £19,237 (amount in line with UKRI rates – published and updated annually), paid in monthly instalments during your studies. 

Your host lab will receive a training budget of £7000 to support the research costs associated with the project. 

A stipend is tax-free and you will not need to pay National Insurance on this income. The level of stipend we offer is equivalent to an annual salary of £21,500 after tax and NI.