What are the advantages of an ESRC DTC studentship?

For UK residents the studentship will cover tuition fees in full, provide a maintenance stipend, and an annual Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of £750.

For EU residents the ESRC DTC studentship will cover fees and RTSG only but LSE provides a stipend at Research Council rates.

For Economics students and for those whose research uses Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) there is an enhanced stipend of £3,000.

For those entering straight into an MPhil/PhD programme or moving into doctoral study following a preliminary master’s year there is also an additional stipend of £3,000 available.These students also receive an additional RTSG of £250 each year during those years.

For 2015/16 the stipend payable to LSE students is £16,057 (which is composed of the standard stipend of £14,057 plus £2,000 London weighting).

If you have not completed your thesis within the funded period of your studentship, and your maximum period of registration for a PhD has not expired, then you can apply for additional support – see LSE’s In-course financial support for final stage PhD students page (login needed).

Supervisors are asked to confirm the planned timetable through to submission. These awards are made throughout the academic session.

If you are given an ESRC scholarship you will be required to undertake advanced training. At LSE this is provided in academic departments, the Department of Methodology and the PhD Academy. 

If your research requires you to acquire or develop a working ability with a difficult language in order to carry out fieldwork or other parts of your research, you may be eligible for additional financial support from ESRC funds.

Please contact Rose Harris at p.harris@lse.ac.uk for further information. 

If you are on a full time programme, on the +3 element of your award, and intend to carry out overseas fieldwork you can apply for additional funding. You can apply for this only once during the period of your ESRC award.

Part-time students can become eligible if they transfer to full-time status for the duration of the fieldwork.

Please contact Rose Harris at p.harris@lse.ac.uk for further information.

Any disabled student who, because of disability, is obliged to incur additional expenditure in connection with their studies may be eligible for an allowance. This can consist of non-medical helpers, daily expenses and equipment.

Please contact Rose Harris at p.harris@lse.ac.uk for further information.

This additional funding is intended to provide applicants with the opportunity to establish and support existing research networks, to disseminate early research findings, to participate in seminars and other academic activities directly related to their research, or to undertake specialist research training that is not available in the UK.

In the application, students are required to enter detailed costs of their visit, eg flights, accommodation and general living expenses, along with justification of these costs.

Please contact Rose Harris at p.harris@lse.ac.uk for further information.

LSE’s DTC has additional funding for visits to specific partner universities in specific countries. The universities involved are:

• National University of Singapore
• Peking University (Beijing)
• University of Cape Town
• Gertulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil)
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (India)
• East Asia Group: University of Tokyo; Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo); Fudan University (Shanghai); Seoul National University
• Africa Group: University of Dar-es-Salaam; Makerere University; University of Nairobi; University of Ghana; University of Ibadan

This scheme is designed to help students make the most of the global opportunities offered by LSE, to enrich their research opportunities and to deepen and develop the important relationships between LSE and these institutions.

Please contact Kirsty Rawlings at k.rawlings@lse.ac.uk for further information.

The ESRC expects at least 20 per cent of DTC students to be involved in collaboration during their programme. This can include internships, placements and longer term collaborations with public, private or third sector organisations in order to collect data or develop new skills and insights.

The ESRC is not prescriptive about the type of collaboration, but the general principles are that co-funding can be involved but is not essential; the collaboration must be with a non-academic organisation in the public, private or civil society sector; and collaborations must include substantive knowledge exchange and not just one way engagement (eg data collection).

LSE’s DTC can fund costs associated with taking up these opportunities and in certain cases extend your scholarship to take account of your time out of the programme.

The ESRC’s Collaboration pages give further details and registered LSE students should look at the ESRCPhD Moodle page  - log in to Moodle and find under course name 'LSE ESRC DTC' - for more information.

If you become pregnant during the period of your ESRC award, the ESRC will allow up to six months’ paid maternity leave without the level of your award being reduced. You can also extend your maternity leave unpaid for a maximum of a further six months.

A total of 10 days’ paternity leave may be taken at any time during a partner's pregnancy or within three months following the birth. This period is regarded as additional leave of absence from studies and the award will not be extended.

If the student needs to take any further time, this must be taken as a suspension to the award. Additional paternity leave and adoption leave can also be claimed in the appropriate circumstances.

Please contact Rose Harris at p.harris@lse.ac.uk for further information.

The ESRC hosts special conferences for DTC students. See ESRC’s Student conferences for more information.

LSE is also part of a London DTC network which has an annual conference organised by DTC students.

There is funding available for LSE ESRC funded students to organise their own multi-disciplinary workshops.

Please contact Kirsty Rawlings at k.rawlings@lse.ac.uk for further information.