Dean’s International PhD Scholarship for Doctoral Researchers in Health and Life Sciences

Award details

The College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences is offering Dean’s International PhD scholarships to international students in Health and Life Sciences.

This scholarship is only available to full-time international PhD students and will only be paid once for each eligible level of study, subject to meeting progression requirements in the form of a fee waiver.

Value: £2,000 tuition fee waiver for each year of full-time study (Year 1-3), excluding the students write-up year (Year 4) and subject to progressing to the next stage of study.

How many: 30 scholarships. A maximum of 10 scholarships are available for the 2024/25 entry into our Health Sciences doctoral programmes and 20 scholarships are available for Life Sciences doctoral programmes.

Application process: No separate scholarship application is required. Applicants should apply for programme in the usual way, via the Brunel online application portal. Scholarship eligibility will be automatically considered and the scholarship will be awarded for intake in October 2024, January 2025 and April 2025.

Deadlines: The College will consider applicants for the scholarship until early September 2024 for those starting in October, December for those starting in January and April for those starting in May. Once all scholarships have been allocated, the College will put prospective students on a waitlist for consideration.

Successful applicants will be contacted by the Admissions Postgraduate Research Office/Scholarship Team throughout the year and will be asked to accept the scholarship within a given deadline. If an applicant fails to accept the scholarship, the award will be removed and may be awarded to another applicant.

Data pertaining to bursary holders such as: progression rates, degree completion and graduate outcomes may also be analysed in order to understand the effectiveness of bursaries and scholarships. These data may also be linked to other data already held by the University for the purpose of better understanding the impact of bursaries and scholarships on under-represented groups. To learn more about how the University uses data to support its commitment to delivering positive outcomes to students from under-represented groups please visit our webpage.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Dean’s International PhD Scholarship an applicant must:

(a) Apply for and fulfil the entry criteria for admission to programmes listed below

(b) Applicants may not be in receipt of any other scholarship

(c) Applicants must be accepted on to a programme of full time study

(d) Applicants must have a minimum 2:1 or equivalent internationally recognised undergraduate qualification to be eligible for the scholarship

(e) Applicants are required to attend an on-line interview

Department of Health Sciences:

• PhD Welfare Health and Wellbeing
• PhD Physiotherapy
• PhD Occupational Therapy
• PhD Social Work
• PhD Public Health and Health Promotion

Department of Life Sciences:

• PhD Biosciences
• PhD Environment and Health
• PhD Environmental Sciences
• PhD Cognitive Neuroscience
• PhD Psychology
• PhD Human performance exercise and rehabilitation
• PhD Sport Sciences

• Be in receipt of an offer to study on one of the above programmes starting in January 2025 and April 2025.
• Must be classed as an Overseas fee paying student based on the UK government regulations. Applicants who are unsure of their fee status should note Brunel uses the information you have provided in your application form to assess your fee status against regulations set by the UK government. For information on these regulations please visit the independent organisation UKCISA’s website.
• Be in receipt of an Unconditional Firm offer of place by the time Scholarships are confirmed in September.

2.2 Those not eligible for these Scholarships

• Applicants NOT classed as Overseas for fees purposes based on UK government regulations, or those with an unresolved fee status. For 2024/25 entry, this includes applicants classed as European by Brunel University of London who are already in receipt of reduced fees so are not eligible for this scholarship.
• Applicants holding an offer on a course other than those stated in Section 2 of these terms and conditions.
• Applicants holding an offer on a course other than a course that falls under the Department of Life Sciences or Department of Health Sciences.
• Applicants holding an offer on a course other than a course that falls under the Department of Life Sciences or Department of Health Sciences or as stated in section 2. Eligibility.
• Applicants who will NOT commence their course in October, January or April 2024/25- applicants holding offers for deferred entry will be considered for scholarships commencing in the month and year they intend to start their course and not in the year of their course application.

Allocation

3.1 Applicants are considered for scholarships using the information provided at the time of their application only and cannot be reconsidered should their circumstances change during the course of their studies. Scholarships cannot be backdated.

3.2 All applications will be reviewed by the Department Director of Post Graduate Research (DD-PGR) . The DD-PGR will screen and assess all scholarship applications, before making a recommendation for an award to the Scholarships Allocation Panel.

3.3 Scholarships will be awarded provisionally throughout the year and successful applicants will be contacted by the Admissions Scholarship Team by email.

3.4 Successful applicants will be asked to accept the scholarship within two weeks of being contacted. If an applicant fails to accept the scholarship the award will be removed.

3.5 Formal awards will then be confirmed by the College Scholarship Allocation Panel in September for those starting in October, December for those starting in January and April for those starting in May, following receipt of examination results, to those provisional award holders who meet the required grades. Successful recipients will be informed by email shortly after final confirmation of your award.

3.6 The decision of the Admissions Tutor and College Scholarship Allocation Panel is final. The University will not accept any appeals in respect of scholarship allocation.

Conditions of payment

4.1 Only one scholarship can be paid to any one student in any one year. If an applicant applies for and is awarded one of Brunel’s International Scholarships or a an externally funded doctoral studentship, they will not be awarded and retain the Dean’s Scholarship.

4.2 Scholarships are awarded for entry into the 2024/25 academic year only and cannot be deferred to later years of entry. Deferral to later months of entry within this academic year will be considered by the Department on a case by case basis. Course applicants who intend to defer their studies to the next entry month or year will lose any award they have been made and must be reconsidered for a scholarship in the year they will begin their studies.

4.3 Scholarship awardees will be responsible for paying the remainder of their tuition fees after the scholarship contribution is deducted from the total fees for the academic year.

4.4 The scholarship does not replace the deposit of £5,000. All scholarship winners will need to pay the £5,000 deposit for their course in order to receive an unconditional offer and a Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS). The amount of their scholarship will be deducted from the remaining fees. This applies to overseas fee paying students only.

4.5 The fee waiver will only be applied provided the student is fully enrolled at the University on Health or Life Sciences PhD programmes, which includes having had their qualifications and other documentation verified and checked, and then completing the University enrolment procedures. This includes holding the correct visa to study, if appropriate.

4.6 Awarded students will have the opportunity to represent the Health or Life Sciences programme as an ambassador. This would primarily involve taking up opportunities to share your experiences of the professional education at Brunel with potential applicants to the programme. Students will be contacted by the Course Leader or International Recruitment Team as and when required.

4.7 Awarded scholars are excluded from all other University scholarships and tuition fee waivers with the exception of the Early Payment Discount, the Graduate Discount and the Family Discount.

The order of discount will be applied as follows:

1. Scholarship/bursary fee waiver applied to the full annual tuition fee.
2. 10% Brunel Alumni Family Discount or Brunel Family Discount applied to the net tuition fee.
3. 15% Graduate discount applied to the net tuition fee;
4. 2% Early Payment discount applied to the net tuition fee.

Further information about tuition fee discounts can be found in the Student Financial Policy.

4.8 The scholarship will be awarded each academic year, provided the student progresses to the next level of study, three years maximum for all programmes and Scholarship payments will not be made during a repeating year, regardless of the reason for repeating a year. Payments will not be made in the students in write-up year.

4.9 Students will be written to in September, December or March (or when progression is determined) to confirm ongoing eligibility to receive their scholarship award.

Withdrawal of a scholarship

5.1 Misleading information: The University reserves the right to withdraw a scholarship from anyone who is found to have misled the University about any aspect of their eligibility and to seek repayment of any monies already paid by appropriate means.

5.2 Mode of Attendance Change: If a student changes to different mode of study, their eligibility for a scholarship will be reviewed. The scholarship will be withdrawn if the change is from full time to part time or distance learning.

5.4 Changing course: If a student transfers to a course of study outside the PhD programmes stated in section 2 of these terms and conditions, the scholarship will be withdrawn.

5.5 Amendment of Fee Waivers: Fee waivers are applied at the start of the academic year as part/all of a scholarship entitlement and will not be amended once the fee waiver has been processed. Any tuition fee liability remaining after fee waivers are applied would therefore be calculated in accordance with the Student Financial Policy.

5.6 Abeyance/Temporary Withdrawal: In the case of temporary withdrawal or abeyance the tuition fee and the fee waiver are calculated in accordance with the Student Financial Policy.

5.7 Suspension of Study: Should a student be suspended for any reason, scholarship payments will be withdrawn and consideration of reinstatement will be dependent on the disciplinary outcome.

5.8 Repeat/Extended Study: Periods of temporary withdrawal that result in repeat or extended periods of study are not supported by additional scholarship payments. Scholarship entitlement is for the maximum duration of each award and entitlement is not extended if overall course duration alters.

5.9 Withdrawal from Study: A student who withdraws from their programme prior to completion and who is in receipt of a scholarship award will not normally be requested to repay scholarship payments made up to the point of withdrawal. However, entitlement to all future scholarship payments cease immediately if a student withdraws.

Any queries relating to these terms and conditions should be addressed to the Admissions Office by emailing: scholarships@brunel.ac.uk

Visit www.brunel.ac.uk/international/scholarships/home for further information on all the international scholarships available.

Updated 25 November 2024.