Our offer

Funding

Through our Open Doctoral and Collaborative Doctoral Awards Midlands4Cities will fund and support outstanding research for 460 UK and EU doctoral students between 2019 and 2024.

M4C studentships can be undertaken full-time and part-time.

A studentship consists of three elements:

• 3.5 years funding for a full-time Open Doctoral Award and 4 years funding for a Collaborative Doctoral Award (a maximum of 7 years and 8 years respectively for part-time study). Payment of approved fees for UK and EU applicants of £4,237 per annum for 2019 entry as set and agreed by UK Research and Innovation (pro-rata for part-time study)

• A maintenance grant (or stipend) of £15,009 per annum for 2019 entry for UK applicants (pro-rata for part-time study). Where institutional funds allow, M4C may be able to offer a maintenance grant to EU applicants.
• Additional funding opportunities which include a Research Development Fund to support primary research activities, an Engagement Fund to enable students to undertake placements and other professional development activity and a Cohort Development Fund which supports groups of M4C students to design training, development and research activities.

Applicants for an Open Doctoral Award can draw on supervisory expertise within and across the dynamic mix of universities which comprise Midlands4Cities. This allows you to find the perfect supervisory team for your project either within a single university or across M4C institutions.

Midlands4Cities doctoral researchers have access to world class supervisory expertise across the breadth of arts and humanities subjects. Where relevant, your supervisory team may also include a member from a non-university partner organisation (for example from the cultural, creative or heritage sector).

Applicants for a Collaborative Doctoral Award pursue a PhD research project which has been jointly developed by a Midlands4Cities university and an external partner organisation. Collaborative Doctoral Awards offer:

• Projects which respond to particular needs in the cultural, creative and heritage sectors
• Access to training, facilities and expertise beyond a purely academic setting
• The opportunity to develop skills and experience that significantly enhance future employability

Midlands4Cities has an extensive range of regional, national and international partners who provide training and placement opportunities for our students. A placement is an excellent opportunity for personal and professional development, enabling you to develop skills, apply research expertise outside of academia and gain valuable experience to add to your CV.

During the period of your PhD study you will have the opportunity to develop a placement for up to six months with one of the many organisations that collaborate with Midlands4Cities. Alternatively, we will support you to develop a placement with an organisation which is part of your own research network. A placement will provide access to new resources, contacts and organisational cultures (for example you could be based in a museum, gallery, studio, archive, heritage organisation or specialist laboratory).

Midlands4Cities provides a collaborative research training environment by combining the postgraduate training offer at each M4C university with an extensive and customised programme of research and employability training that connects the M4C community.

The Midlands4Cities ethos of ‘Quality Thesis Plus’ enables students to develop arts and humanities research skills, explore interdisciplinary methods, discover research networks, and path-find professional careers via the Midlands Arts Programme (MAP). This includes cohort development initiatives that range from writing workshops with the Royal Literary Fund and Policy Engagement training with the Institute for Government, to workshops with creative practitioners that ‘Lift the Lid’ on work and careers in the cultural industries.