Support for UKRI Studentship Holders

Your scheme can confirm your current stipend level and funding end date. You may need this when arranging rental accommodation. Please contact your funding administrator.

Your scheme cannot confirm your overall student status for a council tax exemption. Please see the Student Registry page on Confirmation of Study instead.

A Research Passport is the mechanism for non-NHS staff to obtain an Honorary Research Contract or Letter of Access when they wish to carry out research in the NHS. University guidance on the application process is available.

Please read the Student Registry Changes to Your Student Status pages for information about medical and non-medical intermission. If you would like to intermit, please apply via your CamSIS self-service page.

If you would like to intermit, please discuss this with your funding administrator as soon as possible. Your funding administrator is best placed to advise on the financial consequences of intermission. Do not solely rely on information from supervisors and College tutors. They may not be familiar with your funding scheme's specific terms or have out of date information.

There are several reasons (e.g. Medical Leave and Family Leave) why you can continue to receive funding, but this needs to be arranged with your funding administrator as otherwise, by default, intermission means your award is suspended.

You are not eligible for a maintenance stipend whilst your award is suspended: you will not be paid. If your intermission starts partway through a period for which you have already been paid, you will have to return the part of your stipend covering the time after your intermission started.

You are entitled to a minimum of 30 days to a maximum of eight weeks per year (including public holidays). Please discuss timing of leave with your supervisor. Studentships are not extended for annual leave.

UKRI students are entitled to paid medical leave. You should use this any time you are medically unfit to study or medically advised to take leave. For example, due to:

• Sickness, including both physical and mental health
• Pregnancy-related illness, antenatal appointments or fertility treatment 
• Disability-related illness or appointments, including chronic illness
• Gender reassignment

Your eligibility to take paid Medical Leave starts on the first funded day of your PhD and lasts until the end of your funded period, though is only allowed in your first term in exceptional circumstances. You are not eligible for paid medical leave in any unfunded period. You may take up to 28 weeks Medical Leave in any rolling 12-month period. The allowance is not calculated per academic year or per calendar year. You may not take more than 12 months across your whole studentship.

You may take multiple short periods of Medical Leave (for example for chronic conditions) or take it as large block (for example for a single major issue). You may also wish to return to study in a phased manner, rather than immediately taking on your full workload. Phased returns will tend to be arranged in four-week blocks.

You must apply for a medical intermission (for absences of two weeks or more) or log a request for a short period of Medical Leave on CamSIS (for absences of five days to two weeks). For absences of less than five days, simply contact your Funding Administrator. Please also see Student Registry guidance on returning from medical intermission.

Contact your Funding Administrator notifying them of your medical absence. Your funding scheme must be satisfied that the medical leave is necessary but might not always require a doctor’s letter. Depending on the situation, different levels of medical evidence may be required – for example a doctor’s letter, a letter from another medical professional, or a determination from the University that you are not medically fit to study. For medical absences less than week you may self-certify.

Requests for medical intermission or to log a short period of Medical Leave must be made within 30 days of the start of the absence, the same as when applying for non-medical intermission. You may not retrospectively apply for leave after your funding period ends, even if the theoretical new funding end date would be in the future.

Extensions to your studentship are then calculated from the overall amount of Medical Leave taken over the studentship. If you take less than a week of Medical Leave, your studentship will not be extended. If you take a week or more of Medical Leave, your studentship may be extended. If you take a month or more of Medical Leave, your studentship will be extended.

The studentship extension will generally be equivalent to the length of Medical Leave taken, but your funding scheme will consider the impact of the Medical Leave on your studies and may award you a longer or shorter extension.

UKRI do not allow extensions of more than 12 months in total for any combination of Medical Leave and Additional Leave (see below). Bear in mind that you might be entitled to a combined period of Medical and Additional Leave which is longer than 12 months, but that your extension would be shorter than the full period of leave you may take. This limit does not apply to Family Leave.

Medical Leave can be used for minor illness; UKRI suggests this includes colds, stomach bugs and short periods of influenza. Medical Leave used for minor illness does count towards the maximum amount of leave you can claim, both within any rolling 12-month period and across your whole studentship. However, UKRI does not allow it to be considered when calculating the extension to your studentship.

Students funded from UKRI training grants have no statutory entitlement to maternity, paternity or adoption leave. However, UKRI provides funding for similar leave – do not read guidance on the statutory leave types and expect UKRI’s leave to work identically, though.

UKRI funding schemes cannot offer paid shared parental leave as the statutory Shared Parental Leave scheme excludes people who are not employed, like those on a UKRI studentship.

There is no limit to the number of periods of Family Leave that can be taken during a UKRI studentship.

If you do not return to study after a period of Family Leave, you will have to return the payments made to you for that time.

For all types of Family Leave over 2 weeks, you must apply for non-medical intermission and notify your funding administrator. Between 1 and 2 weeks, you must log a request for a short period of leave on CamSIS and inform your funding administrator. Under 1 week, simply inform your funding administrator.

Requests must be made within 30 days of the start of the absence, though ideally should be made well in advance of it. You may not retrospectively apply for leave after your funding period ends, even if the theoretical new funding end date would be in the future. You will need to provide evidence of the birth or adoption, for example a MAT B1 form.

Maternity and Adoption Leave

UKRI treats Maternity and Adoption Leave similarly, so they are treated together here.

You are eligible for Maternity Leave if the leave is planned to (or does) start within your funded period, and you are the birth parent. Leave can start between 11 weeks before the expected week of birth, and the date of birth.

The main adopter is eligible for Adoption Leave if newly matched with a child or if they have used a surrogate during their studentship. Leave can start from the date when the placement begins, or earlier to support preparation for the placement, if agreed.

In either case, you can take up to a year of leave. You will receive your full maintenance rate for the first 26 weeks. The next 13 weeks are paid at “a level commensurate with statutory maternity pay” – by this, UKRI means the pay described in the second bullet point of the gov.uk maternity pay and leave page. The final 13 weeks are unpaid. Your funded period will be extended accordingly.

If possible, please give notice 15 weeks before the expected birth, or as soon as reasonably possible after being matched with a child in the case of adoption leave. We, and UKRI, understand that giving this much notice is not always possible, though.

Paternity or Partner’s Leave

You are eligible if you are the birth parent’s partner or the main adopter’s partner, have the main responsibility for caring for the child (aside from the birth parent or adopter), and if the leave starts within your funded period. You do not need to be married to the birth parent.

You can take two weeks of paid leave within 52 weeks of the birth or placement. Your funded period will be extended accordingly.

Neonatal Care Leave

You are eligible for Neonatal Care Leave if your child is born during the funded period of your studentship, your child is receiving neonatal care in hospital, and if you are the birth parent or birth parent’s partner.

You can take one week of leave per week (or part-week) your child is in neonatal care, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. This is in addition to any Maternity, Paternity or Partner’s Leave. Your funded period will be extended accordingly.

Unpaid Parental Leave

You may take up to one month of unpaid leave per year to care for your child. You will not receive any maintenance payments for this time. Alternatively, you may choose to suspend your studentship if you wish to take a longer period away from studies.

UKRI outlines some other circumstances where you may be entitled to paid leave whilst not studying. In particular:

• Special Leave including domestic emergencies, bereavement and pregnancy loss
• Baby loss, including stillbirth and neonatal death
• Carer’s leave
• Public duties such as jury service

Special Leave generally lasts up to a maximum of five days, or ten days in case of bereavement regarding close relatives or pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. We and UKRI are mindful that you may need more time away from studying; medical leave for a mental health absence is also available. You may also wish to return to study in a phased manner after such leave, rather than immediately taking on your full workload.

In the event of baby loss after week 24 of the pregnancy and up to 52 weeks after the birth, you are entitled to Special Leave and the same amount of Family Leave that you would have otherwise been entitled to.

If you need to give or arrange care for a dependent with a long-term care need you may take five days paid carer’s leave per year.

If you are called for jury service, you are entitled to paid leave for that time.

In all of these circumstances, you must apply for intermission (or a short period of leave if less than two weeks) and notify your funding administrator. Requests must be made within 30 days of the start of the absence. You may not retrospectively apply for leave after your funding period ends, even if the theoretical new funding end date would be in the future.

Extensions to your studentship are then calculated from the overall amount of Additional Leave taken over the studentship. If you take less than a week of Additional Leave, your studentship will not be extended. If you take a week or more of Additional Leave, your studentship may be extended. If you take a month or more of Additional Leave, your studentship will be extended.

The studentship extension will generally be equivalent to the length of Additional Leave taken, but your funding scheme will consider the impact of the Additional Leave on your studies and may award you a longer or shorter extension.

UKRI do not allow extensions of more than 12 months in total for any combination of Medical Leave and Additional Leave (see below). Bear in mind that you might be entitled to a combined period of Medical and Additional Leave which is longer than 12 months, but that your extension would be shorter than the full period of leave you may take. This limit does not apply to Family Leave.

You must read the University’s guidance on withdrawal and discuss the matter with your tutor, supervisor and Funding Administrator before starting an application.

Withdrawing will terminate your studentship. Once a UKRI studentship is terminated it is not possible to reinstate it. If you successfully apply to be reinstated to the University, you will not regain your studentship funding.

If you do decide to withdraw, you must tell your Funding Administrator immediately.

Your Funding Administrator will discuss the implications with you. If you withdraw part-way through a period for which you have already been paid, you will have to return the part of your stipend covering the time after you withdrew.

Our payment systems have a brief delay between ordering a payment and the payment arriving in your account. If you withdraw right before an instalment is due, the payment may have already been ordered, so you would have to repay it as soon as it arrives. You must let your Funding Administrator know about your planned withdrawal as soon as possible.

UKRI allows students to change from full- to part-time status (or vice versa) during their studentship, subject to the University’s approval. However, UKRI does not allow changes to a lower rate of study in the final stages of a studentship, other than in exceptional circumstances.

You must discuss any change with your Funding Administrator and supervisor before you apply. To apply, please see the Student Registry's Changing Your Mode of Study page.

Research, depending on the discipline, can involve periods of long study, out-of-hours working and shift-work. Your funding scheme and supervisor should not require you to work excessive hours to the detriment of your wellbeing. Whilst you may need to keep specific hours to run an experiment (for example) you should generally be able to follow a conventional working week.

Your funding scheme should consider reasonable requests for flexible working arrangements (that do not need changes from full- to part-time) but is not required to grant them. Please discuss these arrangements with your supervisor.

Please tell your Funding Administrator if you plan to submit your thesis before your award's end date – it may impact your stipend payments.

By default, you are not eligible for a maintenance stipend after you have submitted your thesis. If you submit part-way through a period for which you have already been paid, you will have to return the part of your stipend covering the time after you submitted.

However, if you continue doing activities related to your thesis, you may be granted permission to continue to receive (or keep, if it has already been paid to you) your stipend. This permission would be valid until the end of quarter in which you submitted, or your funding's end date, whichever is earlier. You must discuss this with your supervisor and Funding Administrator, as this does not happen automatically. Preparing something for publication or a conference often are valid reasons, but preparation for your viva or thesis' corrections are not.

Remember that you must keep a minimum number of terms before you submit your thesis.

UKRI require you to submit your thesis before their Expected Submission Date. This is something you agreed to when accepting the studentship.

Your funder-expected submission date is not currently displayed in CamSIS. The date shown there is the end date of your registration with the University, and may be the same, sooner or later. If you are ever unsure as to what your funder-expected submission date is, contact your Funding Administrator.

If for any reason you are unable to meet this deadline, please discuss this with your Funding Administrator and supervisor as soon as possible.

There is also guidance on extending your registration at the University of Cambridge. If you are submitting late by your registration date (as opposed to by your funder-expected submission date) you will need to apply for reinstatement.

UKRI-funded disabled students are eligible to apply for UKRI-funded support.

Please contact the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) to discuss your needs. They can arrange a needs assessment and putting in place adjustments to support you.

Payments will generally not be made directly to you, but instead to your department for the adjustments necessary.

You do not need to wait until you start your studies to start this process. If you believe DSA may be helpful for you, please do contact the ADRC before you arrive in Cambridge.

Please see the University of Cambridge's data protection for students page. UKRI require us to keep some data relating to your studentship for seven years after the closure of the grant funding it, for financial audit purposes. Note the grant (which often funds many other studentships) may close some time after your studentship ends.