Support for UKRI Studentship Holders

Contents

1. Funding Scheme Websites
2. Queries and Useful Contacts
3. UKRI Terms and Conditions
4. Confirmation of Status
5. Holidays
6. Suspension of Award and Intermission of Studies
7. Paid Sick Leave
8. Parental Leave
9. Working Whilst You Study
10. Withdrawal
11. Change of Full/Part-Time Status
12. Early Submission
13. The Importance of Submitting Your Thesis on Time
14. Submitting Late
15. Disabled Students' Allowances
16. International Placement Scheme
17. Data Retention

Funding Scheme Websites

This page contains information relevant to student in receipt of a studentship funded by a UKRI training grant. Common UKRI funding schemes at the University of Cambridge include:

• AHRC OOC DTP
• BBSRC Cambridge Biosciences DTP
• EPSRC DTP and CDTs
• ESRC DTP
• MRC DTP and its associate partners
• NERC C-CLEAR DTP
• STFC departmental grants at Astronomy, DAMTP, DPMMS and Physics
• STFC CDT-DIS

Please note that the AHRC DTP funding students that belong to the five cohorts that started their doctoral studies between 2014 and 2018 is currently sunsetting. The generic guidance below is applicable to the small number of remaining students. If you have any specific queries, please contact ahrc.and.esrc.dtp.funding@admin.cam.ac.uk; they are the Funding Administrator for these awards.

Queries and Useful Contacts

Your funding scheme (ie DTP, CDT or similar) should provide you with contact email addresses at the outset of your award for queries regarding the payment of your stipend, any discretionary funding or RTSG entitlements, and other such payments to you that may occur during your studentship. Please refer to your award letter and the scheme’s website for these contacts.

Please note that there is variation from scheme to scheme; some may concentrate the administration of payments within the scheme itself, others may devolve some or all payments out departments, and others have arrangements with the Student Funding Team centrally. For some schemes, the same contact point applies for all payment types, whereas for others, different contact points will be provided for different types of payments.

Whilst that variation exists, they should collectively be able to provide you with the broadly same assistance and are therefore collectively referred to as your Funding Administrator throughout the rest of this page

You should not need to contact the UKRI or your individual research council during the lifetime of your award; all administration is carried out via your Funding Administrator or other scheme or department contacts.

UKRI Terms and Conditions

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) publish the terms and conditions of training grant funding on their website, plus a guidance document explaining them further. Your scheme may be subject to additional terms. These documents are designed more for funding schemes to follow than for you as a student, but they do govern how the scheme will interact with you.

If you are unsure, check your original award letter or ask your Funding Administrator.

Confirmation of Status

You may need confirmation of your status as a student for council tax exemption purposes. Please see the Student Registry webpage regarding this.

You may need confirmation of your funding end date and current stipend level; this is particularly common when arranging rental accommodation. Please contact your Funding Administrator to request this.

A Research Passport is the mechanism for non-NHS staff to obtain an Honorary Research contract or Letter of Access when they propose to carry out research in the NHS. University guidance on the application process can be found here.

Holidays

Postgraduate Research students are entitled to take periods of holiday at times agreed with their supervisor, provided that these do not exceed 8 weeks in a given year.

Suspension of Award and Intermission of Studies

Please see the Student Registry Changes to Your Student Status pages for information about medical and non-medical intermission.

If you wish to suspend your award, please apply to intermit via your CamSIS self-service page. Applying to intermit can take some time to be approved to be fully approved, so please inform your Funding Administrator as soon as you think you may have to suspend, so that they can stop your next stipend payment. You will have to return any overpayments.

The University allows intermission to be backdated for up to 30 days from the date of application, but no more than this.

Paid Sick Leave

UKRI students are eligible for thirteen weeks of paid sick leave within any twelve-month period. You are eligible for paid sick leave from the first funded day of your PhD until the end of your funded period, if you produce medical certification in the same manner as for intermission, and if you have not claimed more than thirteen weeks of paid sick leave in the previous twelve months. You are not eligible for paid sick leave in any unfunded writing up period.

As of July 2023, there remains provision for additional paid sick leave (up to 28 weeks total leave per year) in cases of COVID.

You must contact your Funding Administrator notifying them of your medical absence, submit medical evidence in the form of a Doctor’s Note, and request sick pay. You must also apply to the Student Registry for a medical intermission on CamSIS, no matter how short a period of sick pay claimed. Please also see Student Registry guidance on returning from medical intermission. Claims should be made as soon as possible - either during or very shortly after the period of absence.

Whilst more retrospective claims for paid sick leave may be considered in exceptional circumstances, this still must occur prior to the end of your funded period. UKRI Training Grant Terms state “it is not permissible to provide further funding once the funding end date of the student award has passed”. If you apply for paid sick leave after the end of your funded period, it will unfortunately be denied, even if the theoretical new funding end date was still in the future.

The amount of paid sick leave already taken at any time in the year immediately prior to the date on which a period of sickness absence begins will be taken into account when calculating the amount of sick pay due to you. Therefore, if you take the maximal thirteen-week allowance in one block, you would be ineligible for any further sick pay for a further 39 weeks. Any further sickness necessitating further time away from studying in those 39 weeks (be it continuing from the period of claimed sick pay or separate from it) will be handled via the existing intermission and suspension of award processes.

Note in some circumstances, for example a large number of short periods of medical absence all related to each other due to the same chronic illness, the Student Registry may decide it is more appropriate to give an extension to your registration at the University, rather than medical intermission. This should not affect the disbursement of your paid sick leave, or your entitlements under UKRI Terms.

Provided necessary medical evidence was submitted, stipend payment will continue through the first thirteen weeks of medical intermission, as per the following examples.

• Student A takes a 52 week (one year) medical intermission. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by 52 weeks on JeS and CamSIS. They are paid their normal stipend for the first thirteen weeks of that intermission, but do not receive any payment for the subsequent 39 weeks.
• Student B takes a six-week medical intermission. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by six weeks on JeS and CamSIS. They are paid their normal stipend throughout the six weeks they are on intermission. They still have seven weeks of sick pay allowance remaining to be used in the subsequent 46 weeks.
• Student C is sick for ten days. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by ten days on JeS and CamSIS (note this is an exception to the normal rule of a two week lower bound). They are paid their normal stipend throughout those ten days, keeping the remainder of their 13-week allowance to be used over the rest of the year.

UKRI require certification for sick leave. Under this basis, medical evidence will be retained, in the same manner as for medical intermissions.

Parental Leave

Students funded from UKRI training grants have no statutory entitlement to maternity, paternity or adoption leave. However, UKRI provides funding for similar leave.

Maternity and Adoption Leave

UKRI funded students are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave if the expected week of childbirth will occur during the period of their award. The first 26 weeks will be paid at full stipend rate, pro-rated as necessary for part-time students. The following 13 weeks should be paid at a level commensurate with statutory maternity pay. The final 13 weeks are not paid. The end date of the studentship will be extended to reflect any period of leave.

"A level commensurate with statutory maternity pay" means the pay described in the second bullet point of the gov.uk maternity pay and leave page.

Maternity leave can start no earlier than 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth. There is no qualifying period for maternity or adoption leave, so you can claim as soon as you start your studentship if necessary. However, UKRI require the University to reclaim the money if you do not return to study afterwards.

When submitting notification to your Funding Administrator, you should attach a formal certificate or evidence stating the expected week of childbirth (eg form MatB1) or date of adoption placement. You must also complete an application to the University to intermit your studies. Please give notice of your intention to take maternity leave and the intended start date by the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth, or within seven days of being matched with a child in the case of adoption leave.

Paternity and Parental Leave

Partners are entitled to up to two weeks paid Ordinary Paternity Leave on full stipend. Partners are also entitled to an extended period of unpaid parental leave, up to a maximum of 50 weeks, with their studentship extended accordingly.

Ordinary Paternity Leave cannot start before the birth and must end within 56 days of the birth. Unpaid parental leave must be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child. This leave may be taken in up to three blocks of leave, or all at once.

In all cases studentship end dates will be updated to reflect the period of leave. Intention to take parental leave should be given 3 weeks ahead of the expected week of childbirth. The UKRI do not allow paid shared parental leave.

A summary of the allowances can be found below:

Type of Leave	100% Pay (Pro Rata for PT Students)	Level commensurate with Statutory Maternity Pay	Unpaid	Total Eligible Extension to Funding Period
Maternity Leave	26 Weeks	13 Weeks	13 Weeks	52 Weeks
Adoption Leave	26 Weeks	13 Weeks	13 Weeks	52 Weeks
Paternity Leave	2 Weeks	None	None	2 Weeks
Parental Leave	None	None	50 Weeks	50 Weeks

Working whilst you study

The University has strict rules on postgraduate students working whilst they are studying.

Permanent Withdrawal

If you need to leave your course, you must take 2 actions:

• Initiate “Withdrawal” from University from your Self-Service. The date of withdrawal will mark the end of eligibility for your award benefits.
• Contact your Funding Administrator by email immediately to signal your intention. Your Funding Administrator will discuss the implications with you and advise you how to minimise repayments, as maintenance is paid in advance.

For example, if you were paid a stipend instalment on 25^th August (to cover 1^st - 30^th of September) and withdrew on 16^th September, you would have to pay back half of that instalment. Please note that University payment systems have a lead time between setup of a payment and its arrival in your account, and so if you withdraw shortly before an instalment is paid to you, its payment may have already been ordered, resulting in you having to repay the whole amount as soon as it arrives. Therefore, it is critical to let your Funding Administrator know about your planned withdrawal as soon as possible.

Once an award is terminated it is not possible to reinstate an award.

Change of Full/Part-Time Status

UKRI generally only permits one change from full- to part-time status (or vice versa) over the course of a studentship. To apply, please see the Student Registry Changing Your Mode of Study page and discuss the matter with your Funding Administrator prior to making an application.

As of July 2023, there remain allowances for COVID’s impacts, and thus UKRI may allow additional changes as a result. Please discuss this with your Funding Administrator.

Please note that students are also entitled to reasonable flexible working arrangements (that do not need changes from full- to part-time). Please discuss these arrangements with your supervisor.

Submitting Your Thesis Early

Please notify your Funding Administrator if you intend to submit your thesis prior to your award end date, so that they can advise you on any implications this may have on your stipend. Remember that you must keep a minimum number of terms before you submit; you will not be able to submit early if you have not met that requirement.

Please note you are generally not eligible for maintenance after you have submitted your thesis. However, if you will be continuing to undertake work related to your thesis, such as preparing for a conference or publication, you may be granted dispensation to continue to receive your stipend for the remainder of the quarter in which you submitted. You must liaise with your supervisor, Funding Administrator and funding scheme if doing so; approval from senior staff within your funding scheme will be required.

The Importance of Submitting Your Thesis on Time

The Submission Rate Survey is an annual survey that calculates the rate of thesis submission by doctoral students who have held UKRI studentships. The census date of the survey is around 1st October each year. JeS Student Details Documents are used to collect information from the University about expected submission dates of doctoral students due to submit by the survey census date, and information from CamSIS about actual submission dates is then provided to UKRI by the Student Funding Team.

Research Councils may apply submission rate targets to DTPs and sanction the scheme in the event that said target is not met. Your funding scheme will likely be in contact with you in the run-up to your funder-expected submission date to check if you are on target to submit before the deadline.

Submitting Late

UKRI require you to submit your thesis before their Expected Submission Date. Please note that their Expected Submission Date is not the date displayed in CamSIS; this is the end date of your registration with the University, and may be sooner or later (due to differences between Student Registry and UKRI policy on extensions and suspensions). 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 scheme and supervisor as soon as possible. It may be possible to apply for an extension to your submission deadline, but this is usually only granted in exceptional circumstances.

Guidance on extending your registration at the University of Cambridge can be found here.

If you are submitting late in with regards to your registration (as opposed to your funder-expected submission date) you will need to apply for reinstatement.

Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA)

Disabled students who have been recruited to UKRI Research Council studentships are eligible to apply for financial support towards expenditure arising from their postgraduate studies incurred solely because of their disability, further to their normal stipend payments.

These payments will generally not be made directly to you, but instead to your department to support the purchasing of specific equipment or training to support you. Please contact the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) to discuss your needs.

Please note that you do not need to wait until you commence 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.

International Placement Scheme (IPS)

The International Placement Scheme (IPS) is an annual programme providing Research Fellowships to AHRC and ESRC students, early career researchers and doctoral-level research assistants. 

Please note that ESRC students are only eligible to apply for fellowships to The Library of Congress (LoC) Washington DC, USA. 

Cambridge’s internal deadline is generally two weeks before the UKRI deadline, to allow checking by the Student Funding Team and Research Operations Office prior to document submission. Please contact research.council.funding@admin.cam.ac.uk if you are considering applying to the scheme. Doctoral Training Partnerships whose students would be eligible tend to send a reminder ahead of the deadline, also.

Data Retention

Please see the University of Cambridge's data protection for students page. Please note UKRI require us to retain data relating to your studentship for seven years after the closure of the grant funding it, for financial audit purposes.

Page last updated 19/09/23