Dozens of PhD training centres and hundreds of science studentships will be axed under research council plans likely to consolidate doctoral education in larger UK universities, as a major charitable funder also withdraws dedicated support for graduate programmes.
Under a recent funding call by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the number of Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) it supports will fall from 75 to “about 40”, having been cut from 115 four years ago. With the EPSRC funding 40 four-year PhDs at each CDT and requiring institutions to fund an additional 10 themselves, it will mean around 1,750 fewer studentships over the five-year period starting in 2024.
The cuts to EPSRC’s PhD funding – down from £441 million in 2018 to “up to £324 million” – come amid growing pressure on UK doctoral education which, from this year, will lose around £100 million annually after the Wellcome Trust pulled institutional PhD funding under its new research strategy focused on longer grants for early- and mid-career scientists.
