Plans by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to slash its PhD studentships by almost a third have been described as “devastating news” for the future of humanities research by sector leaders, who warned that they had severe concerns about how the next generation of scholars in the field would be supported.
Under major changes to its doctoral provision announced on 20 September, the AHRC said it would cut the number of PhDs it funds from 425 to 300 per year by 2029-30, a 29 per cent reduction.
The cuts follow a substantial decrease in the AHRC’s operating budget this year, caused primarily by the loss of about £9 million related to non-core income streams. The research council will also need to fund a higher PhD stipend, which UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) raised by 5 per cent to £18,622 for 2023-24, having increased it the previous year by 10 per cent.
The cuts will fall mainly within the AHRC’s doctoral training partnerships (DTPs), with extra resources allocated to maintain PhD numbers in collaborative doctoral partnerships (CDPs), in which museums and libraries work with universities to train PhD students.
