Studentship Competition
The 2025 Iapetus studentship competition has now closed for new applicants. For further information on the competition and the projects we advertised this year, please see our projects page and the information below.
Application Process
Iapetus will support at least 13 funded postgraduate studentships in 2025.
To apply for an Iapetus studentship, please follow the guidelines below.
- Application Overview
- Widening Participation Scheme
- Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme
- Eligibility
- How to Apply
- Financial Support
- Application Flowchart
- FAQs
Iapetus held an online Q&A workshop on 26th November 2024 , where the Director outlined the application process and answered pre-submitted questions. A recording of this workshop can be found here – password to access: 9=p#DJ!R
Application Overview
To apply for an Iapetus Studentship, all applicants must complete both the online Studentship Competition Application Form and the Studentship Competition EDI Form, below, by 3rd January 2025 at 12 midday (GMT). If you are longlisted, you will be contacted on the 20th January 2025 and invited to put in a full PhD application to the university where the project is based.
Please note: if you are an international applicant, you will need to contact the primary supervisor of your chosen project by no later than the 9th December 2024, because only international applicants sponsored by a primary supervisor may apply to Iapetus.
- Studentship Competition Application Form – no longer available
- Studentship Competition EDI Form – no longer available
- Studentship Competition Application Form Template
- Studentship Competition Guidance and assessment criteria
Widening Participation Scheme
To address historical imbalances in the higher education sector, Iapetus is committed to recruiting a diverse, representative community of researchers in Environmental Science. We are guided by the UKRI policies on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and have developed our own Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion policy to further this. The Widening Participation Scheme identifies Home applicants from underrepresented groups. The DTP aims to give up to 30% of interview places to those eligible for the Widening Participation Scheme but who would not have been shortlisted initially by the host organisation. Eligibility for the scheme, includes those from a UK minoritized ethnic group or those who lived in a Polar 1 quintile postcode when at secondary school.
Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme
To further the DTP’s aim to recruit from a diverse, representative community of researchers, Iapetus is pleased to introduce the Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme, which runs separately but concurrently with the Studentship Competition. It is a separate scheme with different deadlines and processes. Consequently, if you are keen to apply for both opportunities, you will need to understand the different applicant obligations. For more information about the Scholarship Scheme, please see here.
Eligibility & Requirements
All applicants need to meet NERC’s eligibility criteria to be considered for an Iapetus studentship and these are detailed in the current UKRI studentship terms and conditions
For International Students, UKRI only pay the home fees, so please check with the host organization (University) making the award about their policy on the differential between home and international fees.
Any of our studentships can be part-time if that mode of study is more appropriate for your circumstances. (International students should check the terms of the Tier 4 visa scheme to see if this is possible).
Applicants may only apply to one Iapetus project in any given year. Where applicants submit more than one application, only the final application submitted before the deadline will be considered.
Iapetus is looking for candidates with the following qualities and backgrounds:
- A first or 2:1 undergraduate degree, or have relevant comparable experience – we welcome applications from those with non-traditional routes to PhD study; &
- Potential to carry out excellent research, as demonstrated by individuals with a passion to follow a career pathway in environmental research or applications.
How to Apply
Home Applicants
If you are a Home Student (please see here for the eligibility criteria), we encourage you to contact the primary supervisor of the project of interest, although it is not necessary for you to be sponsored in order to apply.
International Applicants
Iapetus are only able to appoint a maximum of 30% of international students each year. International Sponsorship has been introduced to avoid substantial numbers of international applicants investing significant time and effort in a competition with little chance of success.
If you are an International Student, please contact the primary supervisor of your selected project by no later than Monday 9th December 2024 at 12pm to be considered for sponsorship. If you are selected by the supervisor, they will provide you with a Unique International Sponsorship Code by the end of the day on Monday 16th December 2024. Please then apply to Iapetus by the deadline of 3rd January 2025, 12 midday.
Any applications from international applicants that are submitted without a Unique International Sponsorship Code will not be considered.
All Applicants
Please use the template above to prepare your application before completing the online application form. The Studentship Competition application form is designed to provide us with the information we need to evaluate your application. We know that successful PhD students come from a wide range of backgrounds and with widely differing experience. By using the form, we can best evaluate your past achievements and potential for PhD research in the context of any past opportunities or barriers you may have faced. Our aim is to help you demonstrate your potential and make the best possible case for your future career in the environmental sciences.
We recommend that you use the template to enter and edit your supporting information in good time before the application deadline, and then use it to copy and paste the information required into the online form.
Please note that we can only accept applications via the online form, and you should NOT send the completed template document to us.
If you are uncertain about any of the elements of the form, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at contact.iapetus@durham.ac.uk. The DTP Manager will respond to your questions; the manager is not involved in the decision-making part of the evaluation process for studentships. We will also host an online Q&A session on 26th November 2024 to answer questions about the application process. If you have questions about the procedures for each of our partners, contact details for their administrators are also available via the link on our website, and again these administrators are not directly involved in the evaluation of applications. Academic contacts in each institution may be involved in the evaluation process.
Financial Support
Iapetus postgraduate studentships are tenable for up to 3.5 years and provide the following package of financial support:
- A tax-free maintenance grant set at the UK Research Council’s national rate, which in 2024/25 is £19,237;
- Payment of tuition fees at the Home rate (some of our partners have funding available for the additional fees charged to international students. Please get in touch with the primary supervisor of the project to learn more);
- Access to extensive research support funding; &
- Support for an external placement of up to six months.
Part-time award-holders are funded for seven years and receive a maintenance grant at 50% of the full-time rate.
Application Flowchart
FAQs
Choosing a project
All Iapetus projects will be online by Friday 22nd November at 5pm.
You may only apply for one Iapetus project in this year’s Studentship Competition.
Yes, you should contact the primary supervisor. As an applicant, it is useful to discuss the project details with the supervisor and talk through your suitability for the project. After having this conversation, you can incorporate this into your application.
Applying
Anyone listed on the project is ineligible to provide a reference for your application. You will need to find two people unconnected to the project to provide references.
This refers to the grade or final mark you received for your degree. In the UK, degrees are classified as 1st, 2:1, 2;2 and 3rd. If you have an international degree please state the mark or grade you were awarded with the UK equivalence if you know it. If you don’t please do not worry, our supervisors are experienced in assessing international applications.
Iapetus are only able to cover the Home Fees for International students. So far, all of our institutions have paid or waived the difference in fees between home and international fees for those international applicants who have been successful, and we expect this to continue for 2025. Please do discuss this with the primary supervisor. International students receive the same stipend and research costs as home students.
Please use the Iapetus application template to draft your application. Applicants must then submit their applications by copying and pasting their answers from the template on to the online application form. Applicants also need to submit a separate EDI form. No parts of the EDI form are used for determining any part of awarding the studentships.
Application templates must not be emailed to Iapetus, only completed online application forms will be accepted.
The application deadline is Friday 3rd January 2025 at 12 noon.
Iapetus supports 3.5-year PhD projects within the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) structure. If you are interested in shorter-term opportunities, it is best to email supervisors directly to see what they may be able to support.
If you are still an undergraduate, we do offer Research Experience Placements (REPs) in the summer. These paid opportunities last 6 – 8 weeks and are advertised through a separate process from April or May.
Iapetus is funded through the UKRI Research Council NERC. All UKRI Doctoral Training Partnerships are required to submit anonymised EDI Statistics within an Annual Report. None of the data is used in conjunction with your application in the Studentship Competition.
No supporting documentation needs to be submitted with the Iapetus application form and EDI form. The application form however requires that you fill out the contact details for 2 contacts who can supply a reference. References will be automatically contacted by Iapetus if you are longlisted for a project. Please ensure you have asked your two references and ensure they are available to provide a reference in the last two weeks of January 2025.
No, when submitting your Iapetus application, you are just submitting an application to fund a PhD in one of the Iapetus institutions. You will be notified by email when you need to submit a PhD application to the awarding university. This will likely be in late January, early February after longlisting. (The date depends on which institution you would be applying to).
It isn’t a specific criterion for assessment, although you may want to mention it in case it is helpful to show how your skills and background have changed since then to make you more suited for the project.
No supporting documentation need to be submitted with the Iapetus application form and EDI form. If longlisted, applicants will be asked to email copies of their CV and transcripts to the primary supervisor of the project, so please have these ready by the 20th January 2025. Please do not send them in advance of this request.
No, please do not send any supporting documents to the primary supervisor in advance of being notified of the longlisting stage. The longlisting stage is undertaken by the supervisory team using an anonymised version of the application form, so the supervisors will not be using any additional information.
If you are longlisted, the Iapetus manager will email to notify you of this by Monday 20th January. You will be asked at this stage to send your CV and transcripts to the primary supervisor of the project by Wednesday 22nd January, so please have your CV and transcripts ready to send on this date. Please do not include a photo on your CV and please ensure your CV is written in gender neutral pronouns to avoid unconscious bias during the application process.
If you are successfully longlisted, Iapetus will automatically contact your references from the 20th January. If your referee(s) are not available then your application will be considered without the reference(s). Before submitting your Iapetus application, please ensure your references are available in the final 2 weeks of January to provide a reference . If they are not, please provide details of another referee.
No, if a supervisor of the project you are applying for is your current supervisor in your Masters, they cannot provide you with a reference for your Iapetus application. Please select another referee not listed on the project advertisement.
Yes. It should be included in the main education section of the form.
After Submission
Due to the large numbers of applications, Iapetus cannot offer any feedback to applicants.
It is worth discussing this question with potential supervisors, but for the most part you should be able to reuse the material from the initial application in the personal statement part of the form – we’re not anticipating the need to rewrite the material substantially.
You apply to the university where the primary supervisor is based at. (The first supervisor listed on the project). If the primary supervisor is based at BAS, BGS or UKCEH, you apply to the university of the second supervisor.
You will be notified by email when you need to submit a PhD application to the awarding university. This will likely be in late January, early February after longlisting. (The date depends on which institution you would be applying to).
Firstly, the Supervisory teams longlist the top three applicants who are the best fit for their project then each partner organisation produces a shortlist of up to seven applicants. The Studentship panel (made up of representatives from all Iapetus institutions) assess the applications across the partners and makes awards based on their assessment of both the application (60%) and the interview (40%)
Criteria are published (Appendix 3 in Student Guidance document) based on background, project fit and future potential (50:40:10)
Please keep your CV to no more than 2 pages long, please do not include a photo on your CV and please ensure your CV is written in gender neutral pronouns to avoid unconscious bias during the application process.
On Monday 20th January, you will be notified whether you have been longlisted or not. At this stage, anyone longlisted for a project will be asked to email the primary supervisor of the project a copy of their CV and transcripts by Wednesday 22nd January. Please do not email these in advance as supervisors complete the longlisting stage using anonymised application forms only.
If possible, we are asking all referees to please use the Iapetus standard reference form in order to be able to compare all references like for like. Please encourage your referee to use the reference form provided.
No, your reference details need to be on your Iapetus application. Please notify your referees that if you are longlisted, they will be contact by Iapetus from Monday 20th January and to please be available to submit a reference on your behalf as there is a quick turnaround.
Iapetus will then contact applicants on the following dates:
Monday 20th January, 5pm – Confirm whether an applicant has been longlisted or not
Tuesday 18th February, 5pm – Confirm whether an applicant has been shortlisted for interview or not
Friday 28th February, 5pm – Confirm whether an applicant has been awarded a studentship or not
Please do not contact Iapetus in advance of these dates and times to check on the status of your application as notifications will only be sent out on these dates.
Interview & Notification
All interviewed applicants will hear from Iapetus on Friday 28th February 2025
No, you will not need to give a presentation. The interview will be structured in a question and answer format. There will usually be three interviewers and each applicant will be asked the same set of questions. Interviews will normally last no longer than 30 minutes.
All Iapetus interviews will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th February 2025.
If you are successful at shortlisting stage, you will receive your invitation to interview by 5pm on Tuesday 18th February 2025. If you are not successfully shortlisted, you will receive notification of this on this date.
Interviews will be held on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th February 2025. You will not get to choose the date and/or time of interview. Please ensure you are available to be interviewed on these dates.