Doctoral Landscape Award: Collaborative Doctoral Award
The Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Landscape Award (AHRC), is a funding scheme designed to invest in the arts and humanities and to enable outstanding students to pursue top-quality cohort-based research training, including collaborative and interdisciplinary work. It funds fifty British universities, organised within seven regional Hubs, to offer fifteen doctoral studentships (three per annum) between 2026-2030.
Key facts
Fee status
Your country/region
Level
Postgraduate (taught)
Number of awards
1
Value of awards
Deadline
In Scotland, the Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) will be delivered through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH). The University of Stirling is one of seven Higher Education Institutes that make up the SGSAH Hub. Other members include the University of Aberdeen, the University of Dundee, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde, and the University of St Andrews.
These highly-competitive and prestigious studentships provide tuition fees, an annual stipend, access to state-of-the-art training and skills development, research funds, and opportunities to collaborate with peers within and beyond the academy.
Collaborative Doctoral Award
The University of Stirling will offer one DLA as a Collaborative Doctoral Award, in which a funded student will undertake a project in partnership with the University and an organisation outside higher education. The partner can be from the private, public, or voluntary sector.
Subjects of Study
In order for a proposal to be eligible for AHRC funding, its Primary Research Area must come from one of the recognized disciplines listed in the AHRC Funding Guide. The competition is open to students undertaking doctoral research in the following subjects taught within Stirling’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences:
Within the School of Communications:
- Digital Media
- Film and Media
- Journalism
- Languages (Chinese, French & Francophone Studies, Spanish and Latin American Studies)
- Public Relations
- Translation Studies
Within the School of Law, Politics and Social Studies
- Cultural Geography
- Diplomacy and International Relations
- Law
- Politics
Within the School of Humanities
- Creative Writing
- Heritage
- History
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Philosophy (Philosophy applicants must first have been nominated through the St Andrews and Stirling Graduate Programme; deadline 10 November 2026)
- Religion
- Publishing Studies
We also welcome applications for projects that work across, or in some cases, beyond these disciplines. See Eligibility for more on interdisciplinary projects.
Value of the Award
- Full university fees at home rate during the funded period
- An annual stipend at the UKRI minimum rate (in 2026/27, £21,805 for FT study) during the funded period, plus an additional stipend uplift of £600/annum to support activity related to partnership collaboration
- Access to a SGSAH DLA Hub Training Programme made up of three components: the Cohort Leadership Programme; Skills Developments Spokes; and Knowledge Exchange Networks (see further information at https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/prospective/dla-hub/#d.en.1209230)
- Access to a Research Training Support Grant to fund direct research activities
Funding will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis for part-time students.
Eligibility and availability
- Academic staff based in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences are eligible to apply for this award, in collaboration with a non-academic partner.
- Awarded students must not yet have started their doctoral studies.
- The awarded project may appoint either a home or international student.
However, supervisors should be aware that the AHRC studentship only covers home fees. In 2027, the University of Stirling will require any international awardee to pay the difference between home and international fees (in 2026, home PhD tuition fees in FAHSS were £5,238 and international PhD tuition fees were £21,500).
Funding will not be available from the AHRC beyond the home fee level already covered. For visa purposes, international students will have to demonstrate that they can pay the difference in fees prior to commencing their studies.
- Supervisors should not appoint students who already hold doctoral qualifications.
- Interdisciplinary projects are eligible for funding, but 50% of their research must fall within the AHRC’s disciplinary domains.
How to apply
- 30 October 2026, 4pm GMT : Application from University of Stirling Supervisor
- 15 January 2027, 4pm GMT: Nomination Form for Attached Candidate
- 8 March 2027, 4pm GMT: Nomination Form for Recruited Candidate
Applications are made in the first instance by University of Stirling supervisors and non-academic partners. Applicants may identify a named candidate in the application [an ‘attached’ candidate] or they may choose to recruit a candidate after their application has been awarded [a ‘recruited’ candidate].
Please consult the scheme application guidance.
We will run a hybrid information session for prospective applicants at 13:00 on Tuesday 8 September 2026 in Pathfoot C25. For the Teams link, please contact FAHSS-PGR@stir.ac.uk.
As they prepare their applications for the deadline, supervisors and nominated candidates should download and draft their applications on the MS Word (.doc) template versions of the webforms.
By 4pm, 30 October 2026 GMT, University of Stirling Supervisors should:
- Complete and submit the web application form for CDA application.
By either 4pm, 15 January 2027 (for attached candidates) or 4pm, 8 March 2027 (for recruited candidates), nominated students should:
- Complete and submit the CDA candidate nomination form.
- Send academic transcripts to FAHSS-PGR@stir.ac.uk. Please provide full transcripts - copies of degree certificates alone do not provide sufficient evidence. Transcripts should be in English, and, where necessary, a certified translation should be provided.
- Arrange for two academic referees (usually former dissertation supervisors and/or tutors) to send letters of reference directly to FAHSS-PGR@stir.ac.uk
NB: academic references are preferred in the first instance; in some cases, it may be possible to substitute one with a professional reference. Please email FAH with any questions on this.
Offers will be sent out by 31 March 2027. After receiving a studentship offer, the successful awardee must formally accept and apply to their target UoS PhD programme via PGR admissions.
Late submissions will not be accepted. We advise supervisor applicants and nominated candidates to submit their forms in advance of the deadline so as to allow time to address any technical problems.