Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme
Iapetus is delighted to announce the launch of the Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme. This scheme will open for the 2026 intake on 7th November 2025. For more information on the scheme, please see below.
Application Process
Iapetus is offering two funded postgraduate scholarships in 2026. To apply for an Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship, please follow the guidelines below.
Application Overview
Studentship Competition
Eligibility
How to Apply
Financial Support
Application Flowchart
Iapetus will hold an online Q&A workshop on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at 2pm, where the Director will outline the application process and answered pre-submitted questions. To register for this webinar and to submit questions, please use this form. A recording of this workshop will be available to watch on this website from the 27th November.
Application Overview
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.
To apply to the Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme, all applicants must be eligible for Home fees (please see Eligibility criteria here) and from either or both of a UK Minoritized Ethnic group or a lower socio-economic background.
The Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme does not require applicants to select a project to apply to, but rather applicants are assessed based on the responses they provide in the application form generally, their CV, their academic transcripts and two references. If you are successfully recruited, then you will be able to select supervisors with whom to create a PhD project, based on their interests and your interactions with them.
All applicants must complete the online Scholarship Scheme Application Form by 5th January 2026 at 12 midday (GMT). You must also submit a copy of your 2-page CV and academic transcripts by the same deadline and request that two referees submit references to Iapetus on your behalf by 9th January 2026 at 12 midday (GMT). If you are shortlisted for an interview, you will be contacted by the 17th of February 2026 by 5pm.
If successful at interview, scholarship applicants select the area of research and create a project with a supervisory team in two of the Iapetus institutions.
- Scholarship Scheme Application Form – available from 7th November 2025
- Scholarship Scheme Template Form – available from 7th November 2025
- Scholarship Scheme Reference Form – available from 7th November 2025
- Guidance and assessment criteria – available from 7th November 2025
Studentship Competition
The Iapetus Studentship Competition is another opportunity to apply for PhD funding. If you would be interested in applying to a particular project, then you may also apply to the Studentship Competition. Please note, however, that although the Studentship Competition runs concurrently with the Scholarship Scheme, it is a separate competition 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 Studentship Competition, please see here.
Eligibility
All applicants need to meet NERC’s eligibility criteria to be considered for an Iapetus scholarship and these are detailed in the current UKRI studentship terms and conditions.
To be eligible for the Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme, applicants must:
- be eligible for a UKRI Home fees award
and at least one of the following - identify as being from a UK minoritized ethnic group.
- The postcode where you went to secondary school or grew up (in the UK) is classified as Quintile 1 in the POLAR4 category of the following website:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/young-participation-by-area/search-by-postcode/ - You were eligible for free school meals when attending school.
- Your parents / guardians did not have a degree when you finished secondary school.
Our scholarships can be part-time if that mode of study is more appropriate for your circumstances.
How to Apply
By the deadline of Friday 5th January 2026, 12 midday (GMT), applicants must have completed the two following steps:
- Please complete the online Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme Application Form.
The 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 above 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. Once you have completed the online scholarship application form, you will be given a Confirmation Reference Number.
- Please email your 2-page CV and academic transcripts to iapetus.applications@durham.ac.uk. Please use the Confirmation Reference Number from the application form submission, along with your last name in the subject line of the email in the format [Confirmation Reference Number], [Last Name].
Once applicants have submitted their application, Iapetus will contact their referees directly to request references. Applicants are responsible for checking their referees are available to provide a reference by the deadline of Friday 16th January at 12 midday (UK time).
If you are uncertain about any of the elements of the application form, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at iapetus.applications@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 the Scholarship Scheme.
Financial Support
Iapetus’s postgraduate scholarships 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 2025/26 is £20,780.
- Payment of tuition fees at the Home rate;
- 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.
FAQs
Iapetus needs all references in by the deadline of Friday 10th January 2025 at 12 midday (GMT) because after this time, the Scholarship Scheme applications will be scored and ranked. If one of your references isn’t sent in by the deadline, your application will be scored and ranked without the missing reference, so you might be at a disadvantage. We would encourage you to request a reference from a different referee.
Yes you can. The Studentship Competition and Scholarship Scheme run concurrently, but they are separate competitions so if you are eligible for both, you are welcome to apply for both. Please just ensure you know the deadlines and processes for each, ensuring you complete the right forms for each.