Peterhouse Postgraduate Studentships 2025

Including Graduate Studentships, Professors C H Lee & M Perutz Studentship and Hayes Allen Studentship

The Governing Body of Peterhouse intends to award a number of Graduate Studentships, to be taken up in October 2025. Additionally, thanks to the generous donations, Peterhouse is able to award a 3-year studentship to a female graduate student studying for a PhD in Applied Medical Biotechnology for the Professors C H Lee & M Perutz Studentship, and to award a 3-year studentship to a graduate student studying for a PhD in Medical Nutrition for the Hayes Allen Studentship, both to be taken up in October 2025.

Applications as well as the referees' references must be received by 5.00pm on Friday 3rd January 2025. Incomplete applications will NOT be accepted. Please make sure that your application and your references reach us before the closing date.

To apply, you are required to register. This enables you to save your application and revisit/edit it before submitting, or to check its status. It is recommended that you register as soon as possible.

To register, please go to the Application Registration page.

Competition Details

Eligibility Requirements

  • In the competition for studentships to start in October 2025, the College will offer studentships ONLY for students undertaking doctoral degrees; students applying to do Masters degrees or other qualifications such as diplomas are ineligible to apply.
  • Please note that the studentship competition traditionally attracts a large number of applicants, and to be successful, applicants should be of the highest academic calibre. While we do not specify a threshold for eligibility, since academic systems and qualifications vary immensely internationally and we wish to attract candidates from around the world, applicants should generally have a first in all previous degrees (UK), a GPA of 3.75 or higher (USA), or be in the top 10% of their cohorts. If your credentials are not above the threshold specified above, you have a very small chance of being funded.
  • Please note that, in the interests of making our funds help more students achieve research training, we do not support a second PhD for applicants who already have a first PhD in a related field.
  • To be eligible for a Peterhouse studentship, you must be accepted as a graduate student by the University of Cambridge. So you must submit an application for admission to the University through the Board of Post-Graduate Admissions Office. Note that your application for a PhD is made to the University and not to Peterhouse. You must meet whatever criteria are specified by the University and the department to which you apply. You can make your application for Peterhouse Postgraduate Studentships at the same time as you are making your university application. If the University’s decision is still to be made and we award you a studentship, the award will be conditional upon your being admitted to the University.
  • Successful applicants must study at Peterhouse. In your University application for admission, you do not need to nominate Peterhouse as your preferred College, but if you are awarded and accept a Peterhouse studentship, you will have to change colleges to Peterhouse.
  • PhD students who have already started their doctoral studies are eligible only if they are already members of Peterhouse.
  • You need to make sure that the Faculty to which you apply also considers you for all University studentships for which you are eligible. You will find useful information on the University Graduate Funding page.
  • In the interest of helping the maximum number of students receive funding, students already in receipt of full funding (i.e. all University and College fees plus a maintenance grant equal to the AHRC's postgraduate award) from another source are not eligible to apply for a Peterhouse studentship.
  • Applicants for the Professors C H Lee & M Perutz Studentship must be female graduate students studying for a PhD in the field of medical biotechnology. There is a strong preference for a low to middle income candidate from a historically underdeveloped country, or, for students from within a developed country, from a background non-traditionally able to undertake a PhD.
  • Applicants for the Hayes Allen Studentship must be graduate students studying for a PhD in the field of nutrition and its connection with human health, which may include mental health.

Application Process

  • Applications must be made online on this website.
  • To apply for a studentship, you must submit the details of your CV and Academic Transcripts and a short (600 words maximum) statement of your research interests. You may repeat here whatever information is required by the department or faculty to which you have applied, shortening it if necessary.
  • If the department or faculty requires you to submit a piece of written work, then you must submit this too with your Peterhouse application.
  • Applicants are required to inform Peterhouse when they have been accepted (conditionally or unconditionally) by the University of Cambridge. Only students who have met the conditions required by the University will be able to take up a Peterhouse studentship.
  • It is the applicant's responsibility to inform Peterhouse if they have been awarded any other grant, of whatever value. We wish to use our available funding to help as many students as possible study at Cambridge, so if you are awarded other studentship funding, you must let us know.
  • Candidates must provide details for two referees who have agreed to submit a reference through the website. The referees should be familiar with your work and can be the same that were nominated on the University graduate application form.
  • The application as well as two referees' references must be submitted online by 5.00pm on Friday 3rd January 2025.

Studentship Details

  • Studentships will be held for 3 years.
  • The value of the studentships will depend on whether students are in receipt of other grants. If a successful applicant has no funding from other sources, then their studentship will cover University and College fees (at home/EU or overseas rates) and maintenance at the same level as the Arts and Humanities Research Council awards (currently £19,237 per year for doctoral students). This is what is meant by 'full funding'.
  • Successful applicants who have grants from other sources will receive some proportion of full funding to ensure they are able to study here.

Application Timetable

  • The application process begins on Tuesday 26th November 2024.
  • The application and two references must be submitted through the website by 5.00pm on Friday 3rd January 2025. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
  • Successful candidates will be notified by 9th April 2025.
  • Successful candidates will take up their awards at the beginning of the academic year 2025 - 2026.