Funding for Graduates

All applicants who have submitted their applications no later than the January deadline are automatically considered for the University's prestigious Clarendon Awards, covering fees and maintenance for three years. Over the last few years, some 4-7 of these each year have gone to Archaeology applicants, awarded on the basis of merit.

Those applying for a Masters or DPhil in Classical Archaeology are eligible to apply to the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities. This prestigious scholarship covers all fees, as well as a generous maintenance grant. Ertegun Scholars also enjoy dedicated use of Ertegun House, which provides space for each Scholar for writing and research, as well as opportunities to participate in social occasions, lively lectures, performances and other activities developed expressly for the Scholars.

To apply for this fellowship, you must select ‘Ertegun Graduate Scholarships in the Humanities' in the Funding Section of the University's Graduate Application Form, as well as attaching a specific supporting statement found here. To be elegible for this fund, you must apply by 20 January 2023. 

A specific application form is required, which is uploaded with your application. Please note: ONLY CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY students are eligible. 

The Oxford Doctoral Training Partnership in Environmental Research has funding (fees and stipend) for students working on projects related to the environment that fit within one of their three research streams:

·      Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Processes

·      The Dynamic Earth, Surface Processes and Natural Hazards

·      The Physical Climate System

One major benefit of carrying out a PhD through a doctoral training partnership is the opportunity to develop projects in collaboration with partner organisations who can offer support in many areas, including identifying critical problems that need solutions, and access to facilities, equipment, people, data and collections of materials and samples.  Partner organisations may also be able provide financial assistance and co-supervision; and access to mentoring, work placements, the oportunity to work with organisations outside academia.  These partnership opportunities are mutually beneficial - and will be enriched by your energy and commitment to your field of research, your ideas and your discoveries.

Various archaeology research projects are a good fit for the NERC DTP. Students intending to work on archaeological research projects that would fit within these broad areas should apply to both the School of Archaeology and the DTP.

More information and details on how to apply can be found on the Environmental Research DTP Website. If you would like to discuss applying, please contact Professor Victoria Smith. 

The University of Oxford, in partnership with five leading institutions, has launched the Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award (ILESLA). This ambitious doctoral training programme will prepare a new generation of creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial researchers who are equipped to meet the complex, cross-disciplinary challenges the world faces. 

The primary aim of ILESLA is to cultivate researchers capable of developing innovative solutions to challenges in and at the intersection of biological and environmental sciences – from climate change and food security to infectious diseases, biodiversity declines, and sustainability. Funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) – UKRI and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) – UKRI, ILESLA will be hosted by the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, The Open University, The Pirbright Institute, Diamond Light Source, and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.

Based at the University of Oxford's innovative Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), students will initially undertake an in-depth programme of cohort-based, experiential learning to develop research skills including mathematics and statistics, programming, imaging, data science, and modelling biological or environmental processes. In their doctoral research students will tackle challenges across five interconnected themes:

• Climate and Earth; Advancing understanding of climate and earth systems;

• Biodiversity and Sustainability; Sustainable approaches to support food, feed and energy security, manufacturing, and biodiversity;

• Animal and Human Health; Innovative approaches to understand and support animal and human health;

• Rules of Life; Frontier science addressing fundamental questions about biological organisms and ecosystems;

• Transformative Technologies; Development of tools and technologies underpinning biological and environmental research.

Following their initial training, students will undertake two research projects with different supervisory teams across the partnership, before deciding on their three-year doctoral project. Through the partnership, students will be connected to a community of over 500 research groups conducting world-leading research in the life and environmental sciences, besides a wider consortium of research centres, industry partners, and third-sector organisations.

This network includes organisations providing the UK's national capabilities in synchrotron and neutron science, research into viral diseases, weather, oceanography, climate change, land and freshwater ecosystems, and imaging capabilities that range from subatomic to Earth observation.

A defining feature of ILESLA is its Open Innovation Industrial Consortium (OIIC). This consortium of 13 partners will enable students to work directly with industry partners, gaining valuable insights into how research is applied and commercialised beyond academia.

The first round of applications for ILESLA will open shortly, with an application deadline of 29 January 2025. Further information will be published on the ILESLA website.

The Wainwright Fund aims to encourage the study of non-classical archaeology of the countries of the Middle East. The projects supported are wide ranging; the Fund holds an annual Schools Essay Prize, awards Research Grants to mature scholars and also sponsors a post-doctoral Fellowship.  More information can be found on their website.

The Standard Bank Africa Chairman's scholarships are available for applicants to any full-time, one-year taught master's course, including all masters programmes offered by the School of Archaeology. This scholarship is open to applicants who are ordinarily resident in Angola, Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

The scholarship covers course fees and a grant for living costs. Awards are made for the full duration of your fee liability for the agreed course.

All students deemed eligible will automatically be considered on application to masters programmes. The scholarship is only tenable at Wadham College, but you do not have to list Wadham College as your first course. However, successful applicants will be transferred to Wadham College in order to take up the scholarship.

No specific application form is required.

The Funding Search (formerly the Scholarship Search) contains information about scholarships that are managed by the International Office, as well as college awards over £2,000 (as listed in this year's Graduate Studies Prospectus). It also contains information about departmental awards and funding for UK/EU students.

American students who would like to take out a US student loan to fund their studies can do so through the International Office. They can find comprehensive information on how to do this at the University's US Loanspages.  We are also able to assist with Canadian student loan applications; they should contact Jenny Carter (jenny.carter@admin.ox.ac.uk) for advice.

• American nationals may apply for British Marshall Scholarships in the case of the two year MPhil degree and for Fulbright Scholarships in the case of the one year MSt degree.
• Commonwealth nationals may apply for Commonwealth Scholarships.
• Rhodes Scholars - Tenable for two year Masters, eg. MPhil in Classical Archaeology, as well as DPhil and an MSt/MSc if followed by a second MSc or DPhil.

Many of these scholarships require separate applications, please check dates and details individually. 

The Boise Trust Fund was established by Charles Watson Boise to support research on the antiquity and evolutionary origin of modern Homo sapiens and other hominins, with particular emphasis on the continued exploration of appropriate sites in Africa, and on the early migration of Palaeolithic communities.  All applications should be in this field of research.

For details on how to apply contact: trustfunds@biology.ox.ac.uk (Secretary to the Boise Trust Fund).  

Separate applications are required. 

The Meyerstein Fund supports research by graduate students in all branches of archaeology. Probationary Research and DPhil students can apply for a first grant of up to £400 and a second grant of up to £200 (balance from first grant can be added to second grant; the overall total awarded to any one applicant being £600). Comparable research by students in the first year of an MPhil degrees and students registered for the MSc in Archaeological Science will be sympathetically considered – the maximum awarded being £200.

The Boise Trust Fund was established by Charles Watson Boise to support research on the antiquity and evolutionary origin of modern Homo sapiens and other hominins, with particular emphasis on the continued exploration of appropriate sites in Africa, and on the early migration of Palaeolithic communities.  All applications should be in this field of research.

For details on how to apply contact: trustfunds@biology.ox.ac.uk (Secretary to the Boise Trust Fund).