The ESRC devolved administration of its postgraduate awards to the University, represented by the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team. They handle payments to students and Colleges, and all changes to awards.

The contact for students is the Student Funding Administrator who can be contacted at [email protected].

Students should become familiar with the most recent 'ESRC Student Funding Guide'. This contains the 'Terms and Conditions' of your awards.

The following are useful sections:

Further information

Students and Supervisors should send applications for changes to their award to the Student Funding Administrator, who has the authority to approve such changes on behalf of the ESRC.

You will find a full list of possible changes to awards and extra allowances in the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide. Applications will be considered strictly according to the eligibility criteria set down by the ESRC in this document. (Note: there is a separate Guide for students whose awards commenced prior to October 2011, and those on the Doctoral Training Centre (DTP) programme from October 2011).​

Progress To continue your award from year to year (doctoral only), your Supervisor must provide a satisfactory report of your progress on the online system: Cambridge Graduate Supervision Reporting System (by July).

You will receive:

You will receive:

Maintenance payments Full ESRC award holders will receive their maintenance quarterly by BACS paid directly into their UK bank account. In order to receive your first instalment of your award you will need to provide your UK bank account details and register in person with the Student Funding Administrator at the Student Services Centre at the start of Michaelmas Term.

Fee payments All award holders have their combined fees paid for by their ESRC award. Colleges are notified by us that you will be funded in this way but if you receive a fee bill from your College please advise them to redirect it to the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team.

Overpayment If you intermit or withdraw from study during your award, you are not entitled to any maintenance or fee payments from the date you intermit/withdraw from study. If any funds have been paid to you in advance, you must refund the ESRC (via the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team) immediately. See 'Suspension of award' below.

Maintenance Payments Schedule:

If you have not received payment when expected, please contact the Student Funding Administrator.

Once the +3 element of a studentship has started, all students are eligible for a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG). Fees-only students are eligible only if they commenced in 2013 or later.

The RTSG is intended to be used to pay for expenses which the student's Supervisor/Department deems to be in direct support of a student's research, such as, but not restricted to:

Supervisors should show support for each application by countersigning the department claim form/ESRC DTP Discretionary Fund application form.

Students are fully entitled to use this grant for these purposes, and should refer to their Department/Faculty ESRC contact for details of how to make a claim.

Students need to be aware that Travel Insurance cover limitations may apply and they need to comply with these limitations - click for further details on University travel insurance cover

Closing date for applications to the ESRC DTP Discretionary Fund - please see ESRC DTP website. Please be aware that restrictions apply to assistance from the ESRC DTP Discretionary Fund for conference attendance.

ESRC Confirmation of Expenses Form

ESRC Doctoral Training Centre for Social Sciences

Note for Faculties/Departments

Shortly after the start of the academic year you will receive details from the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team of the RTSG personal allowances available and the budget codes for your ESRC-funded students. 

You will also be asked to keep a record of the amount of RTSG each student has spent, and the necessary supporting evidence, over the course of their award. 

ESRC Confirmation of Expenses Form

ESRC Confirmation of Expenses Form

ESRC Confirmation of Expenses Form

The International Placement Scheme (IPS) is an annual programme providing Research Fellowships to AHRC and ESRC students, early career researchers and doctoral-level research assistants. 

Please note that ESRC students are only eligible to apply for fellowships to The Library of Congress (LoC) Washington DC, USA. 

​Applications open on 18 November 2019 and Cambridge's internal deadline is 23 January 2020. 

Please find more information about the scheme here. 

The circumstances in which you can suspend your award are given in the most recent ESRC 'Student Funding Guide' and on look here for further information about medical and non-medical intermission.  If you wish to suspend your award please apply to intermit via your CamSIS self-service page.  Applying to intermit can take some time to be approved to be fully approved, so please inform the Student Funding Administrator as soon as you think you may have to suspend, so that we can stop the next maintenance payment - otherwise you will have to return any overpayments to the ESRC (via the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team). 

If you are applying for intermission to undertake collaboration with an external organisation or to undertake an Overseas Institutional Visit, then you will continue to receive maintenance payments.

UKRI students are eligible for thirteen weeks of sick pay within any twelve month period. A student is eligible for sick pay from the first day of their PhD until the end of their funded period, if they produce medical certification in the same manner as for intermission, and if they have not claimed more than thirteen weeks of sick pay in the previous twelve months.

Students should note that by UKRI terms “it is not permissible to provide further funding once the funding end date of the student award has passed”. Therefore, whilst claims for sick pay may be retrospective, this must occur prior to the end of the funded period.

The amount of paid sick leave already taken at any time in the year immediately prior to the date on which a period of sickness absence begins will be taken into account when calculating the amount of sick pay due to the student. Therefore, if a student takes the maximal thirteen-week allowance in one block, they would be ineligible for any further sick pay for a further 39 weeks. Any further sickness necessitating further time away from studying in those 39 weeks (be it continuing from the period of claimed sick pay, or separate from it) will be handled via the existing intermission and suspension of award processes.

Students must contact [email protected] notifying them of their medical absence, submit medical evidence in the form of a Doctor’s Note, and request sick pay. They must also apply to the Student Registry for an end date extension on CamSIS, no matter how short a period of sick pay claimed.

Provided necessary evidence was submitted, stipend payment will continue through the first thirteen weeks of medical intermission, as per the following examples.

Student A takes a 52 week (one year) medical intermission. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by 52 weeks on JeS and CamSIS. They are paid their normal stipend for the first thirteen weeks of that intermission, but do not receive any payment for the subsequent 39 weeks.

Student B takes a six week medical intermission. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by six weeks on JeS and CamSIS. They are paid their normal stipend throughout the six weeks they are on intermission. They still have seven weeks of sick pay allowance remaining to be used in the subsequent 46 weeks.

Student C is sick for ten days. Their submission deadline and funding end date are extended by ten days on JeS and CamSIS (note this is an exception to the normal rule of a two week lower bound). They are paid their normal stipend throughout those ten days, keeping the remainder of their 13 week allowance to be used over the rest of the year.

UKRI require certification for sick leave. Under this basis, medical evidence will be retained, in the same manner as for medical intermissions.

The ESRC guidance on the provision of maternity and other parental leave can be found here.

Maternity and Adoption Leave

Students are entitled to 52 weeks leave paid at the following rate:

Weeks 1 – 26    Full stipend

Weeks 27 – 39  At a level commensurate with statutory maternity pay 

Weeks 40 – 52  Unpaid

There is no qualifying period for maternity or adoption leave. The end date of the studentship will be extended to reflect any period of leave.

Students must complete an application to the University to intermit their studies and an application to the ESRC DTP for maternity/adoption leave. Please return the following form to [email protected].

For maternity leave, a student’s original MATB1 should be sent to the Student Funding Administrator.

Application form

Paternity Leave

Students are entitled to 10 days leave paid at on full stipend, to be taken at any time during a partner’s pregnancy or within three months following the birth. There is no qualifying period for paternity leave. The end date of the studentship will not be extended to reflect the period of leave. No application for paternity leave is necessary.

Parental Leave

In addition to Ordinary Parental Leave, partners are also entitled to an extended period of unpaid parental leave, up to a maximum of 50 weeks, with their studentship extended accordingly. Unpaid parental leave must be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child. This leave may be taken in up to three blocks of leave or all at once. There is no limit to the number of periods of leave that students may take during a studentship.

The UKRI guidance currently does not allow for paid shared parental leave.

If you need to leave your course you must take 2 actions:

Once an award is terminated it is not possible to reinstate an award.

The circumstances under which you can change your status award are given in the most recent ESRC's 'Student Funding Guide' document, available at the top of this page.

Please notify the Student Funding Administrator if you intend to submit your thesis prior to your award end date, so that we can advise you on any implications this may have on your maintenance and fees. Please note – you are normally not eligible for maintenance after you have submitted your thesis.

The ESRC requires you to submit your thesis within one year of the end date of your award. If for any reason you are unable to meet this deadline please contact the Student Funding Administrator as soon as possible. It may be possible to apply to the ESRC (via the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team) for an extension to your submission deadline, but this is usually only granted in exceptional circumstances.

Please make contact with the Disability Resource Centre to discuss your needs.