Application Deadline

The deadline for applying for the Faculty's Studentships is Tuesday 5 December 2023. You must ensure that your application form is submitted before 12 am (midnight UK time).

The Crosse Studentship

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This is earmarked for students interested in studying the Holy Scriptures in Greek and Hebrew, Ecclesiastical History and Christian Doctrine.
• The studentship will contribute to the cost of Home fees and maintenance for a PhD.
• It is tenable for one year and will be renewed for a further two years subject to satisfactory progress.
• Here is the link to the Crosse Studentship on the Student Funding website.

New Testament Studies

The Kirby Laing Studentship in New Testament

Criteria and Eligibility:

• The topic of the doctoral dissertation should focus on any area of the New Testament. 
• The studentship will contribute to the cost of Home Fees and Maintenance for a PhD. 
• It is tenable for one year and will be renewed for a further two years subject to satisfactory progress.

Please note: This studentship is not available for entry in 2024. 

History of Christianity

The Hort Studentship in Biblical, Hellenistic or Patristics

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This studentship is for exceptional candidates to undertake postgraduate work. 
• The studentship will cover Home Fees for a PhD for three years.

Please note: This studentship is not available for entry in 2024. 

The Peregrine Maitland Studentship

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This studentship is offered to an outstanding PhD candidate, demonstrating excellence for graduate study, and whose research concerns the study of subjects arising from or affecting the spread of the Christian Religion, the comparison of the Christian religion with other religions, and the contact of Christian and other civilisations. 
• The studentship will be for £16,000 per year, for up to three years.
• Here is the link to the Peregrine Maitland Studentship on the Student Funding website.

Edward Bailey Study of Religion Fund Studentship (MPhil)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• Two studentships will be offered each year to exceptional candidates, for funding towards an MPhil.
• The research topic of the MPhil should focus on Religious Studies (eg Anthropology of Religion), ideally in connection with Implicit Religion.
• The studentship will contribute to the cost of Home Fees for a MPhil. 
• Each studentship is tenable for only one year.
• Here is the link to the Edward Bailey Studentship on the Student Funding website.

ISLAM

The Sheikh Zayed Studentship in Islamic Studies (PhD)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• The studentship will contribute to the cost of Home fees and maintenance for an exceptional candidate applying to a PhD. 
• It is tenable for one year and will be renewed for a further two years, subject to satisfactory progress.
• Here is the link to the Sheikh Zayed Studentship on the Student Funding website.

The Hartwell Studentship in Islamic Studies (MPhil)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• The studentship will contribute to the cost of Home or Overseas fees and maintenance for a candidate applying to an MPhil in Islamic Studies
• Here is the link to the Hartwell Studentship on the Student Funding website.

JUDAISM

The Polonsky-Coexist Studentship in Jewish Studies (MPhil)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This studentship is awarded for an outstanding candidate to study in any area of Jewish Studies in the MPhil in Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion. 
• The sum awarded will contribute to the cost of fees at the Home or Overseas rate.
• Here is the link to the Polonsky-Coexist Studentship on the Student Funding website.

The Burney Studentships

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This studentship is available for those who are applying to take the MPhil, in the field of Philosophy of Religion.
• Two studentships maybe awarded in any given year, with at least one award, up to the maximum of the costs of Home fees.
  • Here is the link to the Burney Studentship on the Student Funding website.

Hinduism and Buddhism

The Theological Studies Studentship in Hinduism and Buddhism (MPhil)

• This studentship is awarded for an outstanding candidate to study in any area of Hinduism or Buddhism in the MPhil in Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion.
• The sum awarded will be £12,000 for fees or maintenance.

Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC)

• AHRC doctoral awards cover fees for Home or EU students, and also maintenance at the university’s standard rates for Home students only.
• You should tick the 'Apply for Funding' box on your online application form. See full details of how to apply for the Cambridge AHRC awards.

Cambridge Trust

Background Information:

The Cambridge Trust works with partners worldwide to provide a variety of scholarship schemes. The Trust has been offering scholarships at Cambridge for over 30 years. In this time it has awarded more than 20,000 scholarships to students from around the world.

The Cambridge Trust awards around 500 scholarships a year to support the most outstanding students. It also supports more than 1200 current students each year. The Trust awards students at both PhD and Master's level, in all subjects, at any of the 31 Colleges.

How to Apply: You should tick the 'Apply for Funding' box on your online application form

Application Deadline: Tuesday 5 December 2023.

Gates Cambridge Scholarships

Background Information:

Gates Cambridge Scholarships are highly prestigious awards and competition is fierce. There are two application rounds:

• The first one is for US national applicants (for US citizens normally resident in the USA) [Application Deadline: Wednesday 11 October 2023]
• The second is for non-US international applicants (for citizens of all eligible countries other than USA, and US citizens normally resident outside the USA)  [Application Deadline:Tuesday 5 December 2023]

The scholarships are awarded to applicants who can demonstrate excellence in all four Gates’ criteria:

• Outstanding intellectual ability;
• Leadership potential;
• A commitment to improving the lives of others; and,
• A good fit between the applicant's qualifications and aspirations and the postgraduate programme at Cambridge for which they are applying.

How to Apply:

• Firstly you should tick the 'Apply for Funding' box and the 'Apply for Gates Funding' box on your online course application form. 
• In addition to this, you will also be required to complete a personal statement and also provide an additional reference.

Gates Cambridge Scholars are expected to demonstrate not only academic excellence but also leadership potential and a commitment to improving the lives of others, and it is important to use the Gates section of the application form to convey this information to the assessors. Because the Cambridge application form places strong emphasis on intellectual ability, the Gates Trust requests that candidates fill in a statement supporting their application for a Gates Cambridge Scholarships (up to 500 words) and an additional reference. These should make particular reference to the Gates’ criteria that are not covered elsewhere in the Cambridge application form. For example: leadership potential and a commitment to improving the lives of others.

Important Points to Bear in Mind when Applying:

Do not reiterate your academic achievements in the Gates section of the application form. There are numerous pages on the application form that should demonstrate your academic abilities. The Gates box and reference are the only places where you can demonstrate your service for others and leadership. There is no need to make a further case for your intellectual qualities.

Make sure that you detail the nature of service or leadership. Assessors view significant quantitative information about your academic study: academic grades, professors’ assessment of how students compare to their cohort, degrees studied, languages learnt and to what level. Similar detail should be given about service and leadership. What did you do? How did it make a difference? How many years did you undertake the role? How many people were in the team you led?

Don't assume knowledge on the part of the assessors. Applicants often enumerate service and leadership in just a single sentence, and so fail to provide the detail that is needed and assume assessors will understand the service undertaken. Theologians and scholars in Religious Studies often fail to describe what leadership and service can be seen in a mission trip, being a minister of religion or teaching in a religious context.

Don't choose as your Gates referee another person who comments on your academic ability. Two academic references are required for any application for postgraduate study in Cambridge. The Gates reference needs specifically to address leadership potential and commitment to improving the lives of others. Your Gates referee may need to be informed that they need to speak to the evidence of you leadership and service for others. Community leaders often get the wrong idea about what they need to do for a "Cambridge application" and write about academic ability, when what is needed is detail about community involvement.

Don't write an aspirational statement about future leadership or service. Commitment to others and leadership potential are demonstrated through past activities, however modest. Past leadership or service especially if sustained over a period of time makes more of an impression. The more detail the better.

Don't have a narrow sense of what leadership and commitment to the lives of others means. Starting an international charity and managing a team of thirty people are not the only means of demonstrating leadership and service. It can be small things, such as serving in a soup kitchen as part of a team or helping a struggling school pupil with their studies. In addition, note that ‘others’ has not been restricted to human beings.

Polkinghorne Studentship in the Philosophy of Religion

(Queens College)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• A Polkinghorne Studentship to support a student on the Philosophy of Religion pathway in the Faculty's MPhil in Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion in the academic year 2023 - 2024. 
• The award is open to Home or Overseas students
• The value of the studentship will be limited to the level of the Home University fee rate. 
• The award will be made on the basis of the Faculty of Divinity's assessment of the academic ability and research potential of applicants. 
• The studentship is tenable only at Queens' College, and preference may be given to an applicant who makes Queens' College their first choice.
• Applicants should apply for this funding by ticking the 'Apply for Funding' box on their course online application form, and indicate that they wish to be put forward for this funding.
• The application deadline is Tuesday 5 December 2023.

This studentship has been made possible by the endowment generously bestowed upon Queens' College by its former President, the Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne, KBE, FRS.

Trinity Studentship in Theology and Huffington Studentship

(Trinity College)

Criteria and Eligibility:

• This studentships is for candidates applying for a PhD in the Faculty. 
• The studentship is administered by Trinity College and successfully applicants will be a member of Trinity. 
• The studentship will cover fees and maintenance. 
• The application deadline is Friday 12 January 2024. 

Cambridge Theological Federation Awards

Lewis and Gibson Scholarship

(Westminster College, Cambridge)

The Woolf Institute

Criteria and Eligibility:

• The Woolf Institute and the Cambridge Trust co-fund PhD students who are selected from amongst applicants in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
  • Their research must be relevant to the focus of the Woolf Institute – the multi-disciplinary study of relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Although such students may undertake their research in any relevant Faculty, those in Divinity are eligible for consideration.
• The application deadline is Tuesday 5 December 2023.

Teape Studentship in Hindu-Christian Studies

Wolfson College

Criteria and Eligibility:

• PhD applicants in Hindu-Christian Studies at Wolfson College
• The studentship will contribute £14,000 towards fees and maintenance.
• Further information about the studentship can be found on Wolfson College's website.