Our research impacts the world. Join us. Find out about our exciting funded PhD opportunities.
Our PhD scholarships span a variety of disciplines.
Read on for details of funded PhD research projects available for 2025 entry.
Please check this page throughout the year to see when new Scholarship opportunities become available.
Remember, applying for a scholarship is a bit like applying for a job: once you have applied to Hull your application will be assessed against specific criteria and, if you are shortlisted, you will be invited to an interview. Ensure you read the project description and eligibility criteria very carefully before you apply to see whether you have the skills, knowledge and experience required.
We strongly encourage you to contact the academics listed on the project pages if you have any questions. Applications to Hull are via our online application portal and links to apply are on the individual project web pages. You can apply for more than one scholarship opportunity across different clusters.
Apply now!
We need the brightest minds to join us in developing solutions to the environmental and engineering challenges facing the offshore wind industry. The offshore wind industry is vital to UK and global net zero ambitions. In 2024, it provided 25% of the UK’s electricity. By 2030, if the UK government clean power target is met, offshore wind would form the backbone of the national electricity supply, accounting for over half of UK electricity generation. With this growth of the offshore wind industry comes opportunities for career progression for graduates from broad STEM backgrounds.
The ESPRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience is an exciting partnership, drawing on the specialisms of its academic partners, the universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield, and over 40 international industry partners. The Offshore Wind CDT invites applications from Home (UK) students for 4-year taught and research doctoral scholarships. These funded PhD opportunities are for exceptional graduates from a range of STEM backgrounds and could unlock a career in this new and innovative industry.
There are currently 17 scholarships with September 2025 entry open to applicants. More information on the Offshore Wind CDT may be found on their website.
Closing date 9 May 2025:
Offshore Wind CDT projects hosted by the University of Hull:
Conservation Economics: Evaluating Trade-offs in Offshore Wind Farm Development
Efficient and Sustainable Offshore Wind Turbine-driven Green Hydrogen production
Miniaturising gross proximate composition analysis techniques to develop accurate ecological models of marine species interactions at the scale of offshore windfarms
SafeML-based Confidence Generation and Explainability for UAV-based Anomality Detection of Blades Surface in Offshore Wind Turbines
Transforming Non-Recyclable Waste into Sustainable Solutions: Novel Anti-corrosion Coatings for Offshore Wind Turbines
Understanding the effects of offshore wind development on marine benthic communities
Understanding the impacts and benefits of offshore wind on fish in the Greater North Sea
Offshore Wind CDT projects hosted by partner institutions:
A socio-economic impact evaluation on wellbeing and community dynamics of Offshore Wind Farms in the United Kingdom
Building psychosocial and physical resilience using self-management skills for offshore workers
Data assimilation for wake-wake interactions
Digital twins for health monitoring and fault
Human-in-the-loop machine learning for drone-assisted Structural Health Monitoring
Impact of “blue space” as a working condition on the health and wellbeing of offshore windfarm workers
Left in the wake: assessing the impact of sediment mobility in the wake of offshore wind infrastructure
Low maintenance reliable transmissions for large wind turbines
Parameterising wakes for oceanographic models
Single-turbine scale quantification of wake turbulence
Help us address some of society’s most pressing global challenges by devising your own Social Sciences research project. We are looking for talented postgraduate researchers to join us for a world-class start to their careers by undertaking a social science research degree at Hull, as part of the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP).
Closing date: 22 January 2025.
Find out more.
The ESRC WRDTP Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is aimed at those in the immediate postdoctoral stage of their career, to provide an opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, their networks, their research and professional skills.
Find out more about this fellowship.
Contact whiterosedtp@hull.ac.uk.
The University of Hull Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre for Water Cultures is an interdisciplinary research centre exploring humanity’s relationships with water in the green-blue regions of the world, past, present and future.
It pioneers a new, humanities-led, interdisciplinary and transhistorical research area – the green-blue humanities – and equips a new generation of PhD students to take this agenda forward and transform our understanding of humanity's relationships with water.
Recruitment will open shortly for PhD scholarships with September 2025 entry. Please check this page for updates.
Find out more about the centre.
The University of Hull has a long history of welcoming high quality scholars through the Commonwealth Scholarships PhD and Taught Masters schemes. We have a number of exceptional Commonwealth scholars undertaking ground-breaking research with us currently.
Many also choose to study through the Taught Masters scholarship programme and then return to take up a Commonwealth PhD scholarship.
Learn more about the Commonwealth Scholarships Scheme here.
The University of Hull has a long history of participating in the China Scholarship Council (CSC) scheme, which provides funding to Chinese nationals for a range of PhD programmes. We are also an official CSC partner.
The CSC PhD scholarship programme enables talented Chinese students to undertake a PhD programme at the University of Hull, building on Hull’s strong relationship with China. There are 10 full scholarships per year available for students to start a PhD. Students can apply for a PhD in any subject area.
The University of Hull is a partner in the NERC Panorama Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), along with the University of Leeds and University of York.
The Panorama DTP encompasses three broad theme ins: Atmosphere and Climate, Earth Processes and the Living World. Panorama prepares the next generation of environmental science leaders for industrial, governmental, NGO and academic careers and provides exceptional training across the range of environmental science in world-class research teams through an innovative, exciting and multi-disciplinary programme. The programme will equip students with the skills necessary to understand the complex interactions within the Earth system, so they can contribute to the development of scientific, policy and industrial solutions for the national and global scale problems we face in coming decades.
Recruitment has now closed.
The Hull Centre for Sustainability and Olympic Legacy (HCSOL) is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as an official Olympic Studies and Research Centre. The HCSOL investigates how the Olympics can be more environmentally and socially sustainable, and is exploring how the Olympics can leave a lasting legacy and contribute to a positive future for people, society and the environment.
Find out more about the Hull Centre for Sustainability and Olympic Legacy.
Be part of a vibrant research community at Hull.
Offering skills development opportunities, dedicated facilities and our pioneering Postgraduate Training Scheme.
What costs are not covered by our scholarships?
Accelerating a net zero future. Improving health outcomes. Promoting justice and fairness for all. Living with water. Enhancing heritage and creative industries. Our research impacts the world.
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