The Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Programme (NBCDTP) runs an annual studentship competition to select postgraduate doctoral students of the very highest calibre to study at one of our partner institutions: Durham University, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Sunderland, Teesside University and Ulster University.¹ The competition is open to all applicants who meet the AHRC’s eligibility criteria:

TGC 5.2 Student Eligibility: https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/meeting-ukri-terms-and-conditions-for-funding/

This document provides guidance to members of staff (including Subject Area Leads and Subject Area Review Panel members) at NBCDTP partner institutions and applicants on the selection process and administrative arrangements for the NBCDTP studentship competition.

The aim of the document is to make the competition’s processes clear to all. To this end, this guidance note takes account of frequently asked questions from previous years.²

Applicants are expected to read the following for detailed guidance on their obligations as a potential studentship award-holder, and on the NBCDTP’s obligations as a UKRI AHRC grant holder:

• UKRI Terms and Conditions of Training Grants
• UKRI Training Grant Guide
• AHRC's Training Grant Funding Guide

All at: https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/meeting-ukri-terms-and-conditions-for-funding/

1 While successful applicants are registered at one institution, cross-institutional supervision is allowed, subject to various conditions.

2 The terms and conditions of a studentship award are not covered in this document except in a small number of instances (e.g. employment), which may influence an applicant’s decision to apply.

AHRC: Arts and Humanities Research Council and NBCDTP funder.

EDI: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Host Institution: The university where the student applicant wishes to be registered.

NBCDTP: Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership.

NBCDTP Director: Each partner institution (please see below) nominates its own NBCDTP director. Directors deal with issues at the local, host institution level but also work collectively to shape and oversee the competition.

Partner Institution: A member of the NBCDTP: Newcastle, Durham, Northumbria, Queen’s Belfast, Sunderland, Teesside and Ulster universities.

UKRI: UK Research and Innovation (oversees all 9 research councils, including AHRC)

WP: Widening Participation       

No Deferrals Beyond 2025/2026

This will be the final year of the Northern Bridge Consortium Studentship Competition. No further intake will be made after 2025/2026. It will not be possible under any circumstances to defer the award of a studentship for entry in October 2025 or (with the permission of the candidate’s host institution) January 2026, to a future academic year. All studentships must begin in the 2025/2026 academic year without exception.

NBCDTP is an inclusive community in which everybody – staff and students alike – are treated with dignity and respect. This is part of our vision of how research excellence comes about. We value individual differences and the diversity that this brings, and we are keen to ensure that no one is at a disadvantage – whether at the application stage or as part of our successful cohort – because of who they are. We undertake Positive Action to support this aim (https://www.advance- he.ac.uk/guidance/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/equality-legislation/positive-action).

As part of our annual competition, we include a critical friend in the form of an EDI champion, who reviews our competition process, paperwork and outcomes to help us be as inclusive as we can be. We welcome all applicants irrespective of their gender, socio-economic background or ethnicity. We seek to include diverse life experiences and recognise the value of this diversity in developing excellent research. We explicitly encourage assessment panels to recognise this in their assessment of a candidate’s preparedness for doctoral study.

We are committed to WP in our DTP (and beyond) through positive action and support. We are particularly keen to encourage applications from under-represented groups, including (though not limited to) people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, applicants from lower income families and mature students.

In keeping with our commitment to WP, awards can be either full-time or part-time. 

Nominees are asked to complete an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. This will be separated from the nomination form before the nomination is circulated for review³. Subject Area Review Panel members will not see the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. The NBCDTP is required to submit anonymised statistics to the AHRC on EDI characteristics for all nominees and those who are successful. The NBCDTP administrator at Newcastle University will be able to identify who the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form belongs to, solely for the purposes of being able to make this distinction. All information reported to the AHRC and to the Studentships Committee will be anonymised. 

Subject Area Review Panels will assess nominations with due regard to non-conventional trajectories—e.g., where relevant experience is deemed to compensate for a lower degree classification. 

Subject Area Review Panels should be aware of, and sympathetic to, the fact that applicants will come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those with experience in practice or industry. NBCDTP is fully committed to WP and EDI, and is actively supporting, though its positive action initiatives, the diversification of its staff and student cohort. We ask panels to be mindful of issues surrounding WP and EDI when completing Part 1 of the Nomination Form. 

Subject Area Review Panel members are asked to bear in mind that while formal academic qualifications are important indicators of academic achievement and potential, comparable consideration should be made to nominees with less conventional academic profiles, for example, mature nominees with significant and distinguished careers in creative arts or other professional practices. 

3 As we explain below, applicants apply to their preferred school or department at their preferred university and signal that they wish to be considered for a NBDTC award. The school or department decides which applicants to put forward for the NBDTC competition; if selected, applicants must then fill out the relevant nomination form.

In keeping with our commitment to tackling inequality, promoting diversity and fostering inclusion within postgraduate research our Equality Action Award Studentships scheme is designed to encourage applications from under-represented groups (as identified through analysis of currently available EDI data).

Each year, we aim to make two Equality Action Award Studentship awards.  These two awards are reserved for Black, Minority Ethnic and / or Irish Traveller applicants only.

Eligible applicants will be invited to indicate whether they wish to be considered for one of these two awards on the Northern Bridge Consortium Nomination Form. Successful candidates will meet our published award criteria and must qualify for UK/home fees status (i.e., those who do not quality for UK/home fees status cannot apply).

We make up to 67 awards per year. There are three different types of award – (1) staff-led collaborative doctoral awards, (2) student-led collaborative doctoral awards, and (3) standard doctoral awards. Staff and students should judge carefully which route is best for them.

Of the 67 awards that we make, a number are reserved for the staff-led collaborative award competition that runs earlier in the year. There is no separate competition for student-led collaborative nominations; they are entered into the open competition and compete against standard nominations. We do not reserve awards for student-led collaborative nominations.⁴

1. Staff-led Collaborative Doctoral Awards

• Members of academic staff at NBCDTP partner institutions submit a doctoral research proposal in partnership with a non-HE organisation to NBCDTP. Normally, this competition runs from August to November each year.
• Successful projects are normally advertised and recruited to from November to March. Interested applicants will usually have to submit an application, CV and Expression of Interest. If selected, they will then be interviewed.
• Further information can be found at: http://www.northernbridge.ac.uk/applyforastudentship/cda/

2. Student-led Collaborative Doctoral Awards

• Student applicants approach potential supervisors at their preferred host institution and a non-HE organisation(s) to develop a collaborative project originating from the applicant’s research proposal.
• It is expected that the applicant initiates the project and partnership.
• These nominations are assessed in the open competition in the normal way.
• This route is not open to PhD students who have already commenced their studies unless the student is already engaged in a CDA-type project.

3. Standard PhD Awards

• The most common option (around 85% of applicants take this route).
• Applicants with a research proposal in mind identify a potential supervisor from one of our partner institutions, and approach this supervisor with a view to developing their proposal.
• It is expected that the applicant initiates the project.
• These nominations are assessed in the open competition.
• Students currently registered on a doctoral programme at an NBCDTP institution are also eligible to apply (please see note 6 for conditions).

In All Cases:

• Research proposals can be interdisciplinary and/or creative practice-based.
• Research proposals are welcome from recent graduates (or from those about to graduate) or from those who have not attended a university for some time. In any of these cases, applicants may point to relevant professional or practitioner experience in order to substantiate their case for funding.
• We are committed to widening participation in our DTP (and beyond) through positive action and support. We welcome applicants of all ages and from all backgrounds. We are particularly keen to encourage applications from under- represented groups, including (though not limited to) people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, lower income families and mature students.
• In keeping with our commitment to widening participation, awards can be either full-time or part-time.

4 Effectively, there are two competitions: a staff-led CDA competition (ca. 13 awards) and a standard-route or open competition (ca. 50 awards). The open competition accepts two types of nomination: standard and student-led CDA. The Equality Action Studentship awards are reserved from within the 50 or so open competition awards.

Number of Awards Available

• Up to 63 doctoral awards across all partner institutions.
• Up to 20% (c.13) of these will be allocated to Collaborative Doctoral Awards under the separate Staff-led Collaborative Doctoral Awards competition.
• As stipulated by the AHRC, no more than 30% of the total number of awards available can be allocated to international candidates. ⁵

Duration of an Award

• The normal duration of an award is 42 months full-time (3.5 years) or 84 months part-time (7 years).
• Awards to students who have already commenced their PhD will be reduced by the length of time the student has already been registered on the PhD programme.
• Part-time students who have already commenced their PhD may apply to transfer to full-time for the remainder of their studies should they be successful in the competition, and vice versa. ⁶
• A part-time award must not be less than 50% of the full-time equivalent. ⁷

Who is Eligible to be Considered for an Award

• All UK and international applicants with a research proposal falling within the AHRC’s subject domain: https://www.ukri.org/councils/ahrc/remit-programmes-and-priorities/
• All UK and international applicants meeting the entry requirements of their preferred PhD programme at their host institution.
• All UK and International applicants who have secured the support of a school or departmental-level supervisory team with expertise in the subject area(s) at their preferred host institution.

The Value of the Award

• Tuition fees paid at a rate equivalent to the Home UK fee.
• A minimum stipend per year for living costs, which is paid in regular instalments. Awards increase every year, typically with inflation. As an indicator, the level for 2024/2025 was £19,237.
• Award-holders are eligible to apply to a fund reserved for supporting primary research costs to include, for example, conference attendance, fieldwork, language training, overseas research visits and placements with a non-academic partner.
• Award-holders will not have a personal research account on which to draw.
• NBCDTP will not under any circumstances fund the (monetary) difference between home and international tuition fees. However, an international applicant’s host institution may offer an additional scholarship to the value of this difference. Applicants should check with their host institution for further guidance. In some cases, successful international applicants may need to be prepared to fund the difference between the home and international tuition fee rate by alternative means.

Employment

• It is a condition of an award that at the time of commencing the award (1 October 2025) the applicant is not in full-time employment. Applicants in full-time employment are not eligible for an award.
• An applicant in part-time employment may be eligible for a part-time award providing the hours of employment plus the hours of part-time study do not normally exceed the equivalent of 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE). Exceeding this limit is prohibited in some institutions and may result in all or part of the studentship award being reclaimed by the NBCDTP. Applicants first should check with their host institution if intending to continue part-time working hours.

Study Location

• The UKRI and AHRC advise that studentship award-holders are required to be resident in the UK for the majority of their studies, and “The Student must live within a reasonable travel time of their Research Organisation or collaborative organisation to ensure that they are able to maintain regular contact with their department and their Supervisor. This is to ensure that the Student is not isolated and receives the full support, mentoring, training and access to facilities required to complete their research successfully and to a high standard. The only exceptions to these requirements are to cover periods of absence that are an essential part of their study e.g. fieldwork, study visits or conference attendance.”

UK Research and Innovation Training Grant Guidance https://www.ukri.org/publications/terms-and-conditions-for-training-funding/, pg. 11

5 Subject areas, schools and departments should especially bear this constraint in mind when nominating applicants to the competition.

6 Applicants who have already commenced their doctoral studies are eligible to apply on the condition that they will have completed no more than 18 months of full-time or 36 months of part-time study at the point at which they would take up the award (usually 1 October of the relevant year). They must notify their supervisors and their school/department office that they wish to be considered for an award (usually in January of the relevant year). They must not submit a new postgraduate application form to their host institution or contact their host institution’s Postgraduate Admissions Service; they must apply on the basis of the project on which they are already working.

7 Part-time awards will, however, fall under the relevant regulations of the host institution. E.g., some partner institutions will only permit part-time study at 50% of the full-time equivalent (e.g., they will not allow part- time study at 60% of the full-time equivalent).

Step One:

Applicants identify a potential supervisor from a partner institution. Having done so, applicants contact the relevant Subject Area Lead and/or potential supervisor(s) at their preferred host institution⁸ at the earliest opportunity to ensure that:

• the expertise and capacity to supervise the proposed research is actually present;
• the viability of the proposed research can be assessed;
• the applicant will be fully supported throughout the competition

Applicants who delay approaching the Subject Area Lead and potential supervisors until close to the postgraduate application deadline are unlikely to be considered for nomination to the Northern Bridge competition.

Step Two:

Applicants identify the member of Professional Services staff, or member of staff (which may be their supervisor, Subject Area Lead or local Northern Bridge Administrator), who has responsibility for the administration of the NBCDTP applicant selection and nomination process within their school or department at their host institution.

Step Three:

Applicants submit a Postgraduate Application Form and other supporting documentation to their host institution by the Tuesday 7 January 2025. Please note that, while the process will vary from institution to institution, all applicants must indicate that they wish to be considered for the NBCDTP studentship competition:

• Durham University:

Under ‘How do you propose to fund your studies?’ please select “Northern Bridge AHRC studentship” from the drop-down menu.

• Newcastle University:

Quote NBC25 under ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ and ‘Who is your sponsor/funding body?’

• Northumbria University:

Quote NBC25 under the ‘Project/Studentship Reference Number’ field.

• Queen’s University Belfast:

Tick ‘I will apply separately to an external body’ then enter NBC25 under ‘To which body do you intend to apply?’

• University of Sunderland:

State the supervisor and NBC25 in Section 6 ‘Who is expected to pay your fees.’

• Teesside University:

Answer the question ‘Who will pay your fees’ by selecting ‘other’ and then quoting NBC25.

• Ulster University:

Insert NBC25 in response to the question ‘If you will be self-funded or are in receipt of a private scholarship then please provide further information here’ in the Funding Details section.

If an applicant has already applied to their host institution, or has omitted to indicate on the application form that they wish to be considered for a Northern Bridge studentship from their postgraduate application, they should contact the Subject Area Lead and Professional Services contact in the relevant school/department as soon as possible, and before Tuesday 7 January 2025.

Applicants can apply to only one of the seven institutions in the NBCDTP. Applicants who apply to more than one NBCDTP partner institution will be disqualified without consideration.

However, applicants may apply to more than one Doctoral Training Partnership, including the ESRC Northern Ireland North East (NINE) DTP. For example, an applicant in Linguistics may apply to both the NINE DTP and the NBCDTP at Newcastle; but may not apply to the NBCDTP via Newcastle and QUB.

8 http://www.northernbridge.ac.uk/studentships/subjectareasandcontacts/

ESSENTIAL NOTE FOR APPLICANTS

Applicants must be selected for nomination to the Northern Bridge studentship competition by their school/department.

Applicants who submit incomplete and unsolicited Nomination Forms, direct to schools or departments, or direct to the NBCDTP will not be considered.

Applicants who approach schools and departments after the published deadlines will not be considered.

The Nomination Form is available online: http://www.northernbridge.ac.uk/applyforastudentship/theopenstudentshipcompetition/

General Note

It is important that nominees write in clear, precise English, and that they express their ideas in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. The members of a Subject Area Review Panel will be experts, but not necessarily in the nominee’s specific sub-field(s). It is advisable, therefore, to avoid or to explain discipline-specific jargon or terminology.

Section 1: Nominee Details and Eligibility

Please provide full and accurate information. The NBCDTP will base its decision on the nominee’s eligibility for a particular level of funding (home or international) on the details provided at the time of nomination to the NBCDTP. ⁹

To self-assess eligibility for a particular level of funding (home or international), nominees should consult Annex B of the UK Research and Innovation Training Grant Guidance: “International Eligibility criteria for UKRI funded studentships”: https://www.ukri.org/publications/terms-and-conditions-for-training-funding/

Section 2: Award, University and Subject Area Details

All nominees must select a Primary AHRC Subject Area from the drop-down list on the nomination form to ensure that the nomination is evaluated by reviewers with the requisite subject area expertise. Do not overwrite the existing list or add a new subject area.

If the proposed project is interdisciplinary in nature, the nominee must still select only one Primary AHRC Subject Area from the drop-down list. The nomination will be assessed by the relevant reviewers for that one subject area only.  However, there is space on the nomination form to explain why the nomination should be classed as interdisciplinary, what further subject area(s) is(are) are involved, and how the proposed methodology is genuinely interdisciplinary.

Section 3: Higher Education to Date

Nominees are reminded that for taught postgraduate and undergraduate awards they must provide a full transcript, translated into English where necessary.

Nominees currently completing a taught postgraduate programme must provide a provisional transcript listing their modules and marks received to-date.

Current PhD nominees should use this section to provide details of their programme.

Should a nominee hold more than one undergraduate and/or postgraduate degree, they should list the most relevant to the nomination and subject of the research proposal.

Section 4: Professional Employment Experience and Publications, Exhibitions, Commissions, etc.

Subject Area Review Panels will assess nominations with due regard to non- conventional trajectories—e.g., where relevant experience is deemed to be equivalent to the appropriate degree classification.

Examples include relevant professional practice, paid employment, volunteering, placements, internships, exhibitions, shows, work in galleries, awards, commissions, residencies, publications, and conference papers. These should be relevant to the research proposal and not otherwise mentioned on the nomination form.

Section 5: Research Proposal and Case for Support

The 100-word summary of the proposal should be written in such a way as to be accessible to a reader who may not be a subject specialist. This summary will be provided to the AHRC should the nomination be successful.

To be eligible for funding, all research proposals must explicitly address each of the following considerations:

1. It must define a series of research questions, issues or problems that will be addressed in the course of the research. It must also define its aims and objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding relating to the questions, issues or problems to be addressed.

2. It must specify a research context for the questions, issues or problems to be addressed. You must specify why it is important that these particular questions, issues or problems should be addressed; what other research is being or has been conducted in this area; and what particular contribution this project will make to the advancement of creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in this area.

3. It must specify the research methods for addressing and answering the research questions, issues or problems. You must state how, in the course of the research project, you will seek to answer the questions, address the issues or solve the problems. You should also explain the rationale for your chosen research methods and why you think they provide the most appropriate means by which to address the research questions, issues or problems.

Our primary concern is to ensure that the research we fund addresses clearly- articulated research questions, issues or problems, set in a clear context of other research in that area, and using appropriate research methods and/or approaches.

Source: https://www.ukri.org/publications/ahrc-research-funding-guide/

4. It should be clear from the Case for Support that the project is feasible within the allotted timeframe (up to three and a half years of full-time funded study or up to seven years of part-time funded study). You should highlight any potential difficulties that might arise and explain how they will be met, and you must also show that you have seriously considered costs and resource implications of undertaking the proposed research.

The proposal is strictly limited to 750 words. Do not include a bibliography or footnotes. A brief note of the reference (e.g. Smith, 1990) is sufficient as the proposal will be considered by experts familiar with the

Additional guidance for Creative Practice nominees can be found

Additional guidance for Student-Led Collaborative Project nominees can be found below.

Resources and Facilities

Nominees should consult prospective supervisors about the availability of key resources and the likely costs of research and training activities in order to ensure the viability of the proposed research project, and provide an estimate where possible. Nominees should highlight the resources and facilities that will be required. Note, for example, anticipated fieldwork, special training (e.g., immersive language training) or specialist equipment requirements that will be necessary for the successful completion of the PhD. ¹⁰

Successful nominees/award-holders will have the opportunity to bid for additional funding to support their research costs as they progress through their PhD. Such funding is not guaranteed and award-holders do not have a personal allowance to draw on. Significant costs stated as necessary to the research may influence the assessors’ view of the feasibility of the project.

If a student is successful in getting a studentship, and applies to the NBCDTP’s grant scheme during the course of their studentship, any high-cost bids are checked against this section of the Nomination Form. A failure to mention high-cost requirements at the nomination stage will mean the funding application is likely to be rejected.

NB: even if a nomination is successful, there is no guarantee that Northern Bridge will be able to fund all costs associated with the project. The issuing of an award should not be taken to imply that all costs will be met. The Northern Bridge directors, who are separate from the assessment process, will make such decisions on a case-by-case, basis.

9 As noted above, while there is a considerable gap between home and international tuition fees, some partner institutions may have provisions in place to make up for this gap.

10 It should not be assumed that such costs will be met by the NBCDTP, nor by the nominee’s institution; such additional funding is not guaranteed.

We understand interdisciplinary research as being the integration of distinct methodological approaches from two or more distinct subject areas, generating outcomes that could not be achieved from within a single subject area.

• Section 6: Sample of Practice-based Outputs

NBCDTP seeks actively to support Creative Practice-led research. Applicants nominated in Creative Practice-based areas only are required to supply a URL to a portfolio of outputs which provides the assessors with contextual information and articulates the methodological aspect of creative practice. The portfolio is not an extra quality check but rather allows nominees to demonstrate how their creative work represents an appropriate methodology for addressing their research questions and their preparedness for doctoral study.

It is vital that nominees make clear the methodological value of creative practice within the application.

• Please note that all Creative Practice Research must meet the AHRC’s definition of practice-led research: Creative output can be produced, or practice undertaken, as an integral part of a research process as defined above [under Section 5: Research Proposal and Case for Support]. The Council would expect, however, this practice to be accompanied by some form of documentation of the research process, as well as some form of textual analysis or explanation to support its position and as a record of your critical reflection. Equally, creativity or practice may involve no such process at all, in which case it would be ineligible for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Source: https://www.ukri.org/publications/ahrc-research-funding-guide/

It is expected that:

• The nominee identifies and approaches a suitable non-HE partner organisation as well as a potential supervisor at the host institution in order to develop their own proposed project;

• Responsibility for supervision and training is shared between the non-HE partner organisation and the host institution;

• The project is set up so that it generates benefits for the non-HE partner organisation as well as producing the outputs required for the award of a PhD;

• The student normally spends a substantial portion of the period of doctoral study at the non-HE partner organisation.

It is essential that conversations between prospective nominees, the partner organisation and the university supervisors begin at the earliest opportunity.

In developing their application, the nominee should consider the following:

• Intrinsic Benefits: how will the research field produce insights and knowledge that will help the partner organisation achieve its objectives?

• Process Benefits: how will the partner organisation benefit from the process of the nominee’s undertaking of the research project, informally or through the completion of specific tasks (e.g. cataloguing of collections, knowledge exchange with staff)?

• Public Engagement Benefits: what kind of research outcomes will generate ‘content’ for the partner organisation to use in their public engagement work (e.g. material for an exhibition)?

Completed by the Nominee’s School or Department

Section 8: Supervision (and Cross-institutional Supervision)

Cross-institutional supervision drawing on expertise across the Consortium is encouraged, but is not a requirement.

The composition of the proposed supervisory team must comply with the host institution’s Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Students (or equivalent). Where a successful candidate is supported by a supervisory team that crosses institutional boundaries, the main and second supervisors must be at the host institution, with the third advisor from another institution. In certain, exceptional, cases it may be appropriate for there to be a fourth advisor from another institution as well.

Additional supervisors may be appointed from an NBCDTP partner institution, or any other HE or non-HE organisation, if appropriate to the research proposal and if permitted by the host institution.

There is no financial remuneration for external supervisors and advisors via the NBCDTP. A financial arrangement, if any, will be at discretion of the host institution, and cannot by any means be funded by the NBCDTP.

When filling in this section, please include:

• The supervisory team’s expertise in relation to the proposed project
• Details of the track record of postgraduate (PhD) student supervision across the supervisory team;
• Relevant publications;
• Any involvement in postgraduate training;
• Relevant web-links to staff profiles and publications
• Where appropriate, arrangements for mentoring and support for Early Career supervisors or supervisors with less experience of PhD supervision.

Section 9: Training and Development

Funding for research and training activities from the NBCDTP is limited. Supervisors must confirm that any supplementary costs involved in undertaking fundamental research or in meeting the nominee’s training needs are realistic and justified, and explain how these costs will be met in full, if not by the NBCDTP. No funding (additional to fees and stipend) is guaranteed and award-holders do not have a personal allowance to draw on for primary research costs. Significant costs stated as necessary to the research, for which funding is not guaranteed, may influence the assessors’ view of the feasibility of the project.

Section 10: Research Environment

• We encourage applications to consider the range of expertise and resources across the NBCDTP when characterising the Research Environment the project will be integrated into.

• Explain how the nominee will be integrated into the research environment in their subject area. Include details of how the research strengths of the subject in the school/department, interdisciplinary research groups, clusters, Centres, and Institutes, specialised facilities/resources, and external partnerships, are relevant to or will contribute to the completion of the nominee’s research project.

• For Student-led Collaborative Doctoral Award nominees also outline the contribution of the collaboration and the value added to the nominee’s research project, including the arrangements for support of the nominee by the partner and any previous experience of collaboration with the partner. Include details of how the nominee will be integrated into the culture of the partner organisation, and the specialised facilities/resources they will benefit from.

Referees should complete the proforma Reference Form, which can be downloaded at: https://www.northernbridge.ac.uk/applyforastudentship/theopenstudentshipcompetition/. This proforma has been designed with EDI in mind, to ensure parity and avoid disadvantage to applicants.

Applicants are responsible for contacting their referees at the earliest opportunity.

Two references are required. Additional references will not be accepted and will be removed from the nomination.

Applicants must ensure their referees are available to provide references during the application and selection period, and particularly from Tuesday 7 January 2025 to Monday 24 February 2025 when schools and departments will be collating nominations.

Referees should be encouraged to address the following:

• Details about how long they have known the applicant and in what capacity
• Comments on the applicant’s academic performance to date or on their performance in any post or position of responsibility;
• Comments on the applicant’s predicted Master’s result (if appropriate), including information on individual modules where relevant to the subject of the research proposal;
• The applicant’s preparedness for doctoral research, in terms research skills and experience, and the likelihood of timely completion of the project;
• Any special circumstances and contextual factors should also be highlighted.

If an applicant is returning to Higher Education after a period of professional practice or similar and is not able to draw on academic referees, please ensure that the chosen referees are able to comment on their preparedness for doctoral study.

Applicants are advised to identify referees who are independent of their proposed supervisory team wherever possible. This is to avoid potential conflicts of interest that may pose a risk of disadvantage to the candidate.  However, we recognise that there may be cases where the prospective supervisor is the best or only viable referee. In this context, the referee is asked to provide a brief contextualising statement (see NBC Reference proforma).

Applicants are responsible for identifying the member of Professional Services Staff or member of staff (which may be their supervisor, Subject Area Lead or local Northern Bridge Administrator) who has responsibility for the administration of the NBCDTP competition at their host institution, and to make themselves aware of the deadline for the receipt of references.

Referees should be directed to send their references to the member(s) of staff identified above. References should not be sent to the applicant.

Schools and departments can set their own internal deadlines for the completion of the Nomination Form and the receipt of references, (and other required documentation such as transcripts). This deadline is likely to be much earlier than Monday 24 February 2025 (the deadline for the submission of complete Nomination Forms to the Northern Bridge Consortium). Applicants must make themselves aware of the deadline and allow referees plenty of advance notice.

Referees may also be contacted by the host institution’s Postgraduate Admissions Service and asked to provide separate references. At some partner institutions, this is a required part of the postgraduate admissions process, necessary to be considered for a place on the PhD programme, and independent of the NBCDTP Studentship Competition.

Lost/Unavailable Transcripts

Each year we receive queries from applicants returning to Higher Education after a lengthy period of time, and concerned about the following:

• They have proof of their qualifications but no transcripts;
• They no longer have proof of their qualifications or transcripts;
• The degree-awarding institution has since closed or has stated a substantial period of time before proof of qualifications or transcripts can be produced.

In such instances, for the purposes of the Nomination Form, the NBCDTP will accept evidence of the award of the degree only and/or an appended explanation as to why transcripts or evidence of qualifications is not available.

In such instances, the choice of referee and the content of the reference is vital. Either a referee should be able to speak to the applicant’s past academic performance, or be clear on the applicant’s preparedness for doctoral research in terms their research skills and experience and / or professional practice.

Please note, however, that local Postgraduate Admissions Services may have different requirements and applicants without the necessary evidence must contact the Service at their local institution for further guidance.

Students Currently Taking a Masters Degree

A provisional transcript is required that indicates marks attained to-date.

Again, if this is not available, consider carefully the choice of referee and the content of the reference, which should address the applicant’s past academic performance, or be clear on the applicant’s preparedness for doctoral research.

Where the Transcripts are in a Language other than English

English translations of the transcripts and evidence of previous qualifications must be provided.

Schools or departments are responsible for submitting the complete Nomination Form to: admin@newcastle.ac.uk by 16:00 on Monday 24 February 2025.

The local NBCDTP administrator (listed below) should be copied into the submission

Please attach a completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. This will be separated from the Nomination Form before the nomination is circulated for review. Subject Area Review Panel members will not view the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.

The NBCDTP is required to submit anonymised statistics to the AHRC on EDI characteristics for all nominees and those who are successful. The NBCDTP administrator at Newcastle University will be able to identify who the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form belongs to, solely for the purposes of being able to make this distinction. All information reported to the AHRC and to the Studentships Committee will be anonymised.

Incomplete nominations will not be considered under any circumstances.

Amended or missing attachments (e.g., ‘updated’ proposals or references) received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Full nominations received after the deadline will not be considered under any circumstances.

The full nomination should be submitted as one complete PDF in the order below and named according to the following convention:

NomineeSurname+Initial_SubjectArea_Institution, e.g. SmithJ_Linguistics_QUB.

And in the following order:

• The Nomination Form
• Attachment 1: A Maximum of Two References.
• Attachment 2: Undergraduate and Postgraduate Transcripts (not Degree Certificates). Current Masters students must provide evidence of provisional marks / marks received to date. (For exceptions see “Transcripts and Previous Qualifications” section above).
• Attachment 3: Collaborative Doctoral Awards Only: A letter from the partner organisation confirming that they support the nominee, and are committed to providing the support stated.
• Attachment 4: Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

Local NBCDTP Administrator Contact Details

1^st Selection Stage (Selection of Nominees by Schools and Departments)

Schools and departments select their strongest applicants to proceed to the nomination stage of the Open Competition.¹² Those nominees will then complete and collate the Nomination Form with the support of their supervisory and professional services team.

Schools and departments convene their own internal Subject Area Review or Selection Panels. NBCDTP encourage schools and departments to do so in line with EDI best practice.

Schools and departments are encouraged to use the NBCDTP Marking Scheme and Assessment Criteria when selecting their nominees.

Schools and departments are asked to maintain a record of decisions, including reasons for the selection or rejection of applicants. This information is not required by the NBCDTP but recommended in the event of a Freedom of Information request.

Schools and departments are responsible for notifying all applicants who have indicated a wish to be considered for nomination whether they have been successful or not.

NBCDTP academic directors and administrators are not responsible for the selection of nominees at school or department-level and take no part in this process. They cannot advise applicants whether they have been selected to go through to the nomination stage.

Schools and departments can set their own internal deadlines for the completion of all parts of the Nomination Form and the receipt of references and other required documentation such as transcripts. This deadline is likely to be earlier than Monday 24 February 2025 and applicants must make themselves aware of it.

2^nd Stage: Cross-Institutional Subject Area Review Panels

Following the receipt of all Nomination Forms, NBCDTP cross-institutional Subject Area Review Panels will review nominations in their respective subject Each institution nominates the panel members who will sit on the NBCDTP Subject Area Review Panels.

For subject areas only available in one or two institutions, additional panel membership will be sought on an open call by the NBCDTP Academic Directors for relevant expertise from the other institutions.

Panel meetings will take place online over a 2-day period (Tuesday 18 - Wednesday 19 March 2025), timetable tbc, and will be chaired by NBCDTP Academic Directors, who are not themselves reviewers of nominations.

Attendance at the panel meeting is compulsory for all panel members and the dates should be ring-fenced in advance to ensure availability.

The panel members assess the nominations assigned to them prior to the panel meeting; the panel then meets to determine collective scores and feedback in accordance with the cross-institutional subject panel principles.

The Responsibilities of the Review Panel

Full nominations (minus the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form) will be made available to Northern Bridge subject panel members on Thursday 27 February 2025 via OneDrive (Sharepoint).

Panel members with a conflict of interest on any individual nomination (as, for example, nominated supervisor/adviser) should recuse themselves from scoring those nominations and notify the DTP of the conflict of interest. Where necessary, an additional reader will be sought from within the Consortium.

Panel members assess the nominations assigned to them, and complete their individual marks and comments on the subject panel spreadsheet by Friday 14 March 2025. The nomination process is confidential. Only nominated panel members have access to the nominations, and panel members will take sole responsibility for the assessment of all nominations assigned to them in their subject area before meeting with the cross-institutional panel.

The Subject Area Review Panels will review nominations in accordance with the Cross-Institutional Subject Panel Principles, and agree final marks/feedback comments. The deadline for submission of all panel scores and comments by the Chair is Friday 21 March by 16:00.

The Assessment of Creative Practice Nominations (see also ‘Information for Creative Practice Applicants’ guidance notes above

Subject Area Review Panels considering nominations in Creative Practice must consult the portfolios and consider the practice methodologies articulated in section 6 of the Nomination Form.

If assessing a Creative Practice nomination, the panel must contain at least one Creative

What Happens When Marks and Comments are Returned to the NBCDTP

The scores and comments are considered by the Moderation Committee to ensure consistency, and to confirm a final ranked list of all nominations for consideration by the Studentships Committee. In exceptional circumstances, the Moderation Committee may seek external advice if they judge it appropriate to do

The Studentships Committee comprises the NBCDTP academic directors, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and creative practice representatives, and an external academic representative from each of the AHRC’s three disciplinary clusters. The Studentship Committee will confirm the final rankings from which the awards will be made and identify a list of candidates to be placed on a reserve

The outcome of the Studentship Competition will be communicated to nominees FROM Thursday 10 April 2025 (subject to individual institutional processes) by the relevant school or department in the nominee’s host institution.

Should a successful nominees decline an award, the next highest-ranked nominee on the reserve list will be made an offer of an award, regardless of the host institution of the original recipient.

12 On average, less than 1 in 4 nominations are ultimately successful. That figure drops, however, for particular schools and departments that put forward large numbers of nominations.  We strongly encourage local schools and departments to nominate only the very strongest applications, and to be mindful of the burdens that large numbers of nominations create for smaller schools and departments across partner institutions.

Please note: Cross-institutional Subject Area Review Panels should be aware of, and sympathetic to, the fact that applicants will come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those with experience in practice or industry. NBCDTP is fully committed to Widening Participation (WP) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and is actively supporting, though its positive action initiatives, the diversification of its staff and student cohort. It asks Panels to be mindful of issues surrounding WP and EDI when completing Part 1 of the Nomination Form.

We also ask panels to be open-minded about different research approaches and perspectives within a given subject areas and that each nomination is assessed on its own academic merits.

Finally, we would also ask individual assessors to ensure they have no conflict of interest with nominations and, if they do have such conflicts, to refrain from being part of the assessment of those individual nominations. Panel members should follow standard procedures for identifying conflicts of interest. For clarity, this is a personal conflict of interest (e.g., a family connection to the application, or involvement in the supervision team). Panel members will contribute to discussions of applications from their own institutions provided they do not have a personal conflict of interest.

General Guidance on the Evaluation of Nominations

Consider the full Nomination Form and the supporting documentation.

Scores should be explained in (and be consistent with) your comments, which should be sufficiently extensive for the Moderation and Studentships committees to understand how the score was arrived at.

A common issue that might disadvantage a nominee is a Subject Area Review Panel failing to justify a set of particularly high (or low) marks in their comments.

Comments must address all four areas of the Nomination Form: Applicant, Research Proposal, Supervision, and Training and Development. Please ensure that your comments match the grade descriptors for the mark you award, and that you make reference to each of these four areas in your comments.

Please bear in mind that while formal academic qualifications are important indicators of academic achievement and potential, comparable consideration should be made to nominees with less conventional academic profiles, for example, mature nominees with significant careers in creative arts or other professional practice.

References Provided by Prospective Supervisors

For some students, the potential supervisor is the best or only viable referee, and in such cases, the judgement of the referee should be respected in line with the assumption of academic integrity underpinning the NBCDTP evaluation process.

Nominations to the NBCDTP Studentship Competition will be assessed strictly according to the following criteria:

The quality of the nominee, including their past academic and/or professional performance and experience, likely future performance, and their preparedness for doctoral study in terms of relevant research skills and experience.

The quality of the research proposal, including the clarity and cogency of the research questions, awareness of relevant research in the field, the sources to be used, and the appropriateness of the proposed approach/methodology.

The coherence, importance and viability of the proposed research, and in particular the feasibility of completion within 42 months (or 84 months part-time).

The fit of the supervisory team, including supervisors’ subject expertise in relation to the proposed research; ability to develop nominee’s skills and professional competence; evidence of ability to successfully supervise doctoral students across the supervisory team; and any involvement in postgraduate training. In identifying supervisory teams, nominees and supervisors should consider the full spectrum of expertise available across the NBCDTP. ¹³

The degree to which the Nomination Form provides a detailed account of how the specific training and development needs of the nominee will be met.

The quality of the research environment in terms of school/ departmental research strengths, interdisciplinary research groups, clusters, centres, institutes, and external partnerships, as well as the ways in which the nominee will be integrated into this environment.

In addition to the above, Collaborative Doctoral Award nominations will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• The contribution the project will make to the objectives of the partner
• The fit of the supervisors from the partner
• The account of the quality of skills development opportunities offered by the partner organisation, and how it will meet the specific training and development needs of the
• The quality of the research environment, in terms of research priorities, facilities and resources at the partner

The criteria to be used to evaluate nominations are indicated below.

13 It is worth stressing that, as noted above, cross-institutional supervision is not a requirement; no penalty or benefit attaches either way.

Subject Area Scrutiny Panels are kindly asked to grade and comment on four aspects of the nomination:

• Applicant (16);
• Research Proposal (32);
• Supervision (12);
• Training and Development and Research Environment (12);

Giving an aggregate score out of 72.

Nominations that score below 50% of the mark in any area will automatically be considered ineligible for funding.

Applicant

In assessing the suitability of the applicant for an NBCDTP doctoral award, assessors should consider the following:

• Do the applicant’s skills and qualifications and/or creative/ professional experience (particularly for applicants with non-standard academic trajectories) demonstrate their outstanding potential and preparedness for the proposed doctoral research?

• Do referees focus on the particular abilities of the applicant that make them suitable for postgraduate research, and do they support the applicant unreservedly? Do referees describe any special circumstances or contextual factors of the applicant that should be taken into account?

Research Proposal

In assessing the quality of the research proposal, assessors should consider the following:

• Research questions: Are the research question(s) or problem(s) clearly defined? How important is it that these questions should be addressed? How timely are they?

• Research context: What other research is being, or has been, conducted in this area? What particular contribution will this project make to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in the field? Has the applicant placed their proposal in an appropriate context, giving due consideration to other work in the field?

• Research methods: How, during the PhD, will the applicant seek to answer the questions or address the problems?  Is there an adequate rationale for their chosen research methods? Do the research methods provide an appropriate means by which to answer the research question(s)? Is the research likely to raise ethical or safety issues and, if so, are these addressed in the proposal?

• Viability: Does the applicant provide evidence that the project can be feasibly completed within up to three and a half years of full-time funded study or up to seven years of part-time funded study? Have the costs and resource implications of undertaking the fundamental research been adequately considered?

Supervision

This section of the Nomination Form should comment on the suitability of the supervisory team, noting the ability of the supervisory team to successfully supervise the project and, where appropriate, any plans for mentoring, training or support for supervisors. Research expertise and publications that are relevant to the applicant’s project can be included, however it is not advisable to concentrate on the supervisors’ research excellence to the detriment of demonstrating the excellence of the fit between supervisor and research project. When considering the supervisory team, and training and development requirements, schools/departments may look beyond their own institution in order to identify possibilities for cross-consortium supervision. There is no requirement to do so, however, and nominees will not be penalised either way.

A strong application will be one in which the supervisors have expertise in an area closely related to the applicant’s proposal and where, in the case of Collaborative Doctoral Awards, there is clear evidence that the student will be strongly supported by the partner organisation. A strong application will also have considered the opportunities available across the NBCDTP, and built these into the nomination where they add value. In a weak application, the supervisor will not be expert in the area.

Wherever possible, Subject Area Scrutiny Panels are asked to take into consideration that the NBCDTP seeks to support research at all partner institutions. As part of that aim, it actively values the distinct research environments of each partner institution and, moreover, seeks to support the building of capacity across the partner institutions, including supporting the development of early career supervisors and others who have not had the opportunity to supervise PhD students.

The Descriptors below also include criteria pertinent to Student-led Collaborative Doctoral Awards (in italics).

Training and Research Environment

The nomination should address the ways in which the research strengths of the school/department, as well as any interdisciplinary research groups, clusters, centres, and institutes, specialised facilities/resources, and external partnerships are relevant to the applicant's research project. It should also specify how the applicant will be integrated into this environment.  This section of the Nomination Form should also identify any skills training and professional development needed for the successful completion of the research project. This should be specific to the applicant and their project; please do not include general statements about the generic skills training available within the NBCDTP or your Department/School. When considering training and development requirements, schools/departments are advised to look beyond their own institution in order to identify possibilities for research group participation and training opportunities, including those provided by external organisations.

A strong application will be where: the applicant will be well integrated into the school/department and/or appropriate interdisciplinary structures, and, in the case of collaborative doctoral awards, into the research culture of the partner organisation; facilities or resources are available to support the applicant’s research; and the applicant’s training needs have been fully considered, along with a clear sense of how these will be met. A strong application will also have considered the opportunities available across the NBCDTP and built these into the nomination where appropriate. In a weak application, the school/department or partner organisation will not be a suitable host for the proposed research and/or there will be no interdisciplinary structures to provide a supportive research environment. A weaker application may be characterised by limited consideration of the training needs of the applicant, which may constrain their ability to conduct the research. A weaker application may also lack awareness of the relevant research environment, resources, and training opportunities elsewhere in the NBCDTP.

Once again, Subject Area Scrutiny Panels are asked to take into consideration that the NBCDTP seeks to support research at all partner institutions. As part of that aim, it actively values the distinct research environments of each partner institution. Research environments vary for many reasons (including their capacity to attract self-funded PhD students). We ask reviewers to recognise that size alone is not necessarily a good indicator of quality. A relatively small department with a cluster of researchers highly appropriate to the project may be a better environment than a much larger department that lacks a close connection to the applicant’s work.

The Descriptors below also includes criteria pertinent to Collaborative Doctoral Awards (Student-led) in italics:

Guidance for Subject Area Scrutiny Panel Comments

Subject Area Scrutiny Panels are reminded that comments must address all four areas of the Nomination Form: Applicant, Research Proposal, Supervision, and Training and Development. Please ensure that your comments match the grade descriptors for the mark you award, and that you make reference to each of these four areas in your comments.

We provide here examples of good practice of Subject Area Scrutiny Panel comments. These have been anonymised, but are otherwise taken verbatim from Subject Area Scrutiny Panel review comments. Please note that different scoring systems were used in previous years of the competition (12 for applicant and proposal, 6 for supervisor and environment; we have since shifted to a 16, 32, 12, 12 format).

Sample Comments

Applicant 12: Outstanding achievement with 82 average in final year UG at University of xxx (79% overall) and current average of 77% in MA; second BA graduate in literary studies at University of xxx 2013 and currently top-performing in MA literary studies cohort at xxx University. Proposal 11: Outstanding: proposal identifies a new and potentially very valuable direction in 20thc xxx studies. The combination of formal literary and historico-political approaches is challenging and ambitious, but the outline shows a clear grasp of what’s at stake based on project’s strong foundations. Supervisory Fit 6: Cross-School supervision for this project with experienced and research active supervisors. Training & Environment 6: Outstanding environment and training needs excellently addressed.

Applicant 11: An outstanding candidate with a 2:1 (Hons) in XX as well as a truly unique skillset. The extensive and highly relevant work and research experience go well above and beyond what is required to make up for the lack of a Masters degree. In particular, the candidate has 26 years’ experience in XX Museum, supported by a solid reference, as well as high level commissions and academic research-related contributions, including a ‘Critically Endangered’ award. Overall the candidate demonstrates an excellent capacity and access to the resources to provide lasting impact from this research. Proposal 12: The proposal is unique, specific, and based on outstanding practical experience. The candidate's passion for this research area is made clear throughout the proposal as well as in the provided reference. The research questions are clear and an important part of XX’s heritage, being all the more important as this is currently critically endangered and may be lost if this work is not carried out. Supervisory Fit 6: The supervisory team is a fantastic fit and includes a mix of career stages and experiences in supervision. Training & Environment 6: The chosen university is a perfect fit to this project, as regionally this topic has a particular relevance and the research expertise resides in X university.

Applicant 10: A strong candidate with some very high marks, but really let down by one exceptionally short reference (4 lines!). Proposal 9: Archival research is not a methodology. An interesting idea for a proposal but not as well organised or conveyed as some others; there's limited sense of the broader significance of the topic, and the comparative aspect could have been explained more. Supervisory Fit 4: Supervisory statement is quite broad and the supervisors' expertise has not been related particularly closely to the specific topics to be explored in the proposal. Training & Environment 4: Limited analysis of training needs though good to see that there is consideration of museum and curatorial skills. Good research environment statement. 10/9/4