Workshops and Talks on Alternative Postgraduate Funding
Note: We offer a Webinar Version of this workshop with some format changes. Please see our Webinar page for details.
We’ve been delivering training workshops and talks on alternative postgraduate funding since 2009. We've held nearly 200 of them in total, at 35 universities in the UK, and they are invariably excellently attended, and receive top feedback. They are delivered by one of our team of three experienced trainers, who between them won over 60 charity awards as postgraduate students, totalling £65,000. We thus speak from real experience, not theory. Meet our team here.
We offer four different types of workshops and talks depending on the audience, which are usually between 2 and 3 hours in duration. The first and most popular is the Researcher Development Training Workshop for current postgraduate research (PGR) students. We also do versions for staff seeking to understand alternative funding, and for undergraduates considering Masters and PhD study. Finally, we also do short talks for open days, events, and roadshows, including to large audiences.
Read more about our four types of Workshop...
1. Postgraduate Funding Workshop
(often for PGRs as part of Researcher Training)
Intended audience: All postgraduate students, although usually postgraduate research students.
Audience size: Up to 30 (advised limit)
Duration: 2-3 hours
Our most popular workshop, which often runs under the title 'Postgraduate Funding: Considering the Alternatives'. It explores alternative methods of funding postgraduate study: for fees, maintenance, research, travel, conferences and final-year PhD writing-up. Often held as part of skills development, and closely supports the Vitae Researcher Development Framework domain C3: finances, funding and resources.
We'll cover:
1. How to identify and understand types of alternative funding sources, such as charities, trusts and crowdfunding.
2. Find funding using online and printed resources.
3. How to apply strongly for grants from alternative sources.
The workshop is taught via a mixture of presentations, live demonstration of online funding databases, group discussions, and case studies of personal statements. You can read an expanded description (with a breakdown of our typical itinerary) here.
Note: We offer a Webinar Version of this workshop with some format changes. Please see our Webinar page for details.
2. Staff Training Workshop
Intended audience: University staff interested in understanding alternative postgraduate funding.
Audience size: Up to 30 (advised limit)
Duration: 1-2 hours
This workshop helps expand the knowledge of alternative postgraduate funding of staff members, often from Graduate Schools, Research Offices, Student Support, Registry, Admissions and Careers.
It introduces alternative ways current and prospective students can fund postgraduate study through charities, trusts, and other mechanisms, such as crowdfunding.
We'll cover:
1. The main differences between charities and the ‘mainstream’ research funders you are more familiar with.
2. How students can craft funding strategies depending on whether they are fully-funded, partially-funded, or entirely self-funded.
3. How students can find alternative funding using online and printed resources.
4. How students can prepare strong grant applications to alternative bodies, and the points they need to emphasise.
3. Undergraduate Funding Workshop
Intended audience: Final year undergraduates
Audience size: Up to 30 (advised limit)
Duration: 1.5-3 hours
This workshop introduces postgraduate funding for undergraduates considering postgraduate study through Masters, PGCEs, and PhDs. No prior knowledge of postgraduate funding is necessary, and we cover all genres of postgraduate funding, both mainstream and alternative.
We'll cover:
1. Postgraduate funding through government sources, such as research councils, postgraduate loans, and of course, alternative funding sources.
2. Finding funding using online and printed resources.
3. How to apply strongly for grants from governmental and alternative sources.
The workshop is taught via a mixture of presentations, live demonstration of online funding databases, group discussions, and case studies of personal statements.
4. Short Talks and Lectures for Open Days and Events
Intended audience: Prospective postgraduates (Masters or PhD) or current students.
Audience size: No size limit
Duration: 30-45 minutes for talk plus Q&A.
A short introduction to all types of postgraduate funding (mainstream and alternative). No prior knowledge of postgraduate funding is necessary, and the audience can be of any size- making it ideal for open days. We are happy for the talk to be filmed and made available after the event.
We'll cover:
1. Postgraduate funding through government sources, departmental scholarships and alternative funding sources. If you want us to mention any of your own competitions, we are happy to do so!
2. How to identify alternative funding sources, such as charities, trusts, crowdfunding and learned societies.
3. Find funding using online and printed resources.
4. Tips on how to apply strongly for grants from charities.
You can see a video of a recent open day talk we gave below:
Prices, Questions, Discussions...
Please just email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .uk or give us a ring on 0207 828 8107. We can give you a price quotation for whatever you would like, whether a workshop, short talk, or lecture. Or perhaps you have an alternative proposal. Please get in touch and discuss potential plans for workshops.