Introductions and objectives
The facilitator introduces the workshop and identifies participants' principal funding needs.
Researcher development workshop
Postgraduate Funding: Considering the Alternatives
A practical two-hour workshop showing postgraduate researchers how to find and apply for funding from charities, trusts and foundations.
AudiencePhD students and other PGRs
DurationTwo to two-and-a-half hours
FormatPresentation, discussion and group exercise
Who is it for?
The workshop is designed for postgraduate researchers seeking additional support for:
- Tuition fees and living costs
- Research expenses and fieldwork
- Conference attendance and academic travel
- Equipment, materials and specialist training
- Final-year PhD writing-up costs
- Unexpected financial shortfalls
Why alternative funding?
Thousands of charities, trusts and foundations make grants to individuals, yet they remain significantly underused by postgraduate researchers.
Awards may relate to a researcher's subject, personal circumstances, educational background, nationality, place of residence or the particular costs they need to meet.
The workshop is especially valuable for researchers without full scholarships, or whose existing funding does not cover all their costs.
A method—not simply a list of funders
The workshop is based on the award-winning Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding, which combines a searchable database of approximately 1,200 charities and trusts with detailed application guidance.
It is delivered by Dr Luke Blaxill, who secured 45 grants from charities and trusts to fund his own Master's degree and PhD. Participants therefore learn a method developed through direct experience of successfully funding postgraduate study.
What participants will learn
- How alternative funders differ from conventional academic funders
- Which types of charity or trust are most likely to support them
- How to find relevant bodies through databases, directories and research
- When and how to approach a potential funder
- How to present financial need clearly and persuasively
- How to tailor applications and avoid common mistakes
- How to combine several smaller grants to meet a larger need
- How charitable funders assess applications
Typical two-hour workshop
The postgraduate funding problem
A guided discussion of participants' experiences and the limitations of conventional funding.
Introduction to alternative funding
The types of organisations that make grants, whom they support and what they may fund.
Finding and approaching funders
How to identify suitable charities and trusts, research their criteria and make an initial approach.
Break
What makes a strong application?
A facilitated discussion identifying the qualities of persuasive applications.
Preparing applications
Explaining a project, demonstrating need, tailoring the case and presenting a realistic budget.
Application-ranking exercise
Participants compare three sample applications, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and consider how charitable funders make decisions.
Golden rules
A concise summary of the central principles for approaching alternative funders successfully.
Questions
Questions about the method, particular funding needs or difficulties participants have encountered.
Sessions can be tailored for a university, Doctoral Training Partnership, faculty or particular PGR cohort.
We can also place greater emphasis on research expenses, writing-up funding, international students or researchers without full scholarships.
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