The University and Edinburgh Law School offer a range of scholarships for our research degrees. There are also a selection of external funding opportunities that you may be eligible to apply to.
Details of the scholarship and funding opportunities for 2022/23 entry are listed below.
If you are intending to apply for a scholarship offered by the Law School or University we advise applying to your programme (PhD or LLM by Research) at least two weeks before the scholarship closing date.
Edinburgh Law School offers three full PhD studentships, one of which is provided through a generous bequest from alumnus Ewen Cameron in his name.
These scholarships will pay tuition fees and an annual stipend in line with UKRI rates (approximately £15,700 per annum). The stipend will be paid in equal monthly instalments for a maximum of three years, subject to satisfactory progress. Awards will be paid pro-rata for part-time candidates.
Eligibility
Candidates for these scholarships must be seeking to start their first year of full-time or part-time PhD study in the Edinburgh Law School within the academic year 2021/22 (September 2022 or January 2023 entry). UK and international students are eligible to apply. Please note that international students are not eligible for part-time study.
To be considered for these scholarships, you must meet our standard minimum entry requirements. The successful candidates normally exceed these requirements, having obtained the highest classification in at least one of their degrees, and provide a strong research proposal which has a close fit with research within the School.
When making our decisions we will:
- Consider the applicant’s academic achievements, research proposal, research potential, and the degree of support provided by references.
- Not take into account factors such as financial status and nationality.
Successful applicants will be expected to firmly accept the offer when the results of the application process are announced. Candidates who already have an offer of financial sponsorship from elsewhere will not be eligible.
Applications are welcome across the full range of legal and law-related subjects.
Please note that one of these scholarships will be ring-fenced under our Athena Swan action plan to support a project that deals with questions of equality, diversity or social justice. This can include projects on families and relationships, gender and sexuality, employment, crime and justice, environment, peace, war and conflict, and human rights.
Application Process
Eligible applicants should complete an online scholarship application (after applying for admission to the PhD Law programme). The online scholarship form is located in EUCLID.
Please note that you will not be able to access the online scholarship form unless you have applied for admission to the PhD Law programme.
The scholarship deadline is 3rd February 2022. You are strongly advised to ensure that you have submitted your application for admission at least five working days before this date.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of April 2022.
The College Research Student Awards (CRA) scheme is designed to attract high quality students applying for PhD research.
The Edinburgh Law School is offering one PhD studentship, supported by the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, that will pay tuition fees and an annual stipend in line with UKRI rates (approximately £15,700 per annum). The stipend will be paid in equal monthly instalments for a maximum of three years, subject to satisfactory performance. Awards will be paid pro-rata for part-time candidates.
Eligibility
Candidates for the College Research Award must be seeking to start their first year of full-time or part-time PhD study in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences within the academic year 2022/23 (September 2022 or January 2023 entry). UK and international students are eligible to apply. Please note that international students are not eligible for part-time study.
When making our decisions we will:
- Consider the applicant’s academic achievements, research proposal, research potential, and the degree of support provided by references.
- Not take into account factors such as financial status and nationality.
When applying for these awards candidates must:
- Be seeking to start their first year of full-time or part-time PhD study in the 2022/23 academic year.
- Be of outstanding academic merit and research potential.
- Include in their personal statements reference to achievements made and their own assessment of their future potential.
- Be strongly supported by the references given in support of their PhD application.
- Send us their completed award applications no later than the deadline date. Any part-completed applications received will be discounted and become ineligible at that time. We cannot accept any additional supporting information after the deadline date.
- Note that if College Award candidates are applying to study topics eligible for UK Research Council Awards then you must also apply to the relevant Research Council.
Application Process
Eligible applicants should complete an online scholarship application (after applying for admission to the PhD Law programme). The online scholarship form is located in EUCLID.
Please note that you will not be able to access the online scholarship form unless you have applied for admission to the PhD Law programme.
The scholarship deadline is 3rd February 2022. You are strongly advised to ensure that you have submitted your application for admission at least five working days before this date.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of April 2022.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) offers studentships for PhD study in the 2022/23 academic year.
A generous package is available for an applicant who wishes either to undertake a PhD in Criminology or Socio-legal studies. Suitably-qualified candidates (who already hold or are currently studying for a relevant Masters degree) may apply for a three year studentship; others apply on a ‘1+3’ basis, starting with the one year MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice.
The studentship covers tuition fees and a generous stipend at UKRI rates (approximately £15,700 per annum).
Find out about the eligibility requirements
These fully-funded studentships can be used to cover fees and a living allowance for:
- three years of PhD study, if the student already meets ESRC research skills criteria (normally equivalent to 1/3 of an MSc dedicated to research training); or
- a one year MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, including research training, plus three years of PhD study. For alternative MSc options in research training, consult the pathway representative, Dr Milena Tripkovic, at milena.tripkovic@ed.ac.uk
Further queries on eligibility should be directed to the local Socio-Legal and Criminology pathway representative, Dr Milena Tripkovic, at milena.tripkovic@ed.ac.uk
Application process
This is a two part application process and both stages must be completed in order to be considered for ESRC funding.
- Applicants must apply for admission with us by 9th December 2021.
Find out more about applying for a PhD
Find out more about applying to the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice (ESRC track) - Applicants must also make a funding application to SGSSS Apply before 5pm 9th December 2021. Students will be asked to register on Apply, make an application with them, upload existing transcripts, a CV and referee details. Students will be asked to register on GradHub, make an application with them, upload existing transcripts, a CV and references.
Visit the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science website
Any queries about registering or logging into GradHub can be directed to the SGSSS.
Contact SGSS
All candidates must have the support of a recognised supervisor before applying.
To be considered, please apply to either the MSc programme or PhD programme and e-mail the pathway representative (milena.tripkovic@ed.ac.uk) stating your wish to be included in the competition.
For full details and guidance notes please visit the SGSSS website
The University of Edinburgh is part of a consortium of 10 Universities which have been awarded funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to support postgraduate studentships and training in the Arts and Humanities in Scotland.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) offer fully-funded studentships covering fees and stipend for September 2022 entry.
As a member of the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, the successful applicants will also have access to a range of exciting training and developing opportunities.
Application process
If you intend to apply for an AHRC Scholarship, please email us in the first instance phd.law@ed.ac.uk to register your interest. To be considered, you must submit both an application for PhD study and an SGSAH Scholarship Application form.
- Check that you are eligible to apply.
Find out more about the studentships and eligibility criteria - Apply for PhD study: Your completed PhD application must be submitted through the University’s online application system by Monday 29th November 2021 in order to ensure that your application is processed in time for consideration within a very tight selection timescale. Please note you do not need to have received an offer by this date, you must simply have submitted your application.
Find out how to apply for a PhD - Apply for AHRC Scholarship: You may apply for the AHRC scholarship before receiving a decision on your application for a PhD place. Eligible candidates should complete the SGSAH Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship nomination application form and submit this by email to phd.law@ed.ac.uk by Monday 6th December 2021.
Please note that you must complete steps 2 and 3 for your application to be considered.
Applications to the AHRC are submitted through their online portal. Prior to this, Universities hold an internal round of evaluations to decide which applications can proceed to the AHRC stage, as each university is given a limited number of application opportunities. Further details of the AHRC award can be found on their website.
This scholarship is available for postgraduate research in Scots private law at the University of Edinburgh leading to the degree of PhD. The scholarship is offered by the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust, which was formed in 1996 for the advancement of legal education. The Trustees wish to award a scholarship for study beginning in September 2022.
Choice of topic
Applicants are free, indeed expected, to choose their own topic. The emphasis, however, should be on legal doctrine rather than on, for example, legal theory or socio-legal issues. Historical or comparative perspectives are welcome. A list of possible topics is given in the Appendix below but there are many others. Professor Kenneth Reid (Kenneth.reid@ed.ac.uk) or Professor Andrew Steven (andrew.steven@ed.ac.uk), the Scholarship Administrators, would be happy to give informal advice. Examples of the type of work that the Trustees are willing to fund may be found in nine PhD theses now published by the Trust as books:
- Ross Gilbert Anderson, Assignation (2008)
- Andrew J M Steven, Pledge and Lien (2008)
- Craig Anderson, Possession of Corporeal Moveables (2015)
- Jill Robbie, Private Water Rights (2015)
- Daniel J Carr, Ideas of Equity (2016)
- Chathuni Jayathilaka, Sale and the Implied Warranty of Soundness (2019)
- Alasdair Peterson, Prescriptive Servitudes (2020)
- Alisdair D J MacPherson, The Floating Charge (2020)
- John MacLeod, Fraud and Voidable Transfer (2020)
- Andrew Sweeney, The Landlord’s Hypothec (2021)
The first six of these are available to download free of charge from the Edinburgh Law Seminars website.
Visit Edinburgh Law Seminars website
Details of current PhD students at Edinburgh, and their topics, can be found on our website.
Find out more about our current PhD students
Eligibility
The scholarship is open to anyone who, by the start of the PhD programme, holds an honours or a masters degree in law (or equivalent), and who is accepted by the University of Edinburgh for postgraduate study. Preference will be given to those holding a masters degree. A possible route into the PhD is to enrol in the first instance for the one-year degree of LLM by Research (for which the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust also provides a scholarship) and then, if things go well, to switch to the PhD in the course of the year; after switching the student is deemed always to have been registered for the PhD.
Find out more about postgraduate study at Edinburgh Law School
Duration
The scholarship is awarded for one year in the first instance, but will be renewed annually for a further two years, subject to satisfactory progress.
Value
The scholarship will cover tuition fees (at the home level) and provide a stipend with the same value as a studentship awarded by UKRI, approximately £15,700 per year. In addition, a limited amount of assistance may be given by the Trust in respect of research expenses, but this will not normally exceed £400 in a year.
Fees will be paid by the Trust directly to the University of Edinburgh. The maintenance allowance will be paid in four equal instalments on 15 September, 15 December, 15 March and 15 June.
Scholars past and present
Two Scholars are currently funded for PhD study by the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust: Colin Lilburn (The duties of trustees in Scots law) and Susanna Macdonald-Mulvihill (The law of donation). There have been fourteen previous such Scholars all of whom have completed their PhDs: Ross Gilbert Anderson (Assignation); Dot Reid (Fraud in Scots private law); Peter Webster (Leasehold conditions); Adelyn Wilson (Viscount Stair’s sources and citations in a humanist and natural law context); Johnnie MacLeod (Voidable title: Scots law in a European context); Jill Robbie (Water law in Scotland); Bonnie Holligan (Protection of ownership in Scots law); Stephen Bogle (The emergence of the will theory in Scots contract law); Alasdair Peterson (Prescriptive acquisition of servitudes); Alisdair MacPherson (The attachment and ranking of the floating charge in Scots law); Lorna MacFarlane (An analysis of the jus quaesitum tertio doctrine); Andrew Sweeney (The Landlord’s Hypothec); Shona Warwick (The nature of a lease); and Patrick Follan (The beneficiary’s right in a Scottish trust). Today Dr Anderson is a practising advocate, Dr Webster is a practising barrister, Dr MacFarlane works for a leading Scottish law firm, Drs Sweeney and Follan are trainee solicitors, and Dr Warwick is completing the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice; all of the others hold lecturing positions at UK universities.
Part-time employment
Scholars are expected to devote their whole time to the study of their subject. Part-time teaching and other work relevant to the Scholar’s research may be undertaken but must not exceed three hours per week. For any other paid employment, the permission of the Trustees is required.
Scholars must inform the Scholarship Administrator of any other awards which they receive during the year. The Trustees reserve the right to review the level of the scholarship in the light of the availability of other funding.
Residence requirement
It is a condition of the scholarship that Scholars are in residence in Edinburgh, or sufficiently near Edinburgh to come in regularly to the Edinburgh Law School.
Application Process
Once you have applied for admission to the Programme, please complete the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust Scholarship Application Form and send it to phd.law@ed.ac.uk by the closing date of 09 May 2022.
Download the Edinburgh Law School Postgraduate Scholarship Application Form
The Trustees reserve full discretion to offer, or not to offer, a scholarship.
APPENDIX: Possible subjects for LLM and PhD study in private law
The following are merely suggestions. Obviously, there are many other subjects which could be fruitfully pursued.
- Delict: eg public authority liability; defamation; intentional delicts; privacy; causation
- Trusts: eg constitution and nature; administration; trusts arising by operation of law, especially constructive trusts; history
- Succession: eg legacies; special destinations; legal rights; executors and administration of the estate
- Leases: eg, constitution, transfer and extinction; rights and duties of the parties; commercial leases
- Aspects of the law of rights in security
- Good faith
- Neighbour law: eg trespass; encroachment; nuisance; aemulatio vicini
- Public rights over water
- Public rights of way
- Negative prescription
- Law of persons and personality
- Family law
- Unincorporated associations
- Liferents
- The influence of Roman law or English law on Scots private law
- One or more institutional writers
- Minerals (perhaps extending to look at separate tenements generally)
- Sale
- Unjustified enrichment
- Negotiorum gestio
- Contract: eg formation; defects of consent; implied terms; jus quaesitum tertio; breach
- Set-off
- Remedies
This scholarship is available for postgraduate research in Scots private law at the University of Edinburgh leading to the degree of LLM by Research (i.e. by a thesis of up to 30,000 words). The scholarship is offered by the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust, which was formed in 1996 for the advancement of legal education. The Trustees wish to award a scholarship for study beginning in September 2022.
Choice of topic
Applicants are free, indeed expected, to choose their own topic. The emphasis, however, should be on legal doctrine rather than on, for example, legal theory or socio-legal issues. Historical or comparative perspectives are welcome. A list of possible topics is given in the Appendix below but there are many others. Professor Kenneth Reid (Kenneth.reid@ed.ac.uk) or Professor Andrew Steven (andrew.steven@ed.ac.uk), the Scholarship Administrators, would be happy to give informal advice. Examples of the type of work that the Trustees are willing to fund may be found in nine PhD theses now published by the Trust as books:
- Ross Gilbert Anderson, Assignation (2008)
- Andrew J M Steven, Pledge and Lien (2008)
- Craig Anderson, Possession of Corporeal Moveables (2015)
- Jill Robbie, Private Water Rights (2015)
- Daniel J Carr, Ideas of Equity (2016)
- Chathuni Jayathilaka, Sale and the Implied Warranty of Soundness (2019)
- Alasdair Peterson, Prescriptive Servitudes (2020)
- Alisdair D J MacPherson, The Floating Charge (2020)
- John MacLeod, Fraud and Voidable Transfer (2020)
- Andrew Sweeney, The Landlord’s Hypothec (2021)
The first six of these are available to download free of charge from the Edinburgh Law Seminars website.
Visit Edinburgh Law Seminars website
Details of current PhD students at Edinburgh, and their topics, can be found on our website.
Find out more about our current PhD students
Eligibility
The scholarship is open to anyone who, by the start of the LLM programme, holds an honours degree in law, or an ordinary degree in law plus an honours degree in a different discipline, and who is accepted by the University of Edinburgh for the degree of LLM by Research.
Find out more about postgraduate study at Edinburgh Law School
Duration
The scholarship is awarded for one year in the first instance, but will be renewed annually for a further two years, subject to satisfactory progress.
Value
The scholarship will cover tuition fees (at the home level) and provide a stipend of £10,926. In addition, a limited amount of assistance may be given by the Trust in respect of research expenses, but this will not normally exceed £400 in a year.
Fees will be paid by the Trust directly to the University of Edinburgh. The maintenance allowance will be paid in four equal instalments on 15 September, 15 December, 15 March and 15 June.
Scholars past and present
Two Scholars are currently funded for PhD study by the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust: Colin Lilburn (The duties of trustees in Scots law) and Susanna Macdonald-Mulvihill (The law of donation). There have been fourteen previous such Scholars all of whom have completed their PhDs: Ross Gilbert Anderson (Assignation); Dot Reid (Fraud in Scots private law); Peter Webster (Leasehold conditions); Adelyn Wilson (Viscount Stair’s sources and citations in a humanist and natural law context); Johnnie MacLeod (Voidable title: Scots law in a European context); Jill Robbie (Water law in Scotland); Bonnie Holligan (Protection of ownership in Scots law); Stephen Bogle (The emergence of the will theory in Scots contract law); Alasdair Peterson (Prescriptive acquisition of servitudes); Alisdair MacPherson (The attachment and ranking of the floating charge in Scots law); Lorna MacFarlane (An analysis of the jus quaesitum tertio doctrine); Andrew Sweeney (The Landlord’s Hypothec); Shona Warwick (The nature of a lease); and Patrick Follan (The beneficiary’s right in a Scottish trust). Today Dr Anderson is a practising advocate, Dr Webster is a practising barrister, Dr MacFarlane works for a leading Scottish law firm, Drs Sweeney and Follan are trainee solicitors, and Dr Warwick is completing the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice; all of the others hold lecturing positions at UK universities.
Part-time employment
Scholars are expected to devote their whole time to the study of their subject. Part-time teaching and other work relevant to the Scholar’s research may be undertaken but must not exceed three hours per week. For any other paid employment, the permission of the Trustees is required.
Scholars must inform the Scholarship Administrator of any other awards which they receive during the year. The Trustees reserve the right to review the level of the scholarship in the light of the availability of other funding.
Residence requirement
It is a condition of the scholarship that Scholars are in residence in Edinburgh, or sufficiently near Edinburgh to come in regularly to the Edinburgh Law School.
Application Process
Once you have applied for admission to the Programme, please complete the Edinburgh Legal Education Trust Scholarship Application Form and send it to phd.law@ed.ac.uk by the closing date of 09 May 2022.
Download the Edinburgh Law School Postgraduate Scholarship Application Form
The Trustees reserve full discretion to offer, or not to offer, a scholarship.
Progression to the PhD
A student who successfully completes the LLM may wish to consider further study for the degree of PhD. The Edinburgh Legal Trust also offers a scholarship for PhD study in Scots private law. It is often possible to treat the LLM as the first year of study for a PhD by switching to the PhD degree during the year spent on the LLM.
APPENDIX: Possible subjects for LLM and PhD study in private law
The following are merely suggestions. Obviously, there are many other subjects which could be fruitfully pursued.
- Delict: eg public authority liability; defamation; intentional delicts; privacy; causation
- Trusts: eg constitution and nature; administration; trusts arising by operation of law, especially constructive trusts; history
- Succession: eg legacies; special destinations; legal rights; executors and administration of the estate
- Leases: eg, constitution, transfer and extinction; rights and duties of the parties; commercial leases
- Aspects of the law of rights in security
- Good faith
- Neighbour law: eg trespass; encroachment; nuisance; aemulatio vicini
- Public rights over water
- Public rights of way
- Negative prescription
- Law of persons and personality
- Family law
- Unincorporated associations
- Liferents
- The influence of Roman law or English law on Scots private law
- One or more institutional writers
- Minerals (perhaps extending to look at separate tenements generally)
- Sale
- Unjustified enrichment
- Negotiorum gestio
- Contract: eg formation; defects of consent; implied terms; jus quaesitum tertio; breach
- Set-off
- Remedies
The University of Edinburgh will offer PhD scholarships for students starting their PhD research at the University in the 2022-2023 academic session. One of these scholarships will be offered through the Edinburgh Law School.
In order to attract the best and brightest PhD students, the University seeks to offer not only unparalleled research facilities and superb supervision, but also to provide development opportunities which will support our research students as they progress beyond their PhD, through this exciting scholarship scheme.
Access
The University of Edinburgh has been working for some time to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in its activities and to widen participation (WP) for students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds. The Doctoral College is committed to embedding EDI in all of its policies and processes, and by widening access to postgraduate study to traditionally underrepresented groups, including BAME students and those from the most deprived communities in Scotland and the rest of the world. The Doctoral College wishes to attract the greatest diversity of applications to this scheme and will ensure that recruitment processes are robust and unbiased.
Award
Each scholarship covers the University tuition fee as well as a stipend equal to the UKRI minimum rate for the relevant academic year of study, approximately £15,700 per year. Subject to satisfactory progress, the scholarship is offered for 3 and a half years (or pro-rata for part time).
Eligibility
Candidates for this scholarship must be seeking to start their first year of full-time or part-time PhD study, on campus in the Edinburgh Law School, within the academic year 2022/23 (September 2022 or January 2023 entry). UK and international students are eligible to apply.
Applicants must have already applied for admission to a full-time or part-time on campus PhD research programme of study at the University. Please note that international students are not eligible for part-time study.
These awards cannot be held concurrently with other fully-funded scholarships but can be held with partially-funded scholarships and will be reduced pro-rata.
Criteria
Applicants must be of outstanding academic merit and research potential. To be considered for this scholarship, you must meet our standard minimum entry requirements.
Other factors such as financial status and nationality are not taken into account.
Application Process
The deadline for applications is 3 February 2022. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of April 2022.
Applications are made through our EUCLID system after submitting an application to the PhD programme.
Find out more about how to apply
The University of Edinburgh offers many scholarships for postgraduate study. You should consult the University Scholarship pages for further information on these and other sources of funding that may be available.
Find out more about the range of scholarships offered by the University of Edinburgh
There are a range of additional sources of financial support that you may be eligible to apply to.
Find out more about additional sources of funding for UK and EU students
Contact us
If you have any questions about our scholarships please don’t hesitate to contact us.
For more information please open this link
Apply Here
For more information please open this link
Apply Here
https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/scholarships-funding
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