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Apply for a PhD

  • Would you like to join the 2025 cohort of funded LAURA students?
  • Applications will close on 28 February 2025
  • Recording of our webinar for applicants

We are looking for people who have the potential to do excellent research in aural diversity. Our main selection criteria are the quality of your research proposal and your ability to carry it out. We provide interdisciplinary supervision, a vibrant research community and the opportunity to make a unique contribution to knowledge.

What is funded?

LAURA offers fully-funded PhD positions. This includes:

  • A bursary for your living expenses. From 1 Oct 2025 this is £20,780. Our funder, The Leverhulme Trust generally track the standard UKRI stipend rate.
  • Cost of tuition fees. We can fund a small number of international tuition fees.
  • Generous research expenses of up to £10,000 per student. This is to cover the costs of your research, such as: travel and subsistence to present at conferences or research visits, participant fees, lab consumables, measurement costs, etc.
  • Free access to research training courses.

Who is eligible?

  • A 2:1 or better in a relevant undergraduate degree or a relevant Master’s degree.
  • International applicants should demonstrate the required level of English Language Proficiency achieving a minimum level of 6.5 in IELTS or equivalent minimum score required in other English tests.

Timeline

We operate a two-stage process. First you apply for a PhD. If successful, this generates an offer of an unfunded PhD place. If you get this offer, you can then apply to us for funding.

  • PhD application deadline: 28 February 2025
  • PhD Interviews: April 2025
  • Funding application deadline: 6 June 2025
  • Funding decisions: 27 June 2025
  • Register to start the PhD on campus: 17 Sept 2025

Questions?

Apply now

  1. Study the list of suggested research topics and supervisors. Contact the lead supervisor of the ONE project that most interests you and suggest a 1-page outline that expands on the paragraph in our list. If the supervisor agrees, you will develop your outline into a full PhD proposal. It’s fine to ask for a Teams meeting, though the supervisor might prefer email at first.
  2. After discussing your PhD project with your potential supervisor, you should apply through the Salford PGR system.
  3. You must state that you are applying for LAURA funding in your application. Use the drop-down list in the portal to select Leverhulme Scholarships in the Finance box.
  4. There’s a cryptic part of the portal where you are asked to type the name of the degree to which you are applying. This depends on the main academic discipline of your supervisor – best to ask them.
  5. Your application via the portal must include:
    1. 2000-word PhD proposal
    2. Degree certificate
    3. Transcript
    4. A personal statement outlining your research training so far and how this will equip you for PhD research. (For example, your Masters might have included a Research Methods module, your dissertation project might have used relevant methods, etc.)
    5. Referee details

Advice on how to write your proposal.

Informal enquiries about specific PhD subjects should be made to the supervisor. General enquiries about LAURA and the application process should be made to see-laura@salford.ac.uk