Commonwealth PhD Scholarships 2027/28

Commonwealth PhD Scholarships pay for three years of doctoral research at a UK university. The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK (CSC) runs them with money from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and for 2027/28 they are open to citizens of 17 Commonwealth countries that the OECD classes as least developed or vulnerable.

The 2027/28 round is open. The CSC’s online form closes at 16:00 BST on Tuesday 20 October 2026, and study starts in September or October 2027 (checked 9 October 2026 on the official CSC page).

The 17 countries

Bangladesh, The Gambia, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda and Zambia.

The list is shorter than the one for Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships. Ghana, India, Kenya and South Africa, for example, are eligible for the Master’s scheme but not for this one. You must be a citizen of one of the 17, or have refugee status there, or be a British Protected Person, and you must live there permanently.

What the award pays

Item	Amount or detail (checked 9 October 2026)
Tuition	Full fees, paid by the CSC
Stipend	£1,712 a month, or £2,000 a month at universities in the London metropolitan area
Flights	Approved return airfare between your home country and the UK
Study travel grant	A contribution towards study-related travel in the UK or overseas
Fieldwork	Where approved, one economy return airfare to the fieldwork location
Mid-term visit	An airfare home, unless you claim family allowances or take a fieldwork airfare
Spouse	£313 a month, if your spouse lives with you in the UK and holds no scholarship of their own
Children under 16	With a spouse: £313 a month for the first child, £154 for the second and third. Single, widowed or divorced parents: £622 for the first child, £154 for the second and third

The CSC calls the family allowances a contribution, and expects scholars to top them up from their own funds. Without children, the spouse allowance is paid for up to nine months. Fares for family members are not covered. Disabled scholars can ask for a needs assessment and additional support.

Who qualifies

The academic bar is an upper second-class (2:1) first degree, or a lower second (2:2) plus a relevant postgraduate qualification, usually a Master’s, held by September 2027. You must not have registered for a PhD, or an MPhil leading to one, before September or October 2026. There is no age limit, but if you are employed, check how long your employer will release you.

Disabled applicants who do not hold a 2:1 can be considered for a contextualised nomination through the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum. People who work or have worked for the UK government in the past three years, staff of the British Council and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and CSC Commissioners and their relatives cannot apply.

How the CSC scores a PhD application

There are three criteria, and the form asks for specific evidence under each.

Merit. Your degrees and transcripts, references, up to ten publications and prizes, your employment history and your voluntary and leadership activity.

The research proposal. A detailed plan of study, a supporting statement from your proposed UK supervisor, three ranked choices of university and supervisor with reasons, and what you want the award to achieve.

Development impact. A development impact statement in four parts, your plans for the five years after the award and beyond, and a personal statement.

The CSC advises writing each answer with these criteria in view. The impact section is where proposals most often go vague. The pair below is illustrative and the applicant is invented.

The supervisor and the three choices

A PhD application to the CSC is not complete without a signed supporting statement from a proposed UK supervisor, written in the supervisor’s own words, on letterhead or from an email that shows who sent it. It must be uploaded by 20 October. That means contacting supervisors weeks before the deadline, not days. Our guide to emailing a potential PhD supervisor covers the first message.

You list three universities and supervisors in order of preference. The CSC makes the final placement and can overrule your order, and it may place you at a university for which you supplied a supervisor’s statement. Without three choices, it may not be able to place you at all. You should also apply for admission to your chosen universities in advance, because the scholarship cannot go ahead without an accepted place.

Getting nominated

The CSC does not take applications sent straight to it. The main route is your country’s national nominating agency, and a few NGOs and charities nominate particular groups, including the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum. Each nominator sets its own rules and closing date, and may add criteria of its own. Nominators send their chosen candidates to the CSC in December 2026, and outcomes arrive by July 2027. A nomination does not guarantee an award.

After selection

Selected candidates go through provisional selection, agree admission terms with the university, then receive a Notification of Award and finally a Confirmation of Award, which needs a health and disability form. Scholars must ask the CSC before travelling overseas or taking paid work, and cannot hold another scholarship that covers the same costs. The CSC does not charge an application fee.

For the wider funding picture, our PhD funding checklist and the guide to writing a research proposal are useful next reads. Check every date and figure on the official CSC page before you submit.