E
d
g
a
r
G
r
a
h
a
m
P
r
i
z
e
-
P
h
D
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
m
e
n
t
S
t
u
d
i
e
s

K
e
y
i
n
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

Deadline date
Amount
Tuition fees and annual stipend of £2,500

S
c
h
o
l
a
r
s
h
i
p
o
v
e
r
v
i
e
w

The Department of Development Studies is pleased to offer the Edgar Graham Prize for the 2025/26 academic year. 

The Prize supports one full-funded PhD Scholarship for Students wishing to undertake doctoral research in the area of Development Studies. It aims to support groups that are currently underrepresented in the field of Development Studies, in particular Black (African, Afro-descendant and/or mixed race) students from the UK who wish to undertake a postgraduate (PhD/MPhil) research degree in Development Studies.

One award will be given for 3-years from September 2025. The award includes tuition fees at the Home/UK rate and a stipend of £2,500 per year.

Eligible programmes

Candidate criteria

  • This scholarship is open to Home fee status applicants only.
  • This scholarship is open to new applicants and current students.
  • Scholarship applicants must have applied to SOAS but are not required to have received an offer of admission by the scholarship deadline. An unconditional offer will need to have been received by the time the relevant panel meets to discuss scholarship applications.
  • Applicants must meet the English language condition of their offer of admission to study at SOAS, if applicable. If your offer is conditional on English, please arrange your English test and ensure you meet the English requirements as soon as possible.
  • Please note that this scholarship does not cover funding for pre-sessional courses.

Candidate assessment

  • Candidates will be assessed based on their academic merit, personal statement, and research proposal by a Selection Panel.
  • The assessment of your application will be based on the information provided in your scholarship application and in your online application for admission. The panel will review details such as degree results, personal statement and other relevant information.
  • You must submit a complete application of your programme as soon as possible and then submit an application for this scholarship in order to be considered. Please note that complete applications for admissions can take up to 4 weeks to be considered by the Department, although this duration can vary depending on the time of the year. You should be prepared to wait up to 6 weeks in busy periods. 
  • You will need to have an unconditional offer for your programme by the time the Scholarship Panel meet.
  • Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Scholarship application procedure

To apply for this scholarship, applicants should follow the following steps:

Step 1: Apply for your programme

To apply for an MPhil/PhD programme, please visit our Doctoral school. Guidance for applying to a Research Programme and information on makes a complete application can be found on the How to Apply webpage.

Step 2: Apply for the scholarship

You must apply for this scholarship by 12:00pm (midday) UK local time on 2 May 2025 via the online application form.

Notification of results

The scholarship shortlisting and awarding period is expected to be completed by the end of June at the earliest. Successful candidates will be contacted first, and once all awards have been allocated, unsuccessful candidates will be notified.

Should no suitable candidates be nominated by the panel, this award will reopen for applications in April 2025. Please check this webpage for updates during this period to confirm whether the award is open for applications or contact the Scholarships Team at scholarships@soas.ac.uk.

Enquiries

For enquiries regarding:

I
n
t
h
i
s
s
e
c
t
i
o
n