'Ragdoll' School of English Postgraduate Scholarships

About the award

The successful applicants will have a £10,000 award paid towards their tuition fees.

These scholarships are for students who meet at least one of our widening participation criteria.

Many scholarships at the University are provided by donations from generous people, organisations and companies that want to support students. Many of the donors are alumni (former students) of the University of Sheffield.

These scholarships are funded by The Ragdoll Foundation. The Foundation was created by honorary graduate Dr Anne Wood (HonLittD 2014), creator of iconic children's TV programmes such as Teletubbies and In The Night Garden, to help talented female students who are from the North East of England and/or who are studying degree programmes with a strong creative element to them.

Eligibility

You can apply for a scholarship if you meet all of the following criteria:

• You hold a conditional or unconditional offer from the University of Sheffield before the application deadline to study an eligible full-time postgraduate taught masters course for a maximum of one year in the School of English starting in September 2027. Please note that it can take up to four weeks for the University to process a course offer. Eligible courses are:
  • English Literature MA
  • Applied Linguistics and TESOL MA
• You are paying the home rate of fees.
• You are not already qualified at masters level or higher.
• You are self funded.
• You are from a group that is evidentially under-represented among the institution's taught masters population - refer to the widening participation criteria below.

Widening participation criteria

You are eligible to apply for the scholarship if you meet any of the following criteria:

As an undergraduate student you were in receipt of support from the Student Loans Company which indicates that your household income was assessed as £40,000 or less.

To be eligible for this criteria, you will need to provide your full student finance entitlement letter confirming your household income was assessed as £40,000 or less. This should include your name and your Maintenance Loan entitlement amount from any year of your undergraduate course. 

Have you entered the University through one of our outreach schemes?

To be eligible for this criteria you must have attended one of the outreach schemes run by the University of Sheffield prior to starting your undergraduate course. Eligible programmes are listed below: 

• Access to Sheffield Summer School
• Sutton Trust Summer School
• Access to Sheffield (Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences)
• Access to Sheffield (Dentistry)
• Access to Sheffield (Law)
• Access to Sheffield (Medicine)
• Access to Sheffield (STEM)

If you attended an outreach scheme run by the University of Sheffield that is not listed above, contact us.

Are you from a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic group?

We will use the information submitted as part of your course application to assess this.

Do you have a disability?

You are required to provide evidence to support this. For example, a copy of your DSA notification letter that outlines your condition(s) or other relevant medical evidence, such as a letter from your GP or other health professional. We cannot accept medication/prescriptions as evidence.

Do you come from one of the more deprived areas of the country as defined by the government's Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) database?

If you live in an area with an IMD Quintile of 1 or 2, you meet this criteria. We will use the information submitted as part of your course application to assess this. This criteria only applies to students who live in England.

You can use the undergraduate  Access Sheffield Postcode Checker to check your IMD Quintile. Please note, as a postgraduate, the support outlined will not be relevant to you but the information about your IMD Quintile will be accurate.

Are you a care leaver?

We consider you a care leaver if you have been in the care of, or have been given accommodation by, your local authority, your time in care lasted at least 13 weeks, and your time in care ended after you turned 16. In most cases, you will have not returned to the care of your parent(s) prior to the first day of the first academic year of your course.

You will need to provide relevant evidence:

• You will need to provide evidence confirming your care leaver status. Your evidence will need to include the dates you were in care. For example, a letter from your local authority, a letter from social services, or proof of legal guardianship, such as a court order.
• You will need to provide a letter or email from the Student Loans Company confirming that you were assessed as independent due to your care leaver status at undergraduate level.

If you are a care leaver, you may also be eligible for our financial support for care leavers.

Are you estranged from your parents and will be aged under 25 on the first day of your course?

Being estranged means you have no relationship with or support from either of your parents due to a breakdown in the relationship. To be considered an estranged student, you must have no contact with or support from either of your parents, with this being unlikely to change. 

You will need to provide relevant evidence:

• You will need to provide evidence confirming your estranged status. Your evidence confirming your estranged status can be a copy of the evidence that you used to apply for your student finance at undergraduate level, for example: a Confirmation of Estrangement form and a supporting letter on headed paper from a professional or third party that knows your situation to support your status (such as your social worker, a doctor, a teacher or headteacher, or a person of good standing in the community).
• You will need to provide a letter or email from the Student Loans Company confirming that you were assessed as independent due to estrangement at undergraduate level.

If you are an estranged student, you may also be eligible for our financial support for estranged students.

Are you a carer for an ill or disabled family member?

You are a student carer if you are responsible for providing unpaid care to an immediate relative who has, for example, a long-term illness, physical or learning disability, mental health condition, or an addiction. We consider the following an immediate relative: mother or father, step-mother or step-father, partner, dependent child, sibling, or grandparent.

You will need to provide relevant evidence:

• You will need to provide a supporting letter or statement on headed notepaper from a professional who is involved with your relative's care and is aware of your caring responsibilities. The documentation needs to confirm: the name of the person you care for and your relation, what your role is as a carer, how long you have been a carer, an overview of your responsibilities and how these will continue whilst you study. Your evidence could be from: a carer support group, social services, your local authority, or your relative's NHS or private support worker.
• Or, you can provide your Carer's Allowance statement if you have recently been in receipt of this prior to starting your studies. If you receive this allowance within Universal Credit, we may ask for three months’ worth of evidence.

If you are a carer, you may also be eligible for our financial support for students with caring responsibilities.

How to apply

Applications will open Monday 22 March 2027. 

The deadline to submit your application is 1pm on Monday 28 June 2027. Unfortunately, we are not able to accept applications after the deadline. 

Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified before the end of July 2027.

The scholarship application is a separate process to applying for a course. Find out more about how to apply for a course.

Selection process

Applying for the scholarship is a competitive process and not all applications are successful; a panel of senior members of staff will select the strongest application.

The panel will be looking to see in particular if you have:

• Provided a clear rationale for applying for a postgraduate course at the University of Sheffield.
• Clearly articulated future ambitions; these goals relate to the postgraduate degree you have applied for, and how your learning will benefit others.
• Clearly identified how the scholarship will be beneficial to your student experience and achieving your career goals.

When reviewing your application, we'll consider your personal circumstances and widening participation criteria. All applications are anonymised and the decision is discretionary and final.

Where applications are of similar standing, the Foundation's aim to support females from the North East of England will be considered.

Terms and conditions

• All decisions made by the University are made in good faith. By applying for the scholarship you are confirming that you meet the eligibility criteria. If the information provided is incorrect or false, the University reserves the right to remove the award.
• The successful recipients of the scholarship will have the £10,000 scholarship paid towards their tuition fees. Any remaining fees will need to be paid by the student. You will be required to complete this as part of your registration tasks.
• The scholarship cannot be deferred.
• Any repeat periods will not be funded.
• Students intending to take a postgraduate loan are classed as self-sponsored and are eligible to apply for this scholarship.
• Students studying by distance learning are not eligible to apply.
• Students in receipt of other University scholarships are not eligible to receive this scholarship.
• Students cannot receive this scholarship and the Alumni Discount.
• If you register for a course and then take a leave of absence, you are not eligible to apply again the following year once you become fully registered, even if you register on a different course. To be eligible to apply, you must withdraw from your course and reapply to the University as an applicant.
• If you have previously received the 'Ragdoll' School of English Postgraduate Scholarship, you are not eligible to be considered for it again in future years.
• If you take a leave of absence, we may not be able to pay any remaining funds towards your tuition fees when you return to your course.
• The University may remove the scholarship award if the recipient’s progress, attendance, or conduct is not satisfactory in the opinion of the University.
• We will notify your Faculty/School that you have been awarded a scholarship.
• No scholarship funds will be paid until the recipient is fully registered.
• If you withdraw from the University, you will no longer be eligible to receive the scholarship. You may be required to repay part or all of your scholarship.
• If you receive a donor funded scholarship, you may be invited to relevant events during your studies at Sheffield.
• If you receive a donor funded scholarship, you will be contacted by Campaigns and Alumni Relations near the beginning of your course to provide an introductory message for your donor or close contact of the donor. You will then submit a final report near the end of your course and once you have received the full scholarship.

Contact us

We're here to help. 

If you have any questions about these scholarships, email us at sheffieldscholars@sheffield.ac.uk or, if it's urgent, call +44 114 222 9754 (option 1).