EPSRC Landscape Awards 2025/26 Competition

Recruitment to the EPSRC Landscape (formerly EPSRC DTP) Awards for 2025/26 will take place via an open competition facilitated by Research, Partnerships & Innovation (RPI) and the Faculties of Engineering, Science and Health.

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The objectives of the competition are:

  • To improve and ensure a consistent application  experience for prospective students
  • To diversify the recruitment pool via competency-based selection that does not focus solely on prior academic attainment
  • To reduce or remove the potential for inconsistencies and bias by assessing candidates against a common set of competencies
  • To align our recruitment policies with the work being undertaken by UKRI in their New Deal for Postgraduate Research.

There are two phases to the EPSRC Landscape Awards competition.

Phase 1 - Project Selection

Prospective primary supervisors from the faculties of Engineering, Science and Health are invited to submit project proposals.To facilitate cross-disciplinary research, supervisors are welcome to seek co-supervision from colleagues across schools and faculties, provided the proposed project adheres to the EPSRC remit.

Project proposals must be submitted via this Google Form. A Google Doc (replication of the Google Form) can be downloaded for information purposes and to assist with preparation of answers. 

The deadline for submitting project proposals is Wednesday 30 October 2024 at 5pm. 

We are especially keen to encourage supervisors who are Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and  for supervisory teams to reflect collaboration between senior academics and ECRs. Please refer to the above Google Doc for further information.

Supervisors are strongly encouraged to submit proposals for collaborative projects with non-HEI partners. The EPSRC has set a target for 25% of projects attached to the Landscape Award grant to be collaborative. 

Collaborative awards entail the following:

  • Working with one or more non-academic partners who take an active involvement in the direction and outputs of the doctoral project and career development of the student.
  • Partner contributions must include cash or in-kind contributions but there is no minimum level set by EPSRC.
  • Cash contributions may be used to top up the student’s stipend or for other costs of the project, e.g. they can be used to enhance the basic stipend drawn from the grant. 
  • Placements at the collaborating partner are strongly encouraged by the EPSRC. However there is no minimum or maximum length for a placement. The placement should be tailored to the project and must be appropriate for all parties. The placement does not necessarily need to be delivered in one full-time block and may be split into as many instances as are deemed appropriate and optimal for the project and dissemination of knowledge.
  • The funded period for a collaborative award will either be 3.5 or 4 years (i.e. fee and basic stipend funded from the EPSRC grant), dependent on the amount of cash contribution.

Supervisors will be asked to categorise their project proposal as follows:

Type of award Minimum company contribution Length of studentship (tuition fee & basic stipend from EPSRC grant) Expected IP position
Standard NA, no collaborating partner 3.5 years NA
Collaborative

Co-supervision

Placement host

In-kind contribution

 3.5 years Each party owns the IP it generates 
Collaborative

Co-supervision

Placement host

A minimum cash contribution equivalent to six months fee & stipend (~£13,000), plus six months' research costs to a maximum of a third of the value of an iCASE award (~£47,000)

 4 years Each party owns the IP it generates 
Collaborative

Co-supervision

Placement host

A minimum cash contribution equivalent to a third of the value of an iCASE award (~£47,000), to a maximum of 50% of the total value of an iCASE award (~£71,000)

 4 years

Each party owns the IP it generates 

University would consider granting a licence to use the foreground IP without restriction, within a defined field of operation 

All projects will be required to commence in October 2025.

School-level selection panels will assess the proposals and successful projects will be announced in November 2024 ahead of the competition opening for candidates.

When developing your project proposals, please consider the the following criteria:

Criteria:

Details:

1) Project novelty and excellence

Addresses key questions germane to the discipline. Aims to fill a gap in current knowledge. Demonstrates currency and potential for good scientific progress. Ethical considerations are adequately addressed. Collaboration should be promoted.

2) How projects add value

The project advances existing work led by the supervisors, will add potential for future grant income capture, will contribute to impact, or will build collaborations with University Research Centres or external key partners.

3) Fit to EPSRC remit and school/university strategy. 

Supervisors and project selection panels must ensure that the project both aligns with EPRSC’s remit and contributes to the School / institutional research strategy.

4) Supervisory team

The supervisors have the expertise to support this project. Collaboration between experienced and early career* researchers should be favoured. Similarly, preference may be given to interdisciplinary projects that result in collaboration between academics of different schools/faculties.

Supervisors demonstrate a good track record of supervision and have completed their CPD training (during the last 2 years).

*ECRs would normally be no later than 10 years post PhD, and may be on a Teaching and Research contract, or a Research-only contract, but with a period of employment to cover the entire period of the studentship. The panel will also consider any personal circumstances (such as extended career breaks, secondments in industry etc.) which mean that an individual may be considered an ECR beyond the 10 years.

5) Project plan and resources

The project is suitable for a doctoral degree and will enable the student to submit within the Fee Paying Period. The project can be delivered with available resources (financial, facilities and consumables) and, where necessary, additional support/resource has been secured. The plan is feasible and contingencies have been adequately considered.

6) Student training

The training plan will support the student to gain all necessary skills to both deliver the project and to gain the requisite experience and knowledge to become a well-rounded doctoral graduate.

 

Phase 2 - Candidate Selection

In November 2024, a University-wide advertising campaign will be launched, including all shortlisted projects. 

Schools will be required to place their project adverts on FindAPhD using the layperson’s project description provided by the supervisor as part of the project proposal application. Some standard additional text regarding funding details and the cohort recruitment approach will also be provided. 

The candidate application deadline will be 1700 hrs, Wed 29th January 2025.

Candidates have the discretion and will be encouraged to apply to more than one project and to rank their preferences. 

Shortlisting should take place as soon as the application deadline closes to enable timely issuing of offers. Supervisors will be asked to rank their preferred candidates. Candidate assessment will then be conducted by diverse school panels.

Final rankings of candidates should take into account both applicant and supervisor preferences. The panels will also be required to ensure that the UKRI 30% cap on International candidates is observed. 

Detailed guidance on the project selection and candidate selection processes can be found here.

If you have any queries, please contact your Faculty Graduate School or RPI (pgr-scholarships@sheffield.ac.uk).