Fees and scholarships
Information on scholarships and our current course tuition fees for study commencing in autumn 2025.
If you wish to be considered for any of the scholarships listed below, we strongly advise you to submit your application to the School of East Asian Studies (SEAS) by 5 January 2025, 11:59pm (UK time). This will allow us time to work with you and ensure your application is of the highest quality, ahead of final submission by the deadlines listed at the links below.
Make sure that your supervisor is included in your application.
Current fees
Information about our current tuition fees
ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)
The WRDTP is a collaboration between the universities of Sheffield, York, Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Manchester Metropolitan and Sheffield Hallam. It offers a range of social sciences studentships within seven thematic interdisciplinary training pathways:
- Cities, Environment, and Liveability (CEL)
- Security, Conflict, and Justice (SCJ)
- Education, Childhood, and Youth (ECY)
- Data, Communication, and New Technologies (DCT)
- Wellbeing, Health, and Communities (WHC)
- Sustainable Growth, Management, and Economic Productivity (SMP)
- Civil Society, Development, and Democracy (CDD)
All scholarships are available as a +3 (PhD) or a 1+3 (Masters and PhD), in combination with the MA Social Research. This route ensures students meet ESRC training benchmarks for social research methods.
Full scholarship detail and eligibility criteria
Initial enquiries should be made directly to us at the School of East Asian Studies.
AHRC White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities
The White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH) will be offering at least 48 PhD studentships starting in October 2025 at Leeds, Sheffield and York, through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP2) scheme.
Students can make only one application for funding through the Open Competition Studentships scheme. Projects are welcome from all faculties (not just Arts and Humanities), so long as the research falls within the remit of the AHRC.
The studentship application form and details of how to apply are available from the WRoCAH website.
To be eligible for funding, applicants for WRoCAH AHRC Studentships must have applied for a PhD programme at one of Leeds, Sheffield or York.
Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation’s Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme was designed to support the development of Japanese studies in the UK.
Scholarships are worth £15,000 and intended to be used for one year's study at either taught postgraduate or research postgraduate level.
In order to be considered for a Sasakawa scholarship, send a letter of application by 5 January 2025 to Megan Morris explaining why you wish to be considered and why you think you are a good candidate. You must be doing a PhD in the School of East Asian studies at the University of Sheffield in order to be eligible.
China Scholarship Council - this is currently not available for 2025 entry
This scheme provides academically excellent Chinese students with the opportunity to study for a PhD at the University of Sheffield. The scholarships are supported jointly by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the University of Sheffield.
The University of Sheffield will fund tuition fees for 3.5 years. Students are expected to submit their thesis within this period. CSC will fund a grant for living costs for up to four years, and one return flight from China to the UK.
Eligibility
- You must be applying to start a new full-time PhD programme at Sheffield
- You must have a strong academic background
- You must be a national of and reside in, mainland China (not including Hong Kong or Macau)
- You must also be intending to return to China once your programme is completed
- You will require an unconditional offer from the University of Sheffield including meeting both academic and English language criteria
- Satisfy all of the CSC’s selection criteria
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit and the fit of the applicant’s proposed research programme with Sheffield’s identified research priorities:
- Health, demographic change and wellbeing
- Food security, sustainable agriculture and the bioeconomy
- Secure, clean and efficient energy
- Smart, green and integrated transport
- Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials
- The changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
- Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of citizens
Candidates should be intending to pursue research in one of the priority academic areas identified by Sheffield and CSC. However, applicants to other study/research areas will also be considered subject to the availability of relevant programmes of study at Sheffield. Up to five scholarships will be supported per year.
Applications for CSC for 2025 entry are open with a formal deadline of Sunday 26 January 2025 at 5pm (UK time).
In order to be considered for this scholarship, you must also have informed SEAS of your intention to apply by our internal deadline of Friday, 5 January, and have a supervisor in place.
PhD Scholarships in Korean Studies
The Centre for Korean Studies in the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield is offering a scholarship for PhD research conducted on Korea, at the UK home fee rate.
We seek highly motivated individuals who have strong academic results at masters level and who are committed to original and high-quality research in the field of Korean studies, broadly defined.
Applications are open to students of any nationality. The scholarship covers the value of the UK tuition fee for 3 years of a PhD Programme from 2024 to 2027.
Non-UK students receive a partial fee waiver to the value of UK tuition fees. The scholarship must commence in October 2025 and will last for 3.5 years.
The deadline for applications is Sunday 5 January 2025. This deadline corresponds with the deadline for all other scholarship applications in the School of East Asian Studies.
Interested applicants should first contact a member of the University of Sheffield Korean Studies team at cks@sheffield.ac.uk with a draft proposal well ahead of the application deadline (ideally by November 2024) in order to assess the suitability of their research topic for supervision and to refine the proposal together with a proposed supervisor.
After completing the above step, to apply for the scholarship, you should make an application via the University of Sheffield online application system by Sunday 5 January, 2025. Do not submit an application via email or to individual members of staff.
PhD Scholarship in Korean Studies
Enquiries can be sent to cks@sheffield.ac.uk
For further information or advice regarding any of these scholarships please contact us on seas-pgradmin@sheffield.ac.uk