Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Funding and Scholarship Search
This page should address some common questions about our Funding and Scholarship Search. Please select a link from the following lists to navigate to the relevant question. If you require any further assistance, or if you have a question which isn't answered here, please email us at postgradenquiries@cardiff.ac.uk
Return to the Funding and Scholarship Search »
General Questions
- What information does the Funding and Scholarship Search provide?
- What funding opportunities does Cardiff University offer? When is information on University funding opportunities released?
Searching for Funding Opportunities
- Do I have to use all the selection filters in order to search for Funding and Scholarships?
- What does ‘Region’ mean? How does the Region Selection work?
- Do I have to select a country?
- Why doesn’t the country list appear before I’ve selected a Region?
- What do the ‘Level of Study’ options mean?
- What are the Funding Types for? What does each type mean?
- How do I search for funding opportunities in specific subject areas? How is the ‘Browse by Subject’ link different to adding a subject in the search window?
- Can I search for funding opportunities in more than one subject area?
- I’ve selected a subject area in the drop-down menu but the search is not recognising my selection. Why?
- What is the keyword box for? Do I have to use it? What keywords should I use?
- I’ve found a funding opportunity in the Funding and Scholarship Search but it does not appear when I search for a particular keyword which is relevant to the funding item. Why?
Search Results
- How are funding items organised in the search results table? Why are some of the headings in the search results tables clickable?
- Why are there additional filters on the search results page?
- Why is the same item appearing multiple times in my search results?
- Why are so many items appearing in my search results, some of which appear to be more generic?
- What is the ‘Closing Date’ column for? Why do some items not have any closing dates in this column? If there is no closing date listed, when should I apply?
- What are the reference numbers for?
- What does the ‘RSS’ button do?
General Questions
What information does the Funding and Scholarship Search provide?
The Funding and Scholarship Search facility provides details of current funding opportunities at Cardiff University as well as other known potential sources of funding and sponsorship. The service is intended to provide a series of ‘stepping stones’ for prospective students, to inform their research when looking into the available options for funding their studies.
What funding opportunities does Cardiff University offer? When is information on University funding opportunities released?
Cardiff University offers a range of competitive studentships annually to support postgraduate study. Typically, these occur where funding has been obtained for specific research projects or Masters courses. Funding sources for these studentships can include the UK Research Councils, awards made by individual academic schools, and collaborations with industry, business, government departments and other bodies. Awards can range in value from partial funding to full tuition fees support and awards which include a stipend to help with living costs. You should check your eligibility for specific studentships carefully; some are restricted to UK/EU applicants and others are open to applicants outside the EU.
Information on these funding opportunities is made available typically from late January onwards, for awards which are usually tenable from September. The availability of award information depends on allocation decisions made by academic schools and external funding organisations. All funding opportunities at Cardiff University will be promoted via the Funding and Scholarship Search database so you should check periodically for information on new awards or use our RSS feed (please see below) to stay up-to-date on relevant funding opportunities.
Searching for Funding Opportunities
Do I have to use all the selection filters in order to search for Funding and Scholarships?
No—you can use as many options as you like to tailor your search to your specific interests. We do, however, recommend that you specify at least your Region and your Level of Study.
What does ‘Region’ mean? How does the Region Selection work?
The Region category distinguishes between UK, EU (non-UK) and International (non-EU) students. Many funding opportunities have specific eligibility requirements, and the UK/EU/International distinction is a common one. This has been included in the Funding and Scholarship Search to ensure that your results will include only items which are relevant to your Region.
However, please note that while some awards are open to students of any nationality within a particular region (e.g. those open to all UK/EU candidates), others have more specific eligibility criteria. For instance, awards may be applicable to the International (non-EU) Region but may be further restricted to specific international countries. Please check the eligibility details of funding items carefully; if you have a specific eligibility query, please get in touch with the named contact or awarding organisation.
Do I have to select a country?
No—once you have selected a Region, selecting a specific country is optional, and many awards will be applicable to more than one country or to all countries within a particular Region category.
Why doesn’t the country list appear before I’ve selected a Region?
The selection list of countries will change depending on which Region you have selected; therefore you must select a Region first, after which the list of applicable countries will appear.
What do the ‘Level of Study’ options mean?
Funding opportunities are usually available for one or more of the following levels of study:
- Undergraduate – usually a first degree (e.g. BA, BSc)
- Postgraduate Taught – usually a Master’s Degree (e.g. MA, MSc, MTh, LLM) or a Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip, e.g. Diploma in Journalism)
- Postgraduate Research – usually leading to the award of MPhil or PhD
What are the Funding Types for? What does each type mean?
The funding information provided in the Funding and Scholarship Search encompasses several kinds of items. In particular, our goal is to provide not only information on current funding opportunities on offer here at Cardiff, but also any information on potential funding opportunities which may help prospective students in researching their funding options.
The funding types therefore allow you to choose to be a bit more specific in filtering the kind of information you want to see—for instance, you may be particularly interested in searching only for available PhD studentships and you may therefore want to narrow down your search to only return items of that funding type. If you do not wish to focus your search in this way, then you can leave the selection at its default, which will return all funding types.
For an explanation of each Funding Type, please see our Glossary of Terms page.
How do I search for funding opportunities in specific subject areas? How is the ‘Browse by Subject’ link different to adding a subject in the search window?
You can use the Funding and Scholarship Search in two ways if you wish to view items relevant to specific subject areas. By making selections from the drop-down subjects menu in order to include your chosen subjects in your search, your search will filter the results according to your chosen criteria. Browsing just by subject will allow you to see all the funding items corresponding to individual subject areas.
Can I search for funding opportunities in more than one subject area?
If you are using the drop-down subjects menu in your search, you can include more than one subject. For each subject you wish to include in your search, you must select this in the drop-down menu and then press the ‘Add’ button. The screen will then reload and your chosen subject will appear beneath the drop-down menu. You can do this for as many subjects as you like. If you wish to remove a subject from your selection, simply click the ‘Remove’ button next to that subject.
I’ve selected a subject area in the drop-down menu but the search is not recognising my selection. Why?
In order to include a subject area in your search, you must click the ‘Add’ button after you select it in the drop-down menu. Once you have done this, the subject will appear beneath the menu with a ‘Remove’ button next to it. This indicates that the subject area is now included in your search terms, so you can then go ahead and click the ‘Search’ button.
What is the keyword box for? Do I have to use it? What keywords should I use?
The keyword search is optional and provides an additional way to search for relevant funding items. You do not have to type any words in this box in order to perform a search for funding opportunities. If you do type in a word or phrase, the search facility will look for matches for your keyword in the Funding and Scholarships database based on the title and body text of listings, and also any specific keywords which have been assigned.
I’ve found a funding opportunity in the Funding and Scholarship Search but it does not appear when I search for a particular keyword which is relevant to the funding item. Why?
Keywords are entered manually for individual items in the Funding and Scholarships database, and we endeavour to make sure that the most relevant keywords are included for individual awards. As the search facility also looks for keyword matches in the title and body text of funding items, the search results should show you the most relevant matches. However, if you have found an item which isn’t appearing when you are using a relevant keyword, please email us at postgradenquiries@cardiff.ac.uk and we will look into it.
Search Results
How are funding items organised in the search results table? Why are some of the headings in the search results tables clickable?
When your search results are first loaded, the list is presented in ascending alphabetical order by title. However, some users may find it helpful to be able to reorder the search results list in different ways. It is possible to sort your results by Level of Study, Closing Date and Reference.
Why are there additional filters on the search results page?
There are filters for Region and Level of Study provided at the bottom of the results page, just in case you want to narrow down the results further than your original search criteria without re-starting your search.
Why is the same item appearing multiple times in my search results?
This is most likely because the item is applicable to more than one Level of Study and your initial search criteria included more than one Level of Study. You should notice that when you see multiple entries for the same award, the reference number is the same but the prefix letters are different (see below). If you wish to filter down to only one Level of Study, you can do so by using the filter options at the bottom of the search results page. You should then only see one instance of the item.
Why are so many items appearing in my search results, some of which appear to be more generic?
The Funding and Scholarship Search is designed to return all the funding items which are applicable to your search criteria, so the amount of results you see will depend upon how specific your search criteria were. In addition, as the availability of funding opportunities at the University is highly varied across subject areas, some searches will return more funded studentships than others. We intend that all searches should at least return a helpful set of pointers for you to further your research into funding opportunities, even in areas where current funding availability is more limited. Therefore, the generic entries, e.g. for Funding Information Sources, have been assigned to all subject areas.
What is the ‘Closing Date’ column for? Why do some items not have any closing dates in this column? If there is no closing date listed, when should I apply?
If a funding opportunity has a specific closing date, i.e. a deadline after which applications will not be accepted, this will appear in the Closing Date column. Your search results can be sorted by this column, which allows you to look at which funding opportunities have the closest deadlines. Some items will not have a closing date, while others may have an advisory date for applications to be submitted but will still accept applications after this date.
If an item does not show a date in the Closing Date column, click on the item itself and read the ‘How to Apply’ section to determine whether there are any guidelines on when you should submit your application. We recommend submitting the necessary applications as soon as possible, and you should also bear in mind that for many funding opportunities you must already have applied for and received an offer of a place on a programme of study before you will be considered for an award. If you are in any doubt as to when you should submit your application, please contact the relevant person or awarding body as detailed on the funding item page.
What are the reference numbers for?
The reference number is an ID number unique to the Scholarship Search item. If you make contact with the University to ask a question about a particular studentship, the reference number will allow us to quickly locate the entry and help us to address your question. The prefix letter denotes the appropriate level of study (U for undergraduate, P for Postgraduate Taught and R for Postgraduate Research).
Please note: these reference numbers relate only to the entries in the Funding and Scholarship Search database and are not application reference numbers. If a specific studentship requires you to quote a reference when submitting your application, this will be specified in the How to Apply section of the studentship item.
What does the ‘RSS’ button do?
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication, a convenient way to keep up-to-date with the latest published information in the Funding and Scholarship Search. This facility creates a ‘Feed’ which will allow you to read about funding items relevant to your search criteria as they are published, without having to return to the Funding and Scholarship Search and re-enter your search criteria.
RSS feeds are generally read using a piece of software called a news reader. This automatically checks each of the feeds and allows you to read the items that have been published. Some news readers are accessed via browsers and others are applications which are installed on your computer. User accounts such as My Yahoo and iGoogle accounts also support RSS feeds.
For a list of News Readers and additional RSS feeds from Cardiff University, please see www.cardiff.ac.uk/rss
