For detailed information about School level sources of funding, please refer to the Financial Support Office webpages.
Final year PhD fund
Are you writing up your thesis? There is funding available to support your writing up period and help you finish on time.
Departmental Financial Support
Titmuss Meinhardt Hardship Fund
Available to all Social Policy students in cases of unforeseeable financial need or emergency and where students have been unable to obtain assistance from the School’s Financial Support Office.
Contact: Damian Roberts, Department Manager
d.p.roberts@lse.ac.uk
Titmuss Meinhardt Funding for PhD students
The Titmuss Meinhardt Memorial Fund provides limited funds to support the activities of the Department of Social Policy’s PhD students. Specifically, these funds can be used to pay for expenses relating to data access (including fees related to the addition of questions into a survey).
Students with alternative sources of funding, such as an ESRC or LSE Studentship, may only apply for Titmuss Meinhardt funds if the alternative source of funding is not available.
An individual student will not normally be awarded more than £1,000 in any one academic year. This amount is pro-rated for students enrolled on a part-time basis.
Application procedure
Applications should be submitted to the Secretary of the Committee (Damian Roberts, Department Manager, Department of Social Policy: d.p.roberts@lse.ac.uk).
The application should include i) details of the proposed expenditure, ii) a statement of support from the student’s PhD supervisor and, where applicable, iii) evidence that alternative sources of funding are not available (see above).
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. Applicants will be notified of the Committee’s decision within one month during term time and within two months outside of term time.
John Hills Impact and Inclusion Award
John Hills was, among many other roles, a doctoral supervisor in the department of social policy from 1996 until his untimely death in 2020. This award has been established in his memory and funded by some of his former PhD students. He was unfailingly generous with his time and supportive of his supervisees, providing both stimulating comments and enthusiastic encouragement. He championed social and economic inclusion, and real-world policy impact, in his own work and his way of working, and it is for this reason that we have chosen these two areas as priorities for this award.
Currently registered PhD students in the Department of Social Policy, as well as those who have submitted their thesis within the last 12 months, may apply to the fund for a grant of up to £500. Note that previous beneficiaries are not eligible.
Topics should broadly fall under either of the following themes:
- Inclusion: to help tackle inequalities of any sort within (i.e., while undertaking) academic research.
- Impact: to facilitate knowledge exchange/impact activities in tackling societal inequalities.
Number of awards: One grant will be awarded per term (Michaelmas and Lent Terms).
Application timeline: Applications should be received by Friday 5pm (GMT) during Week 6 of Autumn Term/Winter Term. The application should take the form of a letter explaining why you need the award and the use to which it would be put, bearing in mind the criteria outlined below. It should be sent to Socialpolicy.Phd@lse.ac.uk with the subject line, ‘John Hills Impact and Inclusion Award’, and any necessary supporting documents (for example, evidence of estimated costs) should be attached. The outcome will be communicated to all applicants by Friday 5pm (GMT) during Week 8.
Selection committee: The committee comprises one former PhD student and one current member of Social Policy faculty (not the Director of the PhD programme).
Award payment: The award amount will be sent to the successful applicant via online transfer from the Department. No expense claim procedure is required prior to the transfer. Instead, applicants are encouraged to donate back any unspent amount to the Award using the Schools ‘donation’ page here (select ‘Academic Departments’ and choose Social Policy, and specify ‘John Hills Impact and Inclusion Award’ in the additional comment box).
Criteria:
- Inclusion: priority will be given to applications from students who require temporary assistance to overcome financial difficulties, or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Please explain in your application if this applies to your case.
- Impact: priority will be given to applications from students whose research has the potential for significant impact on real-world social policy in Britain or internationally, especially concerning social and economic disadvantage (or inequalities). Applicants should explain how the proposed activities have the potential for impact on real-world inequalities, whether within or outside academic research.
Examples of uses of funds
Inclusion and impact are broadly defined within this scheme, and the selection committee will assess the merit on a case-by-case basis.
Inclusion:
- Costs of additional support required for the applicant to complete the research without experiencing deterioration in their mental or physical well-being.
- Costs of support that can help applicants manage a sudden change of family circumstances, such as a loss of a family member (including a miscarriage).
- Costs associated with managing family commitment for the applicant to present their research in conferences or workshop or to attend a training (that is not provided within the LSE but considered necessary by the primary supervisor).
Impact:
- Costs associated with hosting a workshop, such as providing light lunch and non-alcoholic refreshments to participants, and travel costs reimbursement for participants who otherwise would not be able to attend the event organised by the applicant.
- Cost of proofreading service for non-native speaking students before submitting their paper to a journal.
- Professional service costs (such as infographic design work for an alternative mode of research finding dissemination) for a targeted social media campaign to disseminate research findings.
- Cost of living that is required to sustain oneself while setting up a research impact project.
Previous Awards
Philippa Mullins, PhD alumna, received the inaugural John Hills Impact and Inclusion Award and used it towards the costs of a knowledge exchange event for the ‘Building Access’ project in Gyumri, Armenia. The project uses art-based interview methods to discuss with disabled children their experiences of school and to re-imagine what inclusion means. The event included an exhibition of the children’s drawings and quotations, a video-screening, presentations and open discussion, and succeeded in engaging social workers, teachers, NGO representatives, journalists and disability specialists. This ground-breaking work will continue, with some participants expressing a desire to form a support group for practitioners after the event to share ideas and experiences.
Read the report here.
If you need more -
...information about this award: please contact Socialpolicy.Phd@lse.ac.uk
...substantial financial assistance for living costs: please see https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/financial-support
...funding for Knowledge Exchange and Impact, please see
https://info.lse.ac.uk/staff/services/knowledge-exchange-and-impact/funding-opportunities-for-kei