The University of Oxford is one of 50 leading Higher Education Institutions to receive a Doctoral Landscape Award from the AHRC to help underpin the strength and stability of the arts and humanities research ecosystem.
The award is one of two new schemes, along with the Doctoral Focal Awards (DFA), by the AHRC to support doctoral funding. The awards replace the nine different schemes through which UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) previously supported doctoral training.
Doctoral Landscape Awards support postgraduate studentships across the arts and humanities and are provided as block grant awards to HEIs.
The award will fund three doctoral students per year for five years, furnishing them with for a diverse range of careers, both in research and innovation and across the public and private sectors. The first students funded through the scheme will start their studies in 2026. As well as covering the cost of tuition fees, the money will support living costs, development opportunities and research activities for the students, and collaborative projects that will enhance the research environment regionally.
Professor Freya Johnston, Associate Head of Division for Education in the Humanities Division, said:
"We are delighted that the new AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award will provide funding for doctoral places in arts and humanities at Oxford. This award underscores the University’s longstanding commitment to cultivating research excellence and supporting the next generation of scholars."
Executive-Chair Professor Christopher Smith said:
“The AHRC doctoral landscape awards provide flexible funding to allow universities to build on existing excellence in research and opportunities for innovation across the arts and humanities. They will support the development of talented people and, alongside our other doctoral schemes, contribute to a vibrant, diverse and internationally attractive research and innovation system.”
Further details will be released in autumn 2025.
