Graduate Scholarships & Financial Support
At Pembroke, we recognise that financial worries can be a concern for students and their families, and we are always willing to discuss the availability of support if needed.
Being a BAF has completely changed my life and the lives of many students with a similar background to mine. It has been a celebration of my achieved dreams. I am so grateful for being able to do my PhD at Oxford with the best researchers in my field of study and share my passion for science with my BAF cohort and the Pembroke College community. I am very excited to contribute with my knowledge and by inspiring others!
1st year DPhil Computer Science
Black Academic Futures Scholarship
I am extremely grateful to Pembroke for awarding me the Gordon Aldrick Scholarship, which has allowed me to pursue a DPhil in Contemporary Chinese Literature and Culture. It is a huge honour for me to receive this support from such a distinguished institution and to be made part of this wonderful community.
DPhil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (1st year)
Gordon Aldrick Scholarship in Chinese Cultural History
I was delighted to receive the Oxford-Farthing Scholarship. This laudable scholarship programme has afforded me the valuable opportunity to pursue my doctoral research at Oxford and undertake teaching at Pembroke and across the collegiate university.
DPhil (Law)
Oxford-Farthing Scholarship
The Oxford-Farthing scholarship gave me the invaluable opportunity to pursue my doctoral research, and also allowed me to teach at Pembroke. The support from Pembroke has been instrumental in shaping my time at Oxford and I am very grateful to the college for giving me this opportunity!
DPhil (Law)
Oxford-Farthing Scholarship
The RG Collingwood Scholarship has given me the opportunity to continue my study of Philosophy of Physics at Pembroke to postgraduate level. I was delighted to be able to remain at Pembroke after my undergraduate degree, and I am incredibly grateful for Pembroke's generous support.
BPhil Philosophy
RG Collingwood Scholarship 2021
This scholarship has enabled me to continue my research in chemistry at Oxford in a PhD, allowing me to contribute to the field whilst developing my skills for the future. Without this scholarship I just would not have been able to continue my studies at Oxford, so I am extremely grateful to have been a recipient.
DPhil Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Holger Kramer Memorial Scholarship in Chemistry 2021
“The Coombs Scholarship enabled me to pursue my passion for Economics at Oxford. Doing a PhD requires a considerable commitment of your energy and time, making this kind of financial support crucial. That is why I am grateful to Pembroke College for giving me the opportunity to conduct research in the field of industrial organisation (the behaviour of markets and firms) in such a thriving and stimulating academic environment.”
DPhil Economics
Coombs DPhil Scholarship in Politics & Economics 2021
Graduate Scholarships
A variety of subject specific scholarships are available to graduates each year across a range of courses. Further information can be found in the links to the left or by emailing Caroline Barnes. Please note - there is no separate application process for our scholarships. We review all relevant course applications (regardless of preferred college choice) applicable to available scholarships.
Scholarships available for 2023 entrants are:
- Jose Gregorio Hernandez Scholarship - for Venezuelan DPhil Medical/Biological Sciences students
Pembroke College will offer a fully funded scholarship for a student of Venezuelan nationality, with a preference for a DPhil in Biochemistry, Biology or Psychology.
- Julian Schild History Scholarship - for Masters in History students:
Pembroke College will offer a scholarship for a Masters in History. Preference will be given to those who broadly share the research interests of Pembroke’s two History Fellows, namely African American History, the History of War and/or 20th century religious history.
- Black Academic Futures Scholarship in Mathematics
Pembroke College will partner with the Mathematical Institute to offer a fully funded scholarship for a Black or Mixed-Black (UK resident) student joining the DPhil Mathematics programme.
- Atkinson Scholarship - for students from Melbourne University reading DPhil Law, Theology, Medicine or Philosophy
If your access to funding changes or you run into financial difficulties while you are on course, there are a variety of funds to help support you.
Dean of Graduates Fund
The Dean of Graduates fund is a small discretionary fund to which applications can be made to help defray the costs of attending conferences, making field trips, or other projects which are essential to a graduate's research. The fund will be open for applications and advertised on a termly basis.
Alumni Graduate Scholarships
In addition to a number of subject specific scholarships the College also awards three Alumni Graduate Scholarships worth £4000 to existing graduate members who require financial aid in order to continue their research. These scholarships provide crucial extra support for graduates completing their DPhils when other funding sources have finished.
Senior Studentships
The College has up to five Senior Studentships tenable each year available to existing graduate members of Pembroke College.
Senior Studentship holders receive an annual stipend above any other awards they may hold; four are worth £600, and one (the Browning Scholarship) is worth £2000.
In addition, they will become members of the Senior Common Room and have certain dining rights.
Travel Prizes
Pembroke has a number of funds providing opportunities for its students to travel during their degree. Awards include, but are not limited to, those listed below, and are advertised at the end of Michaelmas Term for award in Hilary Term. Find travel reports from students here.
Pier Giorgio Frassati Travel Fund
This fund is open to undergraduate and graduate students to assist with travel in the Long Vacation.
Sandrew Travel Fund
The Sandrew Travel Fund is available to non-final year undergraduates and graduates to assist with travel to the United States.
Melandra Castle Trust Prize
This prize is available to graduate students who are completing their second year of study but who are continuing the following year, and can help fund travel of any kind. (Only available every other year.)
Robert Baldick Travel Prize
This fund is open to graduate students undertaking any French related study abroad.
For further details regarding Graduate Scholarships contact the Deputy Academic Registrar, Caroline Barnes. For Travel Prizes contact Martina Stankovianska.
Financial Assistance
To talk confidentially about financial matters or to arrange a hardship assessment once you are on course, please contact the Academic Office We’re here to help!
Oxford Assistance Fund (OAF)
The Oxford Assistance Fund is provided by the government and is administered and distributed by the University. Application forms are available in College from the Academic Office - please contact the Academic Support Officer to arrange an eligibility assessment. The awards are for undergraduate or graduate students experiencing persistent or serious financial difficulty. The maximum award is £8,000 and may be a combination of a grant or a loan.
Find out more about the Oxford Assistance Fund including eligibility and the application process, on the relevant Oxford University webpage.
Pembroke Burt Student Support Fund
Any matriculated undergraduate or graduate student at Pembroke may apply for our Burt Student Support Fund at any stage of your degree. It exists to alleviate financial challenges you may face and ensure you receive support quickly. The Burt Fund can supplement University funds, help with needs not otherwise covered, or provide a faster alternative in urgent cases.
Awards can range from £50 up to £1,000 or more in exceptional cases, with extra available as a loan if necessary. Please contact the Academic Support Officer to apply.
Funding for Students with Disabilities
Enquiries regarding funding for students with disabilities are handled by the Disability Advisory Service. Disabled Student's Allowances (DSAs) are available to all UK students. DSAs are not means tested and are do not need to be repaid. Details are available on the GOV.UK website.
The College has up to five Senior Studentships tenable each year available to existing graduate members of Pembroke College.
Senior Studentship holders receive an annual stipend above any other awards they may hold; four are worth £600, and one (the Browning Scholarship) is worth £2000. In addition, they will become members of the Senior Common Room and have certain dining rights.
Our current Senior Students are:
Emily Cresswell
I am a third year DPhil student working at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), also collaborating with the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. My research investigates how oestrogen modulates fat distribution by altering signalling between adipocytes and macrophages.
Oestrogen drives the regression of abdominal fat, while promoting the expansion of gluteal adipose, contributing to differing fat distributions in men and women. This shift towards lower body fat storage by oestrogen positively impacts metabolic health, yet we have little mechanistic understanding as to how oestrogen exerts region-specific effects on adipose. Cellular models tend to consist solely of adipocytes, despite the existence of many other cell types in adipose tissue which communicate with adipocytes. Immune cells, particularly macrophages, are important for adipose tissue turnover and inflammatory status, and are polarised towards a beneficial anti-inflammatory phenotype by oestrogen. This may subsequently alter the niche for the expansion of adipocytes in a depot-specific manner.
My work uses cellular models, functional assays and bioinformatic analyses to pick apart these depot-specific and oestrogen-induced cell-cell interactions and their subsequent metabolic consequences. This research helps our understanding of intra-tissue signal exchange, and how these pathways could be utilised to target metabolic disease, which is an ever-growing problem in face of the obesity epidemic.
James Graham
I am a fourth-year DPhil student in theoretical physics. I study the collective behaviour of epithelial cells under the banner of `active matter', a label for systems that consume energy and inject it into their surroundings. Active matter exists at a range of length scales, from subcellular proteins to flocks of birds. In the context of a cell, energy is supplied at microscopic level, resulting in propulsion, stresses, and interactions with neighbours. Understanding the collective behaviour of epithelia from the perspective of physics has implications for metastasis and morphogenesis. Such collective phenomena include flocking, phase separation and a number of liquid-crystalline and glassy states.
I work with a multi-phase-field model that permits cell-scale resolution of shapes, equilibrium forces and active interactions, which has advantages over other agent-based or continuum models. Using this model I have been able to characterise rotation in confinement and the flow of cells in a channel, and I have found a form of phase separation induced by the differences in interactions between two components of a mixture of cells. I hope also to model fluctuating adherens junctions to fluidise a monolayer and to develop tools for investigating the liquid-crystalline structure of epithelia.
Caolan O’Neill
I am a third year DPhil student in the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics. My doctoral research contributes to a growing body of work in sociolinguistics which seeks to understand how speakers exploit socially meaningful linguistic variation in performances of individual and group identity. More specifically, my thesis investigates the use of feminine gender-marked forms in English to index (i.e., point to) cisgender gay male identities.
To explore this phenomenon, my research examines contemporary gay men’s uses of various communicative resources (feminine pronouns, gendered pejoratives, emojis and reaction GIFs/images that depict women or are feminine-coded, etc.) in naturally occurring speech and/or in computer-mediated discourses. While there is a long and complex history of gay men using feminine-associated linguistic resources, my (primarily qualitative) research utilises a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches to explore how the transformation of gay culture since the early noughties has impacted linguistic performances of “gayness” among contemporary gay men. In doing so, my thesis grapples with the following research questions: 1) What specific kind(s) of ‘femininity’ is/are indexed through these communicative resources? 2) Why are these indexicalisations of femininity sometimes viewed by members of the LGBTQIA+ community as offensive or problematic? 3) Have the linguistic tools that gay men call upon to index femininity evolved over time in terms of their forms or functions?
Daniel Speight
I am a second year MPhil student in English Studies (Medieval Period) whose main research interests focus on nonmaterialist ecocritical approaches to animal vocality in medieval texts. By extension, my work seeks to assess the medieval changes in perception of the natural representational capabilities of language, with a view to eventually conduct a long-durée assessment of this topic from an Anglo-Saxon to Later Medieval English context. My work has, so far, sought to assess this inter-period shift through definitions of voice and their relation to human and animal bodies, ideas of bodily and vocal articulation, didactic contexts of language acquisition, and the Classical philosophical and linguistic discourses which underpin Early Medieval understandings of vocal figuration within literary, but more importantly, non-literary texts.
Broadly, my area of research can be situated under the umbrella areas of ecocriticism, animal studies, or critical animal theory. However, my work’s intention is to represent a divergence with recent critical methodological and theoretical orthodoxies, such as the neoliteral emphasis on the material animal. It is my contention that abandoning anthropocentric approaches is restraining because medieval textual animals find themselves constructed and represented within uniquely human hermeneutic and semiotic systems- most prominently that of language.
Through such a hermeneutic approach engaged with language as a representational meaning-making system, I pursue not what animals mean in medieval texts, but rather how they mean. To do so, I have expanded past the traditional literary canon (an evidential base which I think is essentially skewed) and have found very fertile ground in Anglo-Latin and Old English transmissions of Late Antique grammatical treatises. It is my hope that this research might eventually meaningfully contribute literary insight around contemporary conceptions of language.