The University of Sheffield is offering four fully funded PhD studentships a year through its Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Landscape Award, for researchers starting in 2027/28. If you want to study dementia through the lens of the arts and humanities, whether that’s history, philosophy, law, language, literature or digital humanities, this is one to look at.
There are two deadlines, and the first is the one that catches people out. You need to apply for a PhD place at Sheffield by Monday 14 December 2026, and then submit a separate funding application by 5pm GMT on Friday 19 February 2027.
What the studentship offers
Each studentship runs for three and a half years (pro rata if you study part time) and covers your tuition fees at the Home or International rate, plus a maintenance stipend at the UKRI rate, currently £21,805 a year for 2026/27.
You’ll be part of the AHRC North/North West Hub, a cohort shared with nine other universities across the region, and you’ll be expected to take a full part in its training and cohort activities. That’s a big part of the value: a ready-made peer network beyond your own department. At Sheffield itself you’ll also have desk and social space at the Doctoral School Centre on the Jessop West site.
Is dementia research eligible?
The studentships sit in Sheffield’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, which covers the School of English; the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities; the School of Languages, Arts and Societies; and the School of Law. So this isn’t funding for a clinical or lab project. It is a route in for humanities research on dementia, such as how dementia is represented in literature and culture, the history of how we’ve understood and cared for people with memory loss, questions of identity and personhood, or the law around mental capacity and decision-making. Your project needs a home in one of those four schools, so look through the Faculty’s research centres and find a supervisor whose interests match yours before you apply.
Who can apply
The scheme is for people starting a PhD. If you’re already enrolled on one, you can’t apply. Home and international candidates are both eligible, but only up to one of the four studentships can go to an international candidate, so competition for that place will be tough.
If you’re weighing up which kind of doctorate suits you, our piece on the different types of doctorate is a useful starting point.
How to apply
There are two stages, in this order:
- Apply for a PhD place through the University of Sheffield’s online application portal by Monday 14 December 2026.
- Once you have your application number, submit the funding application through the University’s online form by 5pm GMT on Friday 19 February 2027. You’ll need that application number to complete it.
The funding form has to be completed in one sitting, so use the University’s template to draft your answers first. Shortlisting starts in your school, which then nominates its strongest candidates to a Faculty panel meeting in March 2027. Sheffield aims to tell everyone the outcome by the end of March 2027.
Full details, links to the application portal, the funding form and the answer template are on the University of Sheffield AHRC DLA page. Questions go to pgr-scholarships@sheffield.ac.uk, and the University’s scholarship FAQs are worth a read first.
Visit funding web page
(https://sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/scholarships/ahrc-dla)