Fully funded doctoral opportunities in water and wellbeing research.
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The AHRC-NERC Living Well with Water Doctoral Focal Awards programme is led by the University of Hull in partnership with the University of Liverpool, the National Trust, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Tate Liverpool.
Apply for one of our fully funded interdisciplinary doctoral awards exploring the relationship between water, culture and community in coastal regions and become part of a new generation of researchers shaping solutions to urgent human and planetary health challenges.
You will participate in our innovative doctoral training programme, undertake a placement with one of our partner organisations, and learn research skills transferable to a variety of future careers.
Students from across the arts, humanities, and social and environmental sciences.
Choose a project to apply for that best fits your background, interests and ambitions. Note that some projects are based at the University of Hull and some at the University of Liverpool.
Found a project that interests you? Find out more about how to apply and eligibility criteria.
Living with Coastal Landslides
Flooded Futures: Exploring sci-fi imaginings to develop future flood resilient communities
Signs of the Sea: Coastal heritage and creative practice
Heads above Water: Representing fishers and fishing culture
Spiritual experience, heritage and community wellbeing at coastal religious sites
Liminal Waters: Reframing public perception of saltmarshes for a resilient coastal future
Capturing stories of the coast
From Empire to Ecology: Environmental, Colonial and Industrial Legacies of the Manchester Ship Canal
Hydro-mythologies: Mythic Ecologies of Healing in Coastal Britain
‘Living Well with Water’ champions creative, place-based, participatory solutions to the urgent human and planetary health challenge of how we live well with water in a world of rising water risks and growing deprivation.
Over the next four years, we will support 39 doctoral scholarships, enabling you to explore the relationship between water, culture and community in coastal and estuarine regions of the UK.
With support from our partners, you will have opportunities to take part in an industry placement as well as cohort-wide residential training, helping to equip you with next-generation research skills for careers within and outside of academia.
Our Doctoral Focal Award is unique in receiving funding from both the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council. We offer a supportive cohort environment, where you will work with researchers from a wide range of academic backgrounds, learning from each other, as well as University experts.
Living Well with Water Scholarship Webinar
60 mins
You will need to complete the Living Well with Water Doctoral Focal Award Supplementary Application Form and upload it alongside the following documents through the University of Hull student application portal:
As part of our inclusive practices, the Living Well with Water Doctoral Focal Award adopts a process of assessing applications purely based on skills and attributes and does not consider any personal details. As such, we ask applicants to remove any personal details from the Supplementary Form which is used by the Panel to assess and select applicants for interview. The form asks for details of your education, training and employment history as well as some specific questions about your motivations and research experience and interests. It is very important that you do not include any personally identifying information such as name, age, gender, ethnic group, nationality, etc.
We’ll inform you of the outcome of your application by March 2026.
Ready to apply? Each project page has a link to the University of Hull application portal.
We anticipate that most applicants will have a first class honours degree or master’s qualification. However, we are committed to widening access to doctoral study and therefore welcome applications from candidates with a good first degree (at least 2:1 or equivalent) who can also show relevant experience or circumstances, such as professional training or work experience.
If you are unsure whether your background meets these criteria, we encourage you to contact us for an informal discussion.
If your first language is not English, or you require a Tier 4 student visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language competency. The IELTS requirement is 6.5 overall and 6.0 in each skills set.
The Living Well with Water Doctoral Focal Awards is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. The stipend is currently £21,196 per annum at 2026/27 rates and will increase in line with the UKRI guidelines for subsequent years (subject to progress).
This opportunity comes with a Home fee waiver only, which will not cover the full International fee. If you are an international applicant, you will therefore need to pay the difference between the Home fee and the International fee and will need to provide evidence that you have sufficient funds to cover this, as no additional funding is available.