Over the next few months, we’ll be emailing around 20,000 UKRI funded research students.

The reason why starts with stories from our students like this one:

What I would say is, if I was applying [to start a PhD] today, I probably wouldn’t feel confident to apply… I didn’t feel like there was any support or help applying as a disabled student.

Or this one:

If you suddenly have a terrible period in your life and you need to go part-time, you can’t go back full-time, which is really difficult. We’re students so we can’t take part-time sick leave…

Or this one:

My supervisors are so good but still I feel so guilty skipping meetings just because I cannot afford to put my daughter to childcare. And they are even good with me bringing my daughter to meetings (ones which cannot be held online) but then the uni health and safety doesn’t allow that.

These are the voices of UKRI-funded PhD students, as given to researchers at the EDI Caucus back in 2023. We commissioned the report as part of our evidence gathering for the new deal for postgraduate research as we wanted to be able to surface and resolve the issues that students face.

The deeply personal accounts articulate something we knew too well from the steady stream of queries that we get: these are not isolated incidents. In fact, we estimate that one in 25 of our students might require an extended period of medical leave (based on our analysis of DWP data – see page 62 here), that nearly one in five are disabled (based on comparing the UKRI student record to disability data from HESA) and that one in 12 PhD students care for a child.

This latter estimate comes from a UKRI survey of funded students in July 2025 (n = 1,535). Though unweighted, the figures broadly align with our analysis of reasons for extensions given during the 2020 pandemic, the estimate of nine per cent in the DfE-commissioned Student income and expenditure survey 2014 to 2015 and of seven per cent in the 2009 NUS Meet the parents report on student parents.

System change

This is why we decided to change the system. As a first step, we took a long, hard look at what our role in that system is.

As a funder, we recognised that we are too distant from students to know what their individual needs are, but we can make sure that the funding is consistently in place when students need it. We’re not a regulator, but we can make sure that those we fund are aware how important compliance is to us. And while we don’t run any of the UK’s childcare schemes, we can help ensure students have clearer information about the support that is available to them.

As a result, last year, we substantially rewrote the rules underpinning our training grants. We clarified that we do fund medical leave for part-time students – we always did – and removed our restrictions on changing between part-time and full-time study. We now fund 28 weeks of medical leave, up from 13. We substantially reformed UKRI’s support for disabled students, ensuring they get support earlier and more easily. And, for the first time, we emphasised that we expect not only research, but also training, to be carried out in accordance with all legal and regulatory requirements.

Making sure support is available is one thing; making sure students know about it is another. Last year 1,523 students replied to a survey we conducted, which showed:

• 28 per cent were not aware that they could take medical leave
• 30 per cent were not aware that disabled students could get reasonable adjustments
• 67 per cent were not aware that they had access to an independent complaints ombudsman.

Overall, only 29 per cent of students said that they were moderately or extremely aware of the support available to them as a doctoral student.

For students to benefit from support, they need to know that it exists. Students have told us that supervisors are their most trusted source of information. If we keep supervisors informed, we can help ensure that more students are aware of and able to access the support available to them.

We have much to be grateful for from supervisors. The vast majority are dedicated to the success of their students. Many are stretched for capacity and do not have time to know every detail of student support policy. We certainly wouldn’t expect them to add some sort of counselling service to their repertoire.

But when supervisors have the wrong information and pass that on to students, it can be devastating. That’s why, over the next few months, we’re trying something new.

Contacting students

We will email all the students registered to our training grants to let them know what support UKRI funds. We’re keen to understand the best way to communicate with students so we’ll be trying a few different approaches over the coming months.

All students will receive emails on topics such as leave, support for disabilities and resolving problems. While all students will receive the same information, the timing and wordings of the emails will vary between students.

To help supervisors, we’ve set up a newsletter. This is available on LinkedIn to anyone who wants to subscribe. We’ll use this to let supervisors have the facts about what UKRI will fund before we email students. That way, when the students come with questions, they’ll have the right information to hand.

We want students to be able to talk confidently with supervisors. We want supervisors to be able to point students in the right direction. But more than this, we want to change the perception that there is no support for PhD students.