Rank Prize Launches New Lord Selborne PhD Scholarship in Optoelectronics

The Rank Prize is a charitable organisation that seeks to recognise excellence in specific fields of research (nutrition and optoelectronics) that the founder Lord J Arthur Rank (1888-1972) built businesses upon.

The Rank Prize Lord Selborne PhD Scholarship in Optoelectronics aims to support and encourage the next generation of researchers in vision science by helping universities and research institutes meet the cost of supervising research degree programmes. The scholarship subject for the next round will be nutrition.

Proposals are sought from potential PhD supervisors at UK universities and research institutes. The supervisor is responsible for recruiting the student who will then benefit from the award. The grant must be used to fund a full-time student. Students must be registered with an appropriate UK university.

The topic of the project must be relevant to vision science and any changes to the topic can only be made with the approval of Rank Prize. The responsibility for ensuring student progress remains with the university. 

The award should be made available to both home and overseas students. (However, Rank Prize is unable to provide additional funding for overseas students.)

The maximum award will be matched to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) PhD studentship stipend and support for tuition fees each year. There will also be an additional £5,000 for consumables and £1,000 for attending conferences per year.

The award duration is three years. However, if an appropriate case is made by the supervisor(s) and student during the final year of the award, an additional six months’ award may be made. This will not include a consumables or travel award.

Applications must be submitted by the deadline of 15 January 2024 (23:59).