Finance information

Bursary payments

NERC and Grantham funded students within the SSCP DTP will be provided with an annual stipend in line with RCUK rates (currently £19668). Bursary payments are made on the 7th of each month, covering the month ahead.

First year students must register before the 23rd of the month preceding the date in which your first bursary payment is made (i.e. you must have registered by 23 September to receive a bursary payment on 7 October). You can visit the Imperial website to find out more information on registration.

All fully funded SSCP DTP studentships are for a duration of 3.5 years. Extensions are only considered in exceptional circumstances and on a case-by-case basis.

Your participation to the SSCP DTP is taken into account when considering any requests.

Consumables

NERC-funded SSCP DTP students will all receive consumables funding, which is paid directly to a dedicated account set up by the department to which they’re based. Students are responsible for liaising with the supervisor directly regarding the use of these funds during your PhD.

Your consumables funds will be transferred in tranches each year. The transfer is dependent on attendance of at least 80% of DTP events and submitting any required materials throughout the year. Every effort should be made to attend, but if you are ill or away on fieldwork you should notify the SSCP DTP Doctoral Training Coordinator as soon as possible to be noted as an authorised absence.

If your attendance falls below 80% without authorised absence, your consumables for the next year will be withheld.

Students attending a session in the Grantham Institute Boardroom

Fieldwork

Some NERC-funded SSCP DTP students have an additional budget for fieldwork or exceptional lab costs. This is confirmed during selection by the DTP Board. Any fieldwork spend must be as described in the proposed budget, which was submitted by the lead supervisor along with the project description.

When a student, for whom a fieldwork budget had been agreed during selection by the DTP Board, wants to go on fieldwork, the supervisor
and the student must present Anne Houston with a short cost proposal, including purpose and various costs associates. Below guidance on how to access fieldwork funding:

How to access your fieldwork funding:

Reimbursement

There are two options
- Make purchases using one of your supervisor’s accounts (as agreed with them), then send Christiane Morgan the amount spent, along with receipts/invoices. We will then liaise with the department to reimburse the account used via a journal – usually within one week
- Pay for purchases yourself and seek reimbursement in accordance with Imperial’s expenses policy. Please complete and sign the E1 form and submit these with your original receipts (not credit card slips) to Christiane Morgan.
Note: all goods must be purchased from Imperial’s preferred supplier list, where possible.

Advance – Personal
If you travel overseas for fieldwork or need to make a purchase that cannot be done through the Imperial purchasing systems (ICIS), you can request an advance claim.
A budget detailing projected spend for the claim should be submitted and an advance will be processed by Christiane Morgan. It is mandatory that the claimant then submits an expense claim E1 as soon as possible after the completion of the trip/expense to offset the open advance. Anne Houston will sign off the advance and settlement.
Please note, students are responsible for tracking their fieldwork spend and must ensure that all receipts detailing the goods purchased (not a credit card slip) and invoices are kept.


Students undertaking fieldwork at sea