King’s-Ramón Areces Foundation PhD Scholarship Programme (K-FRA)

Award details

The Ramón Areces foundation agrees to fund one student with Spanish nationality to pursue a full-time PhD at King's College London.

One K-FRA scholarship award is available for the 2026-27 competition and will be awarded for a new research degree project starting in October 2026.

Please be aware that students funded through this scheme must abide by any additional terms and conditions set by the Ramón Areces foundation.

This scholarship is available to applicants who wish to apply to the PhD programme in Digital Humanities.

Information Drop-in Session

January 12^TH at 15.00-16.00 PM (UK time)

We are holding an online K-FRA information drop-in session via Microsoft Teams for prospective candidates who would like to find out more about the scholarship opportunity and process. This session offers the opportunity to ask questions.

To register your interest in this event and for access details, please complete our online form.

Award value

• Tuition fees: Full international rate, currently set at £29,000 for 2026/27
• Stipend: UKRI recommended stipend level - 25/26 level - £22,780 (including London Weighting Allowance)
• Research Training and Support Grant) of £1,000 a year.

Award detail

The successful candidate will receive one fully-funded Scholarship covering tuition fees, a stipend and RTSG (Research Training and Support Grant) to pursue a research degree (PhD) in Digital Humanities at King's College London.

The stipend provides an annual living allowance, in addition to which overseas student health cover and one standard class return airfare to London-Madrid is provided.

The scholarship is valid for up to three years. In the fourth year, students are eligible to apply to transfer to ‘Pending submission’ status and to apply for funding to cover that (currently set at £350).

Annual stipend of £22,780 (including London Weighting Allowance) full time. The stipend is valid for up to three years. Students may apply separately in their third year for a one-year extension (fourth year) of the stipend if necessary.

You will not be required to pay any ‘bench fees’. These should be waived or covered by your supervisor, department, or faculty at King’s.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, you MUST:

• Be due to commence a full-time MPhil/PhD research degree in Digital Humanities at King’s College London on 1 October 2026, with the intention to complete a PhD.
• Apply to King’s College London for the scholarship by the deadline of 13 February 2026, 23:59 UK time, following the instructions below in the ‘Application Process’ section.
• By the deadline of 13 February 2026, 23:59 UK time:

• Submit all required documentation to support your King’s admissions application.
• Meet the English language requirements for your chosen research programme.
• Ensure that your referee has submitted their reference to support your application.

• Complete the separate FRA application process and submit the required documentation to the FRA by its stated deadlines (information will be provided to shortlisted nominees).
• Satisfy the criteria set out by the Fundación Ramón Areces set out below.

Please note that:

• Applicants who have already commenced their doctoral degree at King’s are not eligible.
• These scholarships cannot be held on a part-time basis.
• Visiting / Non-award PhDs are not eligible.
• Distance learning programmes are not eligible.
• Joint PhD programmes are not eligible.
• Applicants who fail to apply to both King’s and the FRA will not be considered.
• This scholarship starts on 1 October 2026.

FRA requirements

You must:

• Have Spanish nationality
• Hold a university degree (Bachelor's, Master's, or equivalent) in a country within the European Higher Education Area or, alternatively, in a country outside the European Higher Education Area with the appropriate accreditation.
• Applicants must not be recipients of any scholarship or financial aid for studies, loans, or any other similar grant, and must maintain this requirement throughout the duration of the scholarship.
• This scholarship is compatible with smaller, one-off financial aid intended to cover certain non-subsidized expenses. Any questions regarding this requirement should be directed to becas-humanidades@fundacionareces.es.

Application process

Applications will be assessed by the following criteria:

• Quality of the proposal (50% weighting)
• Preparedness of the applicant (25% weighting)
• Feasibility of the proposed research (25% weighting)

Application process

Application Start: 15^th December Application Deadline: 13^th February

King’s College London accepts applications for the K-FRA awards up until 23:59 UK time on 13^th February 2026.

To apply, please follow the instructions below.

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1: Find a potential supervisor

• Applicants for this scholarship competition should first develop their proposal in discussion with a prospective supervisor.

• To find a potential supervisor, see https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ddh/about/people
• We recommend that you identify a potential supervisor well before the submission deadlines below – discussions between potential applicants and supervisors typically take a few weeks, to allow time for your research proposal to be refined.
• If you wish for advice about this process or potential supervisors, you should contact the DDH PGR lead Paul Spence at paul.spence@kcl.ac.uk.

STEP 2: By the deadline of 23:59 UK time on 13^th February 2026, you MUST:

• Submit an application to King’s College London for a full-time MPhil/PhD degree programme with a 2026-27 start date (i.e., from 1 October 2026) using the King’s online admissions application system – King’s Apply*
• Have agreement from a potential supervisor in the Digital Humanities department at King’s whom you would like to work with to supervise your PhD and include their name in your admissions application.
• Your project will sit within the Department of Digital Humanities (DDH) PhD programme.
• Enter the correct funding code in your application:
• On the Funding section of your online King’s Admissions Application Form, tick the box at Item 5 (Award Scheme Code or Name).
• Enter the code: 2627-KFRA - please copy and paste the code exactly.

Important: Applicants who fail to input this exact code as instructed will not be identified during the admissions data extraction process and will therefore not be considered for the scholarship, so it is vital that you do this correctly!

Ensure that you have submitted all the required supporting documentation as part of your online Admissions application, to include:

• Personal statement: you are required to provide a personal statement of maximum 4,000 characters.
• Official degree transcripts and certificates, including professional/university-made translations.
• Proof of English language proficiency (see below for further guidance).**
• References: you should provide one reference. The admissions system will automatically submit a request to your given referee once you have submitted your admissions application. Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that your referee submits the reference on time.

See DDH admissions portal (under ‘Prepare your supporting documents’) for information on precisely what is required: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/areas/digital-humanities-research-mphil-phd

** English Language Requirements: PLEASE NOTE: it is essential that you demonstrate English language entry requirements as per information below. We strongly advise you to plan ahead on this. For full guidance about Postgraduate English language entry requirements, please refer to the webpage at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/how-to-apply/entry-requirements/english-language-requirements.

To add any outstanding material, simply log back into your online admissions application and upload the relevant documentation. If you experience any problems with this, please contact the KCL admissions team via the messaging section of your application.

PLEASE BE AWARE that material from your admissions application will be extracted and used as part of the assessment/selection process. As part of the standard admissions process, you may be contacted about missing material/ documents, so please ensure you log in to King's Apply regularly to check for any messages that the Admissions team send you; however, this is not guaranteed, and it is your responsibility to ensure that all the relevant information and supporting materials are provided in time. Applications that are incomplete by the given deadline will not be considered.

STEP 3: By the deadline of 23:59 UK time on 13 February 2026, you MUST:

Complete and submit the KFRA Application Form

• https://forms.office.com/e/KDJGhA8VgN
• In this online form you will record your proposed research project, your academic experience and your personal statement, as well as general information about yourself.
• Complete this after discussion with your nominated supervisor.

Complete and submit the EDI form (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion):

• https://forms.office.com/e/F5dDzJxnuV
• This form will help us fulfil our commitment to equality of opportunity in our studentship selection processes. Information supplied will be kept confidential.

 PDF versions of the forms are provided below to help with planning, but submission must be made using the forms above – emailed PDFs will not be accepted.

STEP 4 – Shortlisted applicants will later submit a separate application to the Fundación Ramón Areces (FRA):

• If you are selected for nomination by King’s for the K-FRA award, we will confirm the nomination to the funder. You will then be sent information about the FRA application process, which is separate to the academic selection process run by King’s College London. This will occur on or soon after March 14^th.

APPLICANTS WHO FAIL TO APPLY AS INSTRUCTED WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION.

Contact:

Paul Spence, Reader in Digital Humanities, paul.spence@kcl.ac.uk.

Application forms

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Monitoring (1) (0.12 MB)

KCL Doctoral Scholarships in Digital Humanities funded by Fundación Ramón Areces (K-FRA) (1) (0.11 MB)