If you apply before the relevant funding deadline and then receive a conditional offer from us, you will be ranked alongside other eligible applicants for the University funding competitions.
There are a small number of scholarships available, for both UK and overseas applicants. To be considered for these, you must also complete the relevant parts of the application form. We advise that you do this in consultation with your prospective supervisor as it's important for your statements to show how your application meets each funder’s criteria.
University funding sources include the following.
- For international MPhil and PhD students, the Gates Cambridge Trust assesses not only outstanding intellectual ability, but also a commitment to improving the lives of others, and leadership potential. Your Gates statement on your application form must show evidence for these criteria. There are two deadlines for applying. For US citizens living in the US, the deadline to apply is 15 October 2025. For all other eligible applicants, including US citizens who are studying/working overseas at the time they apply, the deadline to apply is 2 December 2025.
- For international and UK MPhil and PhD students, the Cambridge Trust administers a range of funds. The University Funding Competition Department Deadline is 2 December 2025. For more information please see the University's Postgraduate Funding Search page.
- For PhD students from any part of the world, the Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme aims to support academically outstanding students in any discipline to contribute to society by producing intellectually rigorous research which makes a positive difference to the academic community and beyond. (Jessica, pictured above right, is a current Harding Scholar here.) Application deadline: 2 December 2025.
Departmental funding sources for PhD students include:
- The Premium Research Studentship is designed to enable exceptional scholars in all areas of Computer Science to undertake up to three years of full-time research here leading to a PhD. In their research proposals, successful applicants will have shown that they have considered the role of computing in the future of the planet.
- CASCADE, our new Computer Architecture and Semiconductor Design Centre, focuses on research that addresses some of the grand challenges in computer architecture, design automation and semiconductors, a critical area of computing that underpins today’s technologies and drives the next generation of computing systems. The Centre funds PhD students in the area, through support from industry, including Arm and AMD.
- The Hopper Studentship. Funding for one PhD student per year, generously gifted to us by our former Head of Department Professor Sir Andy Hopper. The studentship can be in any field from theory to AI.
Studentships and Research Associate/Assistant posts
You can browse this web page for details of any funded Studentships.
And see this web page for details of any vacancies for Research Assistants or Associates.
External funding sources
Applicants are also encouraged to access external sources of scholarship funding from their home countries. There are also some specialised University funds which need a special application.
More information
We cannot cover all possible funding sources here, but the University of Cambridge Graduate Prospectus web pages cover the subjects of funding and costs in detail. We also encourage students to explore the Postgraduate Student Funding Search.
