Churchill Scholarship

The Churchill Scholarship was established at the request of Sir Winston Churchill as part of the founding of Churchill College, Cambridge. It fulfills his vision of deepening the US–UK partnership in order to advance science and technology on both sides of the Atlantic, ensuring our future prosperity and security.

The Award

We fund 18 scholarships per year, comprised of 16 Churchill Scholarships in science, mathematics, and engineering, and two Kanders Churchill Scholarships in science policy. It is for one year of Master’s study (courses run between 9 and 12 months). The award covers tuition, roundtrip airfare to the UK, visa fees and health surcharge, and a stipend that is set 5% higher than the UK Research Council standard. Recipients are eligible to apply for a $4,000 special research grant. The total value is around $65,000.

The Churchill Scholarship is for one year of study at the University of Cambridge for an MPhil (Master of Philosophy) or MASt (Master of Advanced Study). The standard MPhil is a research degree that entails full-time research in a lab and culminates in a thesis and a viva (an oral examination). The MASt is a taught course comprised of lectures and written examinations.
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Some MPhil courses involve a mixture of taught courses and a research paper, and most MASt courses provide the opportunity to write a research paper. The research-only MPhil is a rare opportunity to be able to spend a full year on a single research project. In the hybrid part-lecture and part-research MPhils, students can pursue a shorter research project, while the lectures expose them to a greater breadth of topics. In the MASt and hybrid MPhil courses (marked with an asterix*), applicants are not required to contact a research supervisor as part of the application.

Eligible Courses

• Archaeology
• Astronomy
• Biological Sciences
• Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Chemistry
• Computer Laboratory
• Earth Sciences
• Engineering
• Geography
• Materials Science and Metallurgy
• Mathematics
• Medical Sciences
• Modern and Medieval Languages
• Music
• Physics
• Veterinary Medicine

Eligibility

An applicant for the Churchill Scholarship must be a citizen of the United States, either native-born or naturalized, and must be enrolled in one of the Participating Institutions and due to graduate during the same academic year as the deadline or be a student who has graduated from one of those institutions within the past 12 months before the deadline. Upon taking up the Churchill Scholarship, a Churchill Scholar must hold a bachelor’s degree.