Postgraduate funding
The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge offers a wide range of scholarships, studentships and funding awards for postgraduates. These are combined with resources from our funding partners.
To be considered for funding, you must apply by the funding deadline. Some funding opportunities have earlier deadlines.
Refer to the University’s webpages on postgraduate funding and the guidance on applying for university funding.
There may be also other funding available from individual Colleges. Check College websites for details.
Department of Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern Studies funding (Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian)
Several trust funds support postgraduate study across Middle Eastern Studies. The department collaborates with Cambridge Trust and the Centre of Islamic Studies, among other funding partners in supporting its postgraduates. In addition to the above funding opportunities, there are also other university, college, and external funds.
Find details from the University’s webpages on postgraduate funding.
Department of East Asian studies
Chinese Studies funding
Funding opportunities for postgraduate students in Chinese Studies include for instance:
- The Louis Cha Scholarship at St John's College supports research on premodern China
- The Chuan Lyu Fund for Taiwan Studies supports scholarship on Taiwan in the form of maintenance and research bursaries
- The Glorisun Network for Buddhist Studies provides research bursaries to support studies on Buddhism and Chinese religions
For other funding opportunities, contact the Chinese Studies postgraduate studies coordinator (Dr Ling Zhang) and your prospective supervisor.
Japanese Studies funding
Japanese Studies at Cambridge University is proud to offer a wide range of full and partial funding to outstanding applicants. Learn more about our generous sponsors from the Japan and the World Campaign.
To be eligible for Japanese Studies funding awards, applicants will have to demonstrate that they are also applying to all other suitable scholarships both external and internal to the university.
Japanese Studies internal scholarships and studentships
Both MPhil and PhD applicants are considered for:
- Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Scholarships
- Japan and the World Graduate Scholarships
- NI-WA Graduate Scholarships
MPhil applicants are considered for:
- Chujiro Aoi Graduate Scholarships
- Iain Drayton Tsurugi no Kai MPhil Studentship
- Mitsubishi Group Cambridge MPhil Scholarship
- The Quick Japan and the World Graduate Scholarship
PhD applicants are considered for:
Japanese Studies external funding awards and small grant sources
Applicants can apply to the following external sources of funding.
- BAJS Conference Attendance Support for Postgraduate Students
- Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
- Japan Foundation
Some Colleges also offer funding for applicants in Japanese Studies.
- Trinity Hall - Iain Drayton Studentship for Japanese Studies
- Trinity College - Crawford PhD Studentship
Japanese Studies research allowance for current students
The Japanese Studies group is happy to be able to offer a research allowance of £500 to be used for the purchase of books and attending conferences pertinent to your area of study.
The Japanese Studies Group is happy to be able to offer a research allowance of £3,000 over the course of 4 years to be used for the purchase of books and attending conferences pertinent to your area of study.
The Aoi Global Research Award, initiated in 2014, is generously provided by the Aoi Foundation of Japan and supports travel to Japan for up to three months for four enrolled postgraduate students, with an allowance of ¥600,000. The partners for this scheme are Keio University, Kyoto University, The University of Tokyo, and Waseda University.
Korean Studies funding
Korean Studies is happy to offer the following MPhil funding: