UKRI student communications
Feedback updated 5 Nov 2025
We asked
In this exercise we asked for views on a series of topic guides that we are using to inform our communications with students. This follows changes to the UKRI Standard Terms and Conditions of Training Grant introduced on 1 October.
We provided guides in ten sections. We said we would welcome comments from people working in research organisations about whether the messages will support their own communications.
You said
We received 68 responses to the exercise.
91% of respondents said that, overall, the guides would be helpful or very helpful (excludes ‘not answered’).
While you said that the content was helpful or very helpful, you also provided many useful comments on the guides themselves. Respondents highlighted areas where we should consider how a student might interpret the guide, institutional variations and other factors. A number of comments felt the guides needed to be shorter.
General comments included:
“…these topic guides are really helpful and accessible. Lots of information and generally clearly set out.“
“Make all of it more concise”
“UKRI info needs to be read in conjunction with local institutional policies”
“I have supported PGRs for a number of years and I have seen that a significant number suffer with their mental health. Anything that we can do to support this and ensure they know they will be supported is important.”
We did
Today (5 November 2025), we published guidance for UKRI funded students.
In keeping with some of the feedback we received, the new web content on UKRI.org is short and concise. You can comment on the live content using the feedback link at the bottom of the webpage.
We are developing more communications for the near future which are informed by the comments submitted by respondents to this excercise. We will provide more information to grant holders before any further communications go live.
Overview
UKRI's support for research students is changing. We welcome views on what messages we should be conveying to UKRI funded students about the support available to them.
Why your views matter
UKRI is the largest single funder of postgraduate research students - mostly PhD students - in the UK.
Our New Deal for Postgraduate Research is a long-term programme of reform, which started with a call for input held in 2022. In response to over 400 responses from students, research organisations and others, we have:
- published a new Statement of Expectations
- published a policy statement setting out changes to our training grant conditions, which come into effect on 1 October.
- Updated our Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) Framework
We have also made a number of other reforms, such as increasing the minimum stipend.
In our policy statement we said:
“We will communicate more directly with students, supervisors, disability offices and others about what support we offer to UKRI students, from the start of the 2025-26 academic year. The aim of this exercise will be to increase awareness of the support on offer, not to replace ROs’ or providers’ own communications. Our communications will specifically direct students to seek further information from their ROs or providers.”
In June 2025 we surveyed students on their current level of awareness of support and their communication preferences. This highlighted that we can improve how we communicate with students and we refer to insights from that research throughout this exercise. We also have previously published other research that demonstrated students and staff felt there was a need for UKRI to provide better information to students.
In this exercise we are asking for views on a series of topic guides that we will use to inform our communications with students. We welcome comments from people working in research organisations about whether the messages will support your own communications.
What happens next
We will consider feedback on the text here and students communication preferences to inform our future communications with students and research organisations.
We intend to publish content in October, with further communications later in the academic year.
Audiences
- Research Community
Interests
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Post Graduate Research (PGR)
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