UKRI student communications - Page 1 of 15 - UK Research and Innovation

Page 1 of 15

List of topic areas

We are currently proposing to produce content on the following ten topics:

An introduction to UKRI funding for students
Your responsibilities as a UKRI-funded student
Understanding your funding: stipends, fees, and other funding
Working while studying
What to do if you become unwell
Support for long-term health conditions, including disabilities
Becoming a parent while studying
Support for International Students
Bereavement: A guide for UKRI-funded students
Giving feedback or making a complaint

You will be presented with around two pages of information on each of these topics and asked for each:

Whether you think the guide is good or poor
If there is anything in this text that students might find misleading. In particular, we are aware that confusion might arise if UKRI's conditions are interpreted by a research organisation in a way that a student may then find confusing if they look at our guide.
If we can improve the content in any way.

Having worked through the topic guides, you will then be asked for your comments on the guides overall and if there are any changes you would make to the topics.

Alternatively, you can skip some or all of the questions and review our content for your own purposes. Simply register your details on the next page.

If you do read through all of the topic guides and respond to all of the questions, the excercise is likely to take around one hour.

If you have any questions, please email: talent@ukri.org

Student survey

In this excercise we refer to the results of a survey of students. A table containing the results of the question on students' awareness levels is available below.

More information More information

In June 2025 we surveyed UKRI funded students and received 1523 responses. The full responses to the question "How would you describe your current awareness of the following types of support that you might be entitled to as a doctoral student?" were as follows:

	Annual leave	Sick leave	Maternity or paternity leave	An extension to your studentship for sick leave where you provide a medical certificate	Phased return to study following a period of sick leave	The ability to study part-time	The ability to raise an issue or complaint with your university or research organisation	Access to an independent complaints ombudsman as a student	Access to a university careers service	Access to Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)	Access to reasonable adjustments for disabled students
Not at all	14%	28%	51%	39%	58%	32%	22%	67%	6%	41%	30%
Slightly aware	19%	25%	23%	25%	20%	23%	27%	16%	13%	18%	21%
Somewhat aware	18%	21%	13%	16%	12%	20%	25%	10%	21%	15%	19%
Moderately aware	28%	19%	9%	14%	7%	14%	19%	6%	34%	14%	19%
Extremely aware	21%	8%	4%	7%	3%	11%	7%	2%	27%	11%	10%