James Forrester PhD Scholarship in Moral Philosophy

This scholarship has been created through the generous bequest of James Forrester to the Philosophy Department of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences.

The scholarship aims to nurture excellence in moral philosophy by supporting a PhD in Philosophy at Edinburgh. The successful applicant will come to Edinburgh to work on a PhD in moral philosophy, broadly construed to include normative and value theory more generally.

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship to cover tuition fees as well as a stipend at the UKRI minimum stipend rate (for 2025/2026 this is currently £20,780) for 3 years subject to satisfactory progress. This scholarship may be awarded pro-rata for a part-time applicant.


The award is open to UK and overseas students applying to start their first year of study for an on-campus PhD in Philosophy in academic year 2026/2027.

Applicants must submit an admissions application for PhD Philosophy in a topic within the area of Moral Philosophy by the School’s first application deadline: Monday 10th November 2025.

This award cannot be held concurrently with fully-funded scholarships but can be held with partially-funded scholarships and will be reduced pro-rata.


Applicants must be of outstanding academic merit and research potential. Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a UK 2:1 honours degree or higher at undergraduate level or the international equivalent in Philosophy. Your application will also be considered if you have a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in another subject and a postgraduate masters level degree in philosophy.

Other factors such as financial status, nationality and the proposed field of study are not taken into account.

Applicants who have already obtained a PhD, or formal equivalent, as a result of direct research training will not be considered for this award.


All applicants who submit an admissions application for PhD Philosophy in a topic within the area of Moral Philosophy by Monday 10th November 2025 will be automatically considered for this scholarship.


A scholarship committee within the Philosophy department will rank eligible applications primarily in terms of the academic quality of the applicant, with some attention also given to the originality of the project. The highest ranked applicant will be offered the scholarship. The committee aims to inform the successful applicant by 31st January 2026. 

Should the initial applicant decline, the award will cascade to the next highest ranked applicant.


Please contact the PPLS Postgraduate Research Administration Team at pplspgoffice@ed.ac.uk with any questions related to this scholarship opportunity.


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