Jenny Balston Scholarship

The Jenny Balston Scholarship is for History PhD students and is funded through a bequest from the estate of Miss Janet Mary Balston, MA (1971), to the University of Edinburgh Development Trust.

The award provides an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (for guidance, for 2025/2026 this is currently £20,780) and tuition fees at the UK rate. Awards will normally be tenable for up to three years, subject to satisfactory progress. 


The scholarship will be awarded to a student who is accepted for admission in 2026/2027 on a full-time basis for an on-campus PhD in History programme (i.e. History, Scottish History, Economic and Social History). 

Only applicants eligible for home tuition fees will be considered; international fee-paying students are not eligible for this scholarship. 


To be considered for the Jenny Balston Scholarship, you must:

  • Hold a UK 2.1 or first class honours undergraduate degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant field.
  • Hold, or successfully achieve before commencing your PhD with us, a relevant Masters degree with an overall mark of at least 65%, or its international equivalent.

Instructions on how to apply for the scholarship will be displayed here from approximately mid-October 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scholarships System FAQs for Applicants (511.17 KB PDF)


Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications by January/February 2026. We reserve the right not to make an award in the event that no suitable applications are received.  


If you have a question which has not been answered above, please email the HCA Postgraduate Research Office (hca-pgr@ed.ac.uk). 


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