PhD bursary call 2026

The NDA is requesting applications to its bursary call, to support the NDA mission to deliver safe, sustainable and publicly acceptable solutions to the challenge of decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy.

The NDA’s goals from the call are as follows:

•Maintain and develop the key skills that will be required to help us carry out the mission over the coming decades

•Provide fundamental understanding of technologies and processes across the NDA estate

•Develop early-stage technologies (TRL 1 – 3)

•Encourage two-way knowledge transfer between the academic and industrial communities working on nuclear decommissioning

What is not covered under the call is R&D focused on site-specific challenges such as improving the efficiency of an existing plant or process or on training resource in a specific capability. Those research areas are the responsibility of the individual subsidiaries and SLCs.

Applicants are advised to seek advice on the structure and content of their proposal prior to submission. Contact details can be found at the end of this document.

The call is open to UK academic institutions for projects that will lead to the award of a PhD.

This year, up to £750,000 is available from the NDA PhD bursary to support projects that will lead to the award of a PhD. Universities and Research Institutes are invited to make proposals up to a value of £155,000 per project under the thematic areas outlined below.

NDA recognise that increases in the cost of living have impacted postgraduate researchers. In line with the recent UKRI announcement, NDA expect students funded through the NDA PhD bursary call to receive a stipend that is at least equivalent to those paid by UKRI as of 1/10/26, i.e. £21,805 FTE. NDA will not object to a stipend increase for the purposes of ensuring the stipend is competitive with your departmental guidance.

Further detail will be available on how to apply from https://ndaphdbursary.co.uk/ via the NDA’s University Interactions partner, The UK National Nuclear Laboratory.