The scheme is open to undergraduates studying at Scottish universities who are from a low-income background and are in the penultimate year of their degree.
Whether you are interested in postgraduate research after finishing your degree or want to build your professional skillset, a Vacation Scholarship might just give you the boost you need.
Previous projects have investigated whether face emojis help readers detect sarcasm in Chinese, worked to improve the longevity of batteries in EVs and targeted enhancements to make the production of ammonia fertilizer less energy intensive.
We provide funding equivalent to the real living wage, to cover living costs for up to 12 weeks full-time, while you are undertaking your research project. Projects can also be carried out part-time and flexibly.
How does it work?
Carnegie Masters Grants provide additional support to students in receipt of a postgraduate loan to cover the cost of courses with high tuition fees.
As an example, you might wish to undertake a MSc in Computational Geoscience, where the fee for study is £12,960.
After applying for, and receiving, the maximum SAAS postgraduate loan of £7,000, they could then apply for a Carnegie Masters Grant. Their successful application would then meet the difference of £5,960 and would be paid direct to their university
Before you apply
Before beginning your application for a Vacation Scholarship, you must first find a Project Supervisor from within your current university. This could be your Director of Studies, or another member of academic staff.
To be eligible for an award, every application must be endorsed by the Project Supervisor, so we recommend that you have identified someone and secured their agreement, prior to submitting your application.
We will confirm this with them as part of the assessment process.
How to apply
Applications to the Vacation Scholarship scheme should be submitted through our online portal.
The opening and closing times for the portal will be released later in 2026. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
To write a successful Vacation Scholarship application, you will need to consider a few things:
- How will your research benefit you?
- What other benefits might your research bring?
- How long will it take, and what resources might you require?
For the current year, the portal will open on :
1st June 2026
and close on :
1st Dec 2026
To complete your application, you will be required to submit evidence to show that you meet the eligibility criteria. This includes being able to demonstrate that your financial circumstances do now allow you to cover the cost of tuition fees.
More Information
To help structure your application, we have produced a short research proposal form. Please note that this is indicative and should not be submitted as a part of your application.
You will need to present a direct structure, with a clear research question. We will be interested in your methodology, the objectives of your research and a timeline showing the scope of what you hope to achieve.
The Vacation Scheme Research Proposal form can be downloaded here.
A full Vacation Scheme Scholarship handbook, with full eligibility requirements and terms and conditions, can be found here.
If you have any questions about your eligibility, or how to structure your proposal, please get in touch with us at:
After applying
Applicants who are successful will be notified by the end of April.
If you are successful, you will be notified by email to the email address you provided during your application.
Please note that if you use your student email address, you will be required to check this address during the course of the summer, so please ensure you retain easy access.
Funds for successful applicants will be paid directly to their university, to be given to the student across the course of the research period.