Graduate Support

The College proposes to elect four North Senior Scholars from among its current graduate students. The intention is to award one scholarship per division, subject to suitable applications being received.

Applicants must be currently registered for a research degree at St John's College. The Scholarships are open to candidates in all subjects. A successful candidate in the field of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies would be awarded the title Beeston Scholar.

The basis for the award will be excellence in research.

Scholars will have the right to dine at High Table once a week (subject to availability) in Full Term, and will receive an emolument of £1,000 per year.

The Scholarships are tenable during the period of full fee-paying study up to a maximum of two years.

Applications for 2024 are now available and will close on Friday 26 July - please complete an application form.

Graduate students may apply for help towards the purchase of approved books and materials of an academic nature as below:

• Books and academic materials
• Computer and equipment as below
  • portable or hand-held computing devices
  • monitors
  • desktop computers
  • computer software and peripherals
  • memory or hard-disk upgrades
  • computer repairs
  • personal printers
  • USB ethernet adapters
• Tickets for performances/exhibitions

Travel, phone, data services, or insurance contracts for items purchased are not eligible for reimbursement.

Graduates may claim a maximum of £543.

Purchase of a single item which costs in excess of the annual allowance may be permitted. The maximum allowable for the year can be claimed with the excess cost applied to future year's for which you are eligible. A copy of the receipt for this item must be retained and submitted with your claim.

Applications can be made from 1st October 2024 to 20th June 2025 . Apply via this link. For queries, please email battels@sjc.ox.ac.uk.

These grants are for students who experience financial difficulties as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Click here for further information about the Oxford Assistance Fund.

These grants are for financial assistance as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Download the Financial Assistance Application Form, to be submitted to the Senior Dean at any time. Students who are concerned about financial difficulties may wish to discuss their circumstances with the Head of Student Wellbeing before submitting a form.

The Financial Assistance Committee will consider all applications for support using the following criteria as guidance:

• The student has considered or will consider an application to the University's Oxford Assistance Fund.
• The student's current financial issues were unforeseen and unexpected.

Please send applications to the Fellow for Welfare.

These grants are pre-emptive financial assistance awards for on-course clinical medical students in their 5th and 6th years of study. Click here for further information and download the application form here. Please send all applications to finance.manager@sjc.ox.ac.uk.

For help towards travel and subsistence for purposes of an academic nature of direct relevance to the student's course. Notes of guidance can be seen here.
Applications should be made online at https://forms.office.com/e/fK0rcB5RV0 by noon on Thursday of 4th Week in Michaelmas Term and noon on Thursdays of -1st and 4th Weeks in Hilary and Trinity Terms.

In Hilary and Trinity Terms, thanks to the generosity of an alumnus, we offer the Expanding Horizons Programme (EHP). Notes of guidance can be seen here. The purpose of the EHP is to enable the College’s students to enlarge their intellectual and/or imaginative horizons through engaging with ideas and/or disciplines beyond their subject. It is envisaged that the majority of activities for which applications are supported will take place in the Easter and/or Long Vacations. Where we receive more applications than can be funded, we will support those which seem best to demonstrate real value to the recipient of the proposed work.

Successful applicants are required to submit all receipts for expenses covered by the grant and a report (approximately 1,000 words) on what they have learnt through their activities and the extent to which they consider how much their own intellectual horizons to have been expanded by their trip, referring back to their original application.

Applications for the Expanding Horizons Programme must be made via the online form (https://forms.office.com/e/EAXt3GpuSR) by noon on Thursdays of -1st Week and 4th Week in Hilary and Trinity Terms.

The College pays grants of up to £250 per year to cover the costs incurred by students through membership of university representative team squads. Claims are made on a Blues Grant application form which after completion should be accompanied by receipts, countersigned by an official of the relevant university sports club, and submitted to the Sports Officer.

The College will pay towards the costs of binding a copy of a DPhil Thesis. Post Graduate Research students are no longer required to submit a physical copy of their thesis to the Bodleian Libraries.

A maximum of £80 may be claimed back from the College. All claims must be made within 6 months of being granted leave to supplicate your DPhil. The Thesis Binding application form must be submitted online.

The College will offer a prize of up to £300, which may be shared if deemed appropriate by the judges, for original work in any branch of creative art (drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry, music, photography, etc.).  If there is no entry of adequate standard there will be no award.

All junior members, whether graduates or undergraduates, may compete and the entries will be judged by a Committee consisting of both junior members and senior members of the College. Competitors should send in one example of work done during the previous twelve months. Entries are considered in Trinity Term each year and should be sent to the President's PA not later than the end of the third week of Trinity Term.

As a result of a generous gift from Dr Gillian Sutherland in memory of Alister Sutherland, distinguished economist, who read PPE at St John’s, the College offers an award of up to £600 annually to successful applicant(s) who present the most imaginative and best-planned proposal for a journey in the high mountains, preferably but not necessarily, in mountainous regions where the summits exceed 3,000 metres in height. The purpose is to encourage the discovery and enjoyment of high mountains.

John Spence, winner of the Alister Sutherland Award in 2024, reflects on his experience in Georgia's South Caucasus in this report.

Applications are considered in Hilary Term each year and should be sent to the President's PA not later than the end of the fourth week of Hilary Term. Further details for prospective entrants are available here.

This grant is for studies in the field of International Relations. It was established through the generous gift of the late Professor Sir Fritz Caspari and his wife, in memory of their eldest son Hans Michael, who like his father and brother, attended St John's. The award, of up to £700, will be made annually to an undergraduate or graduate member of St John's to assist them to travel to Bonn, New York, Geneva, Vienna or one of the other seats of the UN or more generally to the seats of other international organizations, in order to further their study of International Relations.
Applications, in the form of a letter of no more than two pages with a separate CV and marks if available, should be sent to the Academic Office by Friday of 1st Week of Hilary Term and will be awarded in time for travel during the Easter or Long Vacations.

This scholarship has been established through the generous gift of the late Mr Joseph Burke Knapp, Honorary Fellow of St John's College. The award, of up to £700, will be made annually to an undergraduate or graduate member of St John's to cover travel and related expenses in pursuit of development issues in countries defined as 'developing' by the OECD, or a country in which the applicant can make a strong case for the study of development issues. Applications should be made to the Academic Office by Friday of 1st Week of Hilary Term and will be awarded in time for travel during the Easter or Long Vacations.

The Sir Royston Goode Prize for the BCL or MJur is awarded owing to the generosity of Sir Royston Goode C.B.E., Q.C., M.A., (L.L.B., L.L.D., Lond.), F.B.A., formerly Norton Rose Professor of English Law, and Emeritus Fellow of the College. A sum of £1000 is awarded annually to the St John’s graduate student who, in the opinion of the College Law Tutors, has achieved the best marks at the level of distinction for the BCL or MJur degrees.https://forms.office.com/e/BAXZT5MiH8