CMI conference stipends

Purpose

The Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMI) is pleased to announce a limited number of CMI Conference Stipends to support PhD students and early career researchers at the University of Manchester to participate in the Political Networks Conference 2026. 

The stipends are intended to reduce financial barriers for our local postgraduate research (PGR) and early career researcher (ECR) community and can be used to cover conference registration and optional training workshops. Successful applicants will be able to choose how many workshops to attend, with stipends paying for eligible registration and workshop fees. 

Who can apply 

• PhD researchers and early-career researchers (on a fixed-term contract) at the University of Manchester.

• Applicants must be eligible for the discounted conference/workshop rates.

What the stipend covers

• Conference registration.

• Optional half-day training workshops (number chosen by the applicant).

How to apply

Please email:

• A short statement (maximum 200 words) explaining how attending the conference and workshops would benefit your research and professional development.

• A list of the workshops you would like to attend.

• Proof of eligibility for the discounted rate, for example PhD student status confirmation or work contract.

• If you have any access or dietary requirements.

Send applications to soss-research-operations@manchester.ac.uk with the subject line: "CMI conference stipend".

Do not register for the conference via the form. If your application is successful, we will register you separately.

Deadline and timeline

Between 10 and 20 stipends are available. Rather than having a fixed deadline, applications are reviewed on a rolling basis with a two-week turnaround time for decisions. We will stop accepting applications when either the conference capacity has been reached or the budget for stipends has been exhausted.

We encourage eligible PhD students and early career researchers across the University to apply.

About the Cathie Marsh Institute

The CMI stands as a centre of excellence in quantitative social science. Our primary mission is to furnish rigorous empirical solutions to present-day social and political enquiries and to empower others to do the same. The Institute serves as a focal point at The University of Manchester for applying quantitative methods in interdisciplinary social science research, creating a world-class research environment.