Scholarship overview

  • Degree level

    Postgraduate doctoral

  • Value

    Full tuition fees and a stipend of £25,980 p.a. for 3.5 years and a consumables budget (£2,000 in first three years and £1,000 in final year)

  • Number of awards

    2

  • Academic year

    2025/2026

  • Tuition fee status

    Overseas

  • Mode of study

    Full time

  • Available to

    Prospective students

  • Application deadline

    13/01/2025

  • Additional information

    student.funding@imperial.ac.uk

  • Available to applicants in the following departments

    • Aeronautics
    • Bioengineering
    • Brain Sciences
    • Business School
    • Centre for Environmental Policy
    • Chemical Engineering
    • Chemistry
    • Civil and Environmental Engineering
    • Computing
    • Design Engineering
    • Earth Science and Engineering
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Immunology and Inflammation
    • Infectious Disease
    • Institute of Clinical Sciences
    • Life Sciences
    • Materials
    • Mathematics
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Medicine
    • Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction
    • National Heart and Lung Institute
    • Physics
    • School of Public Health
    • Surgery and Cancer

Eligibility criteria

To be considered for this scholarship, you must
  • ordinarily reside in mainland China or Hong Kong (excluding Taiwan)
  • submit a PhD application in the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Imperial College Business School*.  Students must have a formal offer of admission by the time your department submits the completed 'Lee Family Scholarship - Nomination Form '.  (*For Business School current registered Imperial MRes students only, no PhD application is required. Students will need to approach the Business School and supervisor with details of their proposed project well before the 13 January 2025. To be eligible for this scholarship, MRes students must be due to progress to the PhD in 2025-26)
  • be a new PhD applicant.  Current registered Imperial PhD students are not eligible for the Imperial Lee Family Scholarship. For the 2025-26 academic year, the earliest start date for funded places is 1 August 2025, the latest start date is 1 November 2025* (*later dates can be considered on a case by case basis only) 
  • have been classified as Overseas for fee status

Other criteria

Applicants  must have  met the English language condition of the offer by 30 June 2025.   Please see our 'English language requirements page' for details on our language requirements and ensure you meet the English requirements by 30 June 2025.

Please note: This scholarship is not available to continuing students.

Application process

  1. Prospective PhD students must approach individual Imperial Departments and supervisors with details of their proposed projects well before the PhD application deadline of 13 January 2025. (*Important: Some departments may have earlier deadlines for this scholarship so please check with your department). It is essential that students make contact with departments/supervisors before submitting a PhD application. Guidance on finding a supervisor can be found in the 'Finding a supervisor' page.
  2. There is not a specific scholarship application form. Students submit a complete PhD application by Monday, 13 January 2025.  You can apply online through My Imperial at the 'Application process' webpage.  Please note: It can take 6-8 weeks for PhD applications to be processed.
  3. Departments will nominate candidates for this scholarship. Candidates will be assessed on academic merit and potential using their admissions application.  Each Department is required to submit the completed 'Lee Family Scholarship - Nomination Form '. The form has been circulated to the departmental contacts and should be submitted by 11:59 pm on Monday 10 February 2025.  Students must have a formal offer of admission by the time your department submits the completed 'Lee Family Scholarship - Nomination Form'.   All applications and pre - scholarship nomination processes are administered by departments. Department have their individual process therefore please contact your supervisor directly for further guidance on scholarship nomination. For enquiries regarding the nomination process in your department, your supervisor can liaise with the departmental contact. If your supervisor is unaware of the departmental contact details, they can email us at student.funding@imperial.ac.uk and we will advise.
  4. The College Selection Panel will then consider all 'Lee Family Scholarship - Nomination Forms' and make the final decision on award holders. 
  5.  Successful and unsuccessful candidates will be notified by 31 March 2025.

Additional information

Applicants must not intend to exercise their skills obtained as a result of the PhD in the UK, after completing their studies.

Please note that The Lee Family Scholarship is different to The Lee Family - Faculty of Medicine Scholarships. More information about The Lee Family - Faculty of Medicine Scholarships can be found on the Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO) website The Lee Family – Faculty of Medicine Scholarships | Faculty of Medicine | Imperial College London This studentship is for clinical medicine students only. Please note that The Lee Family Scholarship is also different from The Lee Family - Imperial College Business School Scholarship. 

Contact

If you have any additional questions, please contact us at student.funding@imperial.ac.uk.