PhD Scholarships by Field (2026)

PhD funding is not distributed evenly across disciplines. That is one of the most important realities applicants miss. The question is not just whether scholarships exist. The question is whether your field usually funds doctoral work through assistantships, institutional packages, government fellowships, or external awards.

This guide breaks that down by discipline so you can build a search strategy that matches the actual funding market in your area.

Quick Answer

Funding is usually strongest in fields with large research-grant ecosystems, including:

• computer science
• engineering
• biomedical and life sciences
• public health
• quantitative social science

Funding is often less predictable in:

• humanities
• arts
• some professionally oriented doctoral programs

That does not mean funding is unavailable in those areas. It means the search strategy has to be more targeted and more realistic.

If your first question is where entire doctoral packages are most common, start with the fully funded programs database. If your first question is how country systems differ, use PhD scholarships by country.

Field Matters More Than Many Applicants Expect

Why do some fields fund more consistently than others?

• external grant volume differs sharply by discipline
• lab-based research can absorb graduate researchers into funded projects
• some departments have stronger teaching budgets
• doctoral training structures vary by discipline and country

This is why two students at the same university can see completely different funding realities.

Computer Science

Computer science funding is often strong in research-intensive universities because it sits near several active funding streams: systems, AI, robotics, cybersecurity, HCI, and computational methods. In the U.S., the NSF GRFP includes Computer and Information Science and Engineering among eligible areas.

Common funding routes

• departmental PhD packages
• research assistantships
• NSF GRFP
• project grants tied to labs or centers

What to optimize for

• active faculty grants
• strong methods fit
• labs with a publication pipeline aligned to your interests

Engineering

Engineering usually combines strong institutional funding with project-based research support. Depending on subfield, external support may also come from national science agencies, mission-driven labs, or sector-specific fellowships.

Common routes

• research assistantships
• teaching assistantships
• NSF GRFP
• DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship for relevant computational work

Watch for

• field differences between computational and experimental tracks
• whether your work is likely to be tied to funded equipment-heavy projects

Biomedical and Life Sciences

Biomedical funding is often robust, but the structure matters. Many programs fund students through umbrella admissions, rotations, training grants, institutional packages, or faculty grants. NIH-linked training and predoctoral fellowships are especially relevant in the U.S.

Common routes

• university-funded umbrella programs
• lab-based research assistantships
• NIH F31 for eligible projects
• disease- or method-specific foundation awards

Watch for

• whether support is centralized in early years and advisor-dependent later
• whether your field expects rotation-based training before final lab matching

Public Health

Public health funding often sits at the intersection of health science, policy, data, and implementation research. That creates opportunities across both lab-like and population-level research settings.

Common routes

• school of public health funding packages
• research assistantships in epidemiology, biostatistics, and policy units
• NIH-related predoctoral awards where eligible

Watch for

• whether the doctoral route is research-focused or more professionally oriented

Psychology and Social Sciences

Psychology and other social sciences sit in a middle zone. Research-intensive PhD programs can be well funded, but the source of support varies more than in engineering or biomedical science.

Common routes

• teaching assistantships
• mixed TA/RA packages
• NSF GRFP for eligible behavioral and social science tracks
• university fellowships

Watch for

• clinical vs non-clinical tracks
• whether later years remain funded during dissertation stages

Education

Education PhDs can be strongly funded when they are clearly research-focused, especially in policy, measurement, learning sciences, or STEM education. The NSF GRFP explicitly includes STEM education pathways.

Common routes

• graduate-school fellowships
• teaching assistantships
• research assistantships in grant-funded centers

Watch for

• differences between EdD and PhD funding norms
• whether the program is practitioner-oriented or research-intensive

Humanities

Humanities funding exists, but it is often less abundant and more teaching-heavy. That does not make humanities PhDs a bad option. It means you need to assess workload and completion risk more carefully.

Common routes

• teaching assistantships
• university fellowships
• college-based scholarships
• archival, language, or area-studies grants

Watch for

• heavy teaching loads
• partial funding after the guaranteed years
• writing-up years without full support

If you are comparing funded programs across fields, do not use STEM norms as your default baseline.

Law, Business, and Professional Doctorates

Research doctorates in business, law, and adjacent areas may be funded, but professional doctorates are more likely to be self-funded. This distinction matters.

For example:

• a research PhD in management may be funded
• a DBA is often self-funded
• research law doctorates and SJD-style routes vary significantly by institution

Use field-specific department pages rather than broad online summaries here.

A Good Field-Based Search Strategy

Use combinations like:

• phd scholarships [field]
• [field] doctoral fellowship
• [field] graduate research fellowship
• [field] fully funded phd programs

Then sort the results into three buckets:

1. departmental or university funding
2. government or foundation awards
3. field-specific professional-society or institute opportunities

How to Judge Whether a Field Is "Funding-Friendly"

A field is usually funding-friendly when:

• many research-intensive departments publish funding guarantees
• external fellowships clearly include the field
• advisor grants regularly support doctoral researchers
• teaching loads do not dominate every year of the degree

It is more financially risky when:

• external awards are scarce
• departmental guarantees are short
• later-year support is vague
• students often need outside work to stay afloat

FAQ

Which PhD field has the most scholarships?

In many countries, STEM disciplines, especially engineering, computer science, and biomedical research, have the broadest scholarship and grant ecosystems. But that does not mean every program in those fields is equally well funded.

Are humanities PhD scholarships rare?

Not rare, but usually less abundant and more competitive than in grant-rich STEM fields. Humanities applicants often need to compare teaching burden and later-year funding very carefully.

Should field strength determine whether I apply?

It should influence your strategy, not replace your academic judgment. A well-funded bad-fit PhD is still a bad choice.

Conclusion

Field is one of the fastest ways to improve your funding search. Once you know the dominant funding model in your discipline, you can stop applying blindly and start comparing programs, advisors, and external awards on the right terms.

Next steps:

• How to fund your PhD
• Fully funded programs database
• External PhD funding sources
• Research assistantships guide

References

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
• NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship
• DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
• Princeton Graduate School Financial Support
• UC Berkeley Graduate Division Financial Overview