Call for Proposals

In order to submit an eligible proposal, please adhere to the below information:

• Proposals must be submitted by the Lead Supervisor.
• Supervisors must be PI’s Grade 7 and above. Lead Supervisor’s must hold a minimum of 0.5FTE contract at one of the partner schools.
• You may only submit one application as Lead Supervisor. There are no limits as co-supervisor.
• Lead PI’s who were successful in the last round (cohort 2, 2026-27) are not eligible to lead a proposal in this round. Co-supervision is not however prohibited.
• PIs who are successful in their application for an industrial strategy studentship (2026-2027) are eligible to lead a proposal.
• All projects must be supervised by at least 3 supervisors across the 2 partner institutions:
  • The ‘host institution’ will be that of the Principal Supervisor,
  • The secondary supervisor should be based at the partner institution,
  • The third supervisor should be based at the host institution and should be prepared to become lead supervisor in case of a leave of absence/sickness,
  • Additional internal or external supervisors can also be named,
• Proposals must clearly fit both of the following:
  • the NERC Science remit OR the BBSRC Science remit,
  • AND at least one of the QUARTILES Research Themes. If this is not clear in your proposal you will be asked for clarification.
• Be creative! We strongly encourage innovative and/or cross-disciplinary proposals.
• Proposals will be peer reviewed. By submitting a proposal you agree to participating in the review process.

Please download a copy of this proposal submission form.

Please submit your completed form by email to quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk no later than 14:00 on Thursday 10^th September 2026. 

Please complete all *mandatory fields and adhere to the restricted wordcount. Late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted unless exceptional circumstances apply. 

For more detailed information on our 5 themes, please see our Research Themes webpage.

• Theme 1: Biotechnology for Environmental Innovation
• Theme 2: Ecosystem Services, Conservation and Restoration
• Theme 3: Sustainable and Resilient Food-Systems
• Theme 4: Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Carbon Cycling
• Theme 5: Environmental Informatics and Earth Observation

QUARTILES has requirement for at least 25% of projects to be CASE supported. We will therefore be prioritising at least five appointable candidates attached to guaranteed CASE partners.

CASE Partner responsibilities:

• CASE partners are encouraged to make a financial contribution to the project including: any costs incurred by the student when visiting and working within their establishment, the costs of necessary materials, and facilities not possessed by the research organisation that are integral to the CASE studentship
• CASE partners must host the student for between three and eighteen months during their PhD
• CASE partners must host the student for an internship
• CASE partners must provide co-supervision

Please find updated terms here and more information on our website here.

NERC CASE Partner eligibility:

“The CASE partner can come from the public, private or third sector. However, organisations eligible to receive NERC research funding are not allowed to be a CASE partner. This includes research institutes and independent research organisations (IROs) as described in this definition.

As an exception to the above, public sector research establishments (PSREs) are eligible to be CASE partners for NERC studentships.”

BBSRC CASE Partner eligibility:

Content to follow.

All proposals will be peer reviewed by 3 colleagues with relevant expertise from across the partnership. By submitting a proposal, you are agreeing to participate in this peer review process.

The application form includes a list of 5 research themes and key words – supervisory teams are asked to categorise their project proposal using these key words and allocating % relevance.

Reviewers will identify their areas of expertise from this same list of key words. We will use your selections to match reviewers with the right expertise to proposals for review. We will invite reviewers from outside the applicant pool if required.

[Attach downloadable list of themes and key works]

Following peer review, the 19 highest ranking projects will be advertised. The successful teams will have two opportunities to recruit to their studentships. If unsuccessful, we will move to advertise the first reserve project instead.

June 2026 – call for proposals

10th September 2026 – proposal submission deadline

Late September – reviewer allocation

Early – Mid October – proposal peer review

Mid October – collation of reviews

Late November – Early December – wash-up meeting & final decisions

Late November – Early December – launch of adverts

10th January 2027 – closing date for applications

January – application shortlisting

W/C 15th February 2027 – interviews

Early & Mid March 2027 – offers issued

17 March 2026 (Predicted) – Universal Acceptance Date (all offers must be issued by this date)