National Research Foundation 

The NRF provides various funding opportunities for postgraduate honours, master’s and doctoral students intending to study at UCT.

DSI-NRF Postgraduate Student Funding for the 2027 Academic Year - NOW OPEN

The DSTI and NRF are pleased to announce a call for new applications for DSTI-NRF Master’s and Doctoral Student Funding for the academic year 2027. All continuing students who are eligible for a second or third year of funding must submit a Progress Report and not a new application.

MINIMUM CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY

The NRF minimum academic requirement for postgraduate funding is 65% for the previous degree. Successful applicants will be funded either at Full Cost of Study (FCS) or Partial Cost of Study (PCS). The FCS funding will be awarded to South African citizens and Permanent Residents only, who are either financially needy (i.e., those whose combined household family income is less than or equal to R350 000 per annum), living with disability or exceptional academic achievers. However, the PCS funding will be awarded to 5% of international students including South African citizens and Permanent Residents who could not be funded under FCS but meet other minimum requirements for the NRF scholarship funding criteria. While there are NO AGE RESTRICTIONS DURING THE APPLICATION STAGE, restrictions will be applied during allocation of awards. As per NRF requirement 20% of the recommendations to the NRF can be with age limitations, but age limitations will be applied to 80% of the recommendations. Please see page 26 of the NRF’s framework document. The scholarships are intended to support master’s and doctoral candidates to pursue studies in all areas of Science, Engineering, Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities.

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• Applicants intending to register for

• certain professional degrees with a research weighting less than 50% or coursework only degrees are ineligible

• master’s which has a research weighting that is less than 50% are ineligible

• part time study is ineligible

• any other degree other than master’s or doctoral study are ineligible

Please refer to the NRF’s call documents to review where other eligibility is stipulated and must be met when applying

HOW TO APPLY:

All the postgraduate students will be expected to apply on the NRF Connect System by accessing the link: https://nrfconnect.nrf.ac.za/. No manual applications will be accepted.

STUDENTS’ APPLICATIONS OPENING AND CLOSING DATES:

READ ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION 

Applicants are required to read all information as stipulated below when completing the online application form at every step of the process. as it applies to their category of interest. 

DSI-NRF, DSTI-NRF AND SARAO Application and Funding Guides for 

• SARAO HONOURS

• SARAO MASTERS

• SARAO DOCTORAL

• EXTENSION SUPPORT FOR MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL

• MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL (FIRST TIME) including 

• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• NRF STATEMENT OF EXPECTATION FOR POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

• DSTI-NRF Postgraduate Scholarship Framework for funding

can be accessed and downloaded via the NRF website: https://www.nrf.ac.za/funding/nrf-call-for-proposals-for-funding-in-2025-and-2026/.

ACADEMIC REFEREE REPORT REQUIREMENT: 

Academic Referee Report to be completed by the academic identified by the applicant. Applicants must list only one referee under the application support input section. The onus lies on the applicant to ensure that they have complied with all application requirements.

NOTE: At master’s level, an applicant is expected to have identified a supervisor at the time of application. If not yet identified, the applicant is expected to capture the information of the Head of School/Department who will guarantee that the applicant will be allocated a supervisor in case their application is successful.

A signed letter on the institutional letterhead from the Head of Department (HoD) can be attached, in which the following questions are answered:

• Do you support the application that has been submitted to the NRF? 

• Do you confirm that the master’s applicant will be allocated a supervisor timeously, thus enabling the applicant to take up the scholarship (if awarded) and start their studies by April of the year of award?

*NOTE: This requirement is NOT APPLICABLE to those applying under “Global Change”, “SARChI” and other “Scholarship linked to NRF funded research” (see the application and funding guide for the full list of institutional and research grants).

FOR ENQUIRIES:

Please email nrfdasupport@uct.ac.za 

Telephone: +27 21 650 3622 = option 3

or visit our office: Upper Level, Otto Beit Building, Upper Campus

Website 

https://uct.ac.za/students/fees-funding-postgraduate-degree-funding-bursaries-scholarships/research-scholarships

ISFAP – Application Consent Form (download)

South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)

For more information regarding the requirements for the SAMRC funding opportunities please visit the website: https://www.samrc.ac.za/