Funding for Parental Leave
The MPLS Division’s parental leave funding policy aims to support women doctoral students in STEM subjects to proactively manage any pause in their studies due to maternity. It is intended to support women to progress through their academic career and improve the representation of women over time in STEM subjects.
The MPLS Division’s family leave funding policy aims to support doctoral students in STEM subjects who give birth to proactively manage any pause in their studies due to family leave. The policy is intended to support students who give birth to progress through their academic career and improve gender balance over time in STEM subjects.
MPLS doctoral students who suspend their studies for family leave as birth parents2 are entitled to 26 weeks paid leave regardless of their current funding situation at the UKRI stipend level. In those cases where both parents are students, this financial support can be shared, if it enables the student who gave birth to return to study in their MPLS department. Funding is available for students in years 1–4 of their programme.
Where funding is not already provided for under a student’s existing grant arrangements, eligibility for this funding is as follows:
| Oxford Division / location | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth parent | Partner | Eligibility | |
| MPLS | MPLS | Birth parent eligible and partner eligible for sharing | |
| MPLS | Other Oxford Student | Birth parent eligible and partner eligible for sharing | |
| Not MPLS | MPLS | Neither are eligible | |
| MPLS | Student at other UK HEI | Birth parent eligible and partner eligible for sharing | |
| MPLS | Not a student | Birth parent eligible only | |
Please contact graduate.studies@mpls.ox.ac.uk for further information.
2To ensure consistency with UKRI terminology, any reference to birth parent refers to the person who gives birth.
Version 1.3, June 2025