A single doctoral award at Churchill College can cover three years of Home-rate fees and a UKRI living stipend for a PhD in the Faculty of Economics. That is the Churchill College Frank Hahn Studentship: one place, awarded on academic merit, and tied to membership of Churchill College.
If you are applying for a Cambridge Economics PhD and you qualify for Home fees, this is one of the most targeted college awards in the field. It is not open to every applicant, and it is not a separate form you fill in after admission. You win it through the University application and funding process.
Scholarship Summary
- Host Country: United Kingdom
- Host University: University of Cambridge (Churchill College; Faculty of Economics)
- Scholarship Type: PhD Scholarships
- Eligible Countries: Applicants with Home fee status (typically UK nationals meeting residency rules, and others with settled or pre-settled status who meet the University’s Home criteria). This is not an Overseas-fee award.
- Scholarship Benefits: Full tuition fee, Living stipend, etc.
What the Frank Hahn Studentship actually pays
The award is a full studentship for PhD study as a member of Churchill College. In practice that means:
- University Composition Fee at the Home rate, not the Overseas rate
- Maintenance (living costs) at the prevailing UKRI doctoral stipend
- Fixed length of three years
- One award in the listed cycle
- Full-time or part-time study is listed on the central funding search; the College page describes the award in full-time terms. Confirm mode with the Faculty and College if you need a part-time route
The funding search records award purpose as fees (Home) and maintenance, basis of award as academic merit, and award year as 2027/28. It is not described as extendable beyond the three-year term.
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UKRI sets the national minimum doctoral stipend. From 1 October 2026 that floor is £21,805 a year for full-time students outside London, with Home-rate fee contributions separately published by UKRI. Cambridge studentship providers commonly match that stipend benchmark. Treat published figures as a floor that can change each year.
See Also:
- Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program 2027: Fully Funded Opportunity
- Fulbright US Student Program 2027–2028: Your Guide To Winning a Fully Funded Scholarship to Study and Research
- McCall MacBain Scholarships 2027 at McGill: Fully Funded Master’s Awards for US and Canadian Applicants
Who can apply for Churchill College Frank Hahn Studentship
The listing is narrow. You should treat these as hard filters unless the University updates the award:
- Prospective applicant (you apply as part of admission, not after you have already started)
- PhD in the Faculty of Economics
- Home fee status
- Membership of Churchill College
- Full-time or part-time as listed on the funding search
Priority may be given to applicants who name Churchill as their preferred (or first-preference) college.
If you will be assessed as Overseas for fees, this studentship will not cover the international fee. Look instead at Cambridge Trust awards, Gates Cambridge (if eligible), ESRC DTP studentships where available, and other college funds. Start with the Faculty’s funding overview: PhD in Economics finance.
Fee status is decided by the University, not by the College. Read the current rules before you assume you are Home: University of Cambridge fee status.
Why the award is named Frank Hahn
Frank Hahn (1925–2013) was a founding Fellow of Churchill College, Director of Studies, and later Professor of Economics at Cambridge. He was a general equilibrium theorist of international standing, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a former President of the Econometric Society and the Royal Economic Society.
Hahn’s presence at Churchill helped draw visiting economists to the College, including future Nobel laureates such as Kenneth Arrow, Robert Solow and Eric Maskin. The studentship was established by alumni gifts and by a bequest from the estate of Frank and Dorothy Hahn. Churchill also maintains a separate Frank Hahn Fellowship in Economics for early-career teaching and research.
That history is not just colour. Donors fund this place so a doctoral economist can work at the College Hahn helped shape. Recipients are asked to stay in touch with the Alumni and Development Office for that reason.
Conditions after you are selected
The award is merit-based, but it is not unconditional cash. The published terms include:
- Funding duration may depend on satisfactory academic performance
- You should expect to write a short account of your experience for College communications
- The Alumni and Development Office will ask for brief updates during the PhD so donors can see how the gift is used
- You may be invited to College events where studentship holders meet donors
None of that replaces the academic work. It is the price of a named, donor-backed college studentship.
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How to apply (there is no separate Hahn form)
Cambridge does not run a standalone public application for this studentship. You apply for the PhD and enter the funding competition.
1. Apply for the PhD in Economics
Use the University Applicant Portal for the Faculty of Economics PhD. For 2027/28 the Faculty has published:
- Admissions cycle opening: 9 September 2026
- Gates Cambridge US round: 15 October 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Graduate Funding Competition deadline: 8 December 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Course application deadline: 2 February 2027, 23:59 GMT (the Faculty may close earlier after the December gathered field)
The Faculty strongly advises applying by the December funding deadline even if you think you can self-fund. Places and funding are considered as a gathered field.
Typical academic standard for the course is a Distinction-level Master’s in Economics at a level comparable to Cambridge’s MPhil in Economic Research. Confirm current requirements on the course page.
2. Enter the funding competition
On the Applicant Portal:
- Indicate that you want to be considered for funding
- Tick the Cambridge Trust funding box (this is the route described on the College page)
- Complete any additional questions flagged for this award
- Name Churchill College as your preferred college if you want priority consideration
The College page states that the award is provided in collaboration with the Cambridge Trust and that selection is made jointly by the College and the Trust.
Cambridge Trust guidance: Postgraduate applicants
3. Watch the results window
The funding search lists application results in April–May. Trust awarding more broadly can run from mid-February into the summer. Do not wait for a Hahn decision before meeting every other deadline that applies to you.
How to make a competitive application
One award means the shortlist will be small. The published criterion is academic merit. In practice, selectors will look at whether you are admissible to the Economics PhD and whether Churchill is a natural academic home.
Strengthen the file in ways Cambridge actually uses:
- Meet or exceed the Faculty’s academic standard and submit by the funding deadline, not the last possible course deadline
- Write a research proposal that fits the Faculty’s research groups and names supervisors whose work you have read
- Put Churchill first if you want this studentship; college preference is explicitly relevant
- Keep the rest of your funding strategy open: ESRC DTP, other college studentships, and Trust awards can sit alongside this application
- If your fee status is unclear, resolve it early. An Overseas classification removes this award from contention
Faculty funding map: PhD in Economics finance
What this studentship is not
It is easy to confuse similarly named Cambridge awards. This one is not:
- The US Churchill Scholarship for a one-year STEM master’s at Churchill College
- The Frank Hahn Research Fellowship / College Lectureship (a postdoctoral teaching and research post, not a PhD studentship)
- An undergraduate scholarship
- An MPhil or MSc scholarship
- A full Overseas-fee package
If a page talks about US citizens, one-year master’s study, or a lectureship stipend, you are on a different scheme.
Key facts at a glance
- Official name: Churchill College Frank Hahn Studentship (College pages also use Vice-Chancellor’s Doctoral Studentship)
- Number of awards: 1
- Level: PhD
- Subject: Faculty of Economics
- College: Churchill College
- Fee status: Home
- Value: Home composition fee + UKRI-rate maintenance for 3 years
- Selection: Academic merit; possible priority for Churchill as preferred college
- Apply: University Applicant Portal; Cambridge Trust funding box; additional portal questions
- Deadline: Course funding deadline (8 December 2026 for 2027/28 Economics PhD funding competition)
- Results: April–May (as listed)
Background reading:
- Churchill College: Frank Hahn Fellowship in Economics
- Faculty of Economics notice on Frank Hahn
- Churchill College
Official links for applicants
- Churchill College Frank Hahn Studentship (funding search)
- Churchill College studentship page
- Cambridge postgraduate funding search
- Faculty of Economics PhD applications
- Faculty of Economics funding
- Cambridge Trust
- Postgraduate admissions
- UKRI support for funded students
- Cambridge Trust: postgraduate applicants
- Churchill College
Always verify dates and fee status on the University sites. Listings are updated; the funding search record for this award was last refreshed in September 2026.
Useful references: