Identifying a potential supervisor is required before submitting an application.
For students applying for an existing funded project, the principal supervisor will be the owner of the project and you should contact the principal supervisor to discuss the funding opportunity.
For students applying with your own project, either for scholarship or a self-funded studentship, you should always first identify and contact a potential supervisor whose research interest aligns with yours. The potential supervisor list is available on individual programme page.
Detailed information of our doctoral programmes please refer to programme page.
We accept PhD application all year round. The start date of the programme is normally the first day of March, June, September, or December.
To ensure that you will be able to register on your intended date, please submit your application with all the required documentation through the online application system by the deadline outlined below for each entry.
Entry Point | Start Date | Application deadline |
September entry | 1 September | 30 June |
December entry | 1 December | 30 September |
March entry | 1 March | 15 December of the previous year |
June entry | 1 June | 31 March |
1. Apply for a scholarship for an existing Funded PhD Project
Funded projects will be open to take application until position is filled.
2. Apply for a Scholarship with Your Own Project
There will be two application rounds for each academic year:
Go to Scholarships to find more information about how to apply for the scholarships.
You can submit your application when your research proposal as well as all the supporting documents are ready.
If you are applying for an existing funded project, please make sure that you’ve discussed the funding opportunity with the principal supervisor and that you provide the correct project code in the PhD application system.
All your documents should be in English, or be accompanied by a certified English translation(size limit: within 2MB each document).
– A Online Verification Report of Higher Education Qualification Certificate obtained from China Higher Education Student Information if a degree was gained from a Chinese university;
– Certification is obtained from the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange if obtained a degree abroad or in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macao.
XJTLU reserves the right to request additional documents to assess your academic qualifications for particular programmes.
Your application will be initially reviewed by XJTLU and then sent to University of Liverpool for further review and decision.
After submission of your online application, you may be contacted by the XJTLU Graduate School (doctoralstudies@xjtlu.edu.cn) for additional documents or information. All communication will be made through your email address registered in the online application system.
Check your email regularly in order not to miss any important message from the university.
The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) is a supplemental assessment that must be satisfied by all non-UK students (excluding exempt nationalities) intending to pursue postgraduate studies or research in certain sensitive subject areas at a UK university. Failure to obtain ATAS clearance will prevent students from enrolling in the PhD programme at the University of Liverpool.
Upon receiving an offer from the University of Liverpool, students requiring ATAS clearance will be requested to complete an ATAS application. Full registration is subject to obtaining the ATAS clearance certificate. If your ATAS application is refused, please contact the Graduate School to discuss the options with an admission officer.
To apply for ATAS and for further information, please visit www.fco.gov.uk/atas