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I would like to ask about any funding for PhD Students to buy lab equipments, reagents etc. Because I know a lot of scholarships and travel grants for PhD students, but no research grants. I know PIs and postdocs are eligible to apply for grants and provide the funding of experiments. But in many cases I cannot see any differences between an experienced PhD Student with good publications or a young Postdoc with less outstanding publication list. Neither of them will get a grant for postdocs but the young Postdoc has the chance to apply. I understand that it is necessary to make a difference between a postdoc and a PhD Student, but okay, let's provide less money as a grant or sg.

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    Some scholarships come with some money for lab consumables or equipment, books etc., for example the Kekule fellowship.
    – Snijderfrey
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 18:56
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    I think it's probably worthwhile to add a subject tag and a country tag to this question. Otherwise it's so broad that there's probably some trivial answer of "yes, there is at least one", but this isn't so useful.
    – user137975
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 19:26
  • Yes, you are absolutely right. My field is molecular biology and my country is Hungary. I am not sure whether I can find sy from my country, and it is not necessary. I am curious about this question in general in any country.
    – research_isn't_easy
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 20:57

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Yes. For example several of the fellowships listed as answers to the question, Options other than the NSF for PhD level grants?, will fund research expenses.

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As far as I witnessed while doing my doctoral degree in Germany (in applied computer science), it was pretty much the norm that most doctoral candidates would write - or at least contribute to - one or two research grant applications in the course of their candidacy.

These grant applications were usually meant to secure follow-up funding for the doctoral candidate themselves (once their current funding runs out), or for other future doctoral candidates in the same institute (who could, for instance, build upon the work of the applying doctoral candidate).

Now, I'm not sure whether this is what you are looking for, as these doctoral candidates would technically not personally apply for the grant themselves, even though they collected all the input for the application and wrote it. However, unless I'm mistaken, it's also not the PI or postdoc who would personally receive e.g. money for lab equipment, but their institute or group, as a (depending on the size/scope of the grant, the sole) participant of the project.

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  • Thank you for your answer. It seems there are differences between fields and countries. In my country we don't need to write research grant applications and our PhD scholarship is funded by the government for 4 years. Additionally, we have the chance to apply for extra scholarships given by either the government or companies, but this is only for living costs, so it's a scholarship, not for buying lab stuff. And the fact that we have no chance to provide the financial basis of our experiments (at least partially), makes us much more vulnerable.
    – research_isn't_easy
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 21:05
  • @research_isn't_easy: Ah, then to add some context: There are various ways of how doctoral candidates can be paid in Germany, but a common one (at least in applied CS) is to be employed by the university. Your salary comes from a grant that has been awarded to the institute you work for, which covers some amount of staff (i.e. money to pay to employees working on the project), material (i.e. money to buy lab equipment etc. from), and other expenses (e.g. travel expenses to project meetings or conferences).
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 21:10

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