Category: admissions
Last updated: 2026-10-10
Asked this question on 10 October 2026, Google's AI Overview answered with one page, around 500 words and rarely more than two pages, and Perplexity gave a one-page letter in five parts. Both added that the applicant should follow the posting's instructions first, and neither showed what such instructions look like. The adverts I read for this guide disagree with that tidy length: one caps the letter at two pages, one at 250 words, and one replaces it with a form.
Direct answer: In a PhD vacancy the cover letter is one line in a list of required documents, and the advert often fixes who it is addressed to, how long it may be and what it must contain. Some schemes reject a generic letter, and one replaces it with a form. Read the advert's list before you write.
This guide reads five published application instructions, not advice sites: a Swedish PhD post, a Czech cotutelle post, and three UK schemes. It does not give a template, because the instructions below disagree with each other about what the letter is.
Do you need a cover letter for a PhD position?
Direct answer: Only if the advert lists one. QUARTILES DLA, a scheme linked to the University of Aberdeen and Queen's University Belfast, names a cover letter among its supporting documents and says documents it did not request will be deleted (QUARTILES DLA, n.d.). At this scheme the list is both a minimum and a ceiling.
The scheme's deadline for October 2026 entry was 23:59 on Thursday 23 July 2026, and it states that incomplete applications will not be considered and that it cannot chase missing documents (QUARTILES DLA, n.d.). The iGGi games PhD programme lists nine documents, including a cover letter, in the briefing it gave applicants for its round closing at noon on 26 January 2023, and asks for everything except the application form in one single email (iGGi PhD, 2023).
Newcastle University says in general terms that specific application instructions are given in each advert, so each one must be read closely (Newcastle University, n.d.). In practice the document list is not the same from one vacancy to the next, which is why a letter written once for all of them has nowhere safe to go.
Who should a PhD cover letter be addressed to?
Direct answer: Often to a named person, and sometimes to a different person for every project. QUARTILES DLA requires a cover letter addressed to the lead supervisor, one per project. A candidate who picks two projects on the form but sends one letter will be considered for the first choice only (QUARTILES DLA, n.d.).
QUARTILES DLA lets a candidate apply for a maximum of two projects in one application, so the rule means two letters in one email. The Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership allows up to three projects but asks for a separate application for each one (Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership, n.d.).
Hall (2024), writing for jobs.ac.uk, advises addressing a named individual where there is one, closing with "Yours sincerely" in that case and "Yours faithfully" otherwise, and quoting the advert's reference number if one is given. Those are conventions for letters in general. The scheme above turns the first of them into a requirement.
How long should a PhD cover letter be, and what should it include?
Direct answer: The advert may set both. Umeå University's PhD post in Computing Science asked for a cover letter of at most two pages with three items: research background relevant to the position, reasons for applying to this position, and ideas and plans for the research project (Umeå University, n.d.). The iGGi briefing capped its letter at 250 words.
The Umeå advert closed on 21 November 2025, wanted attachments in PDF and accepted English or Swedish (Umeå University, n.d.). The iGGi letter was shorter and more administrative. It opened with contact details and the applicant's country of residence, asked the candidate to state whether they applied as a home or an international fee-status student, and then gave the short personal statement of up to 250 words (iGGi PhD, 2023). That declaration matters to the scheme, because the briefing says international fee studentships were limited to 30 percent of the total, which it put at three places that year.
Read side by side, the two instructions give the letter two different jobs. At Umeå it carries part of what a research plan would carry elsewhere. At iGGi it is a cover page with a 250-word statement attached. The label alone does not tell you which of the two jobs the letter has.
What happens to a generic PhD cover letter?
Direct answer: Two of the adverts say it will not be considered. Umeå said that an application with no letter, or with “a generic letter not tailored to this position”, will not be considered (Umeå University, n.d.). A Czech cotutelle post at the Heyrovský Institute used the same rule for a "motivation letter" (J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, n.d.).
The Heyrovský advert had a deadline of 1 March 2025 and a start date of 1 June 2025, and asked for a CV, a motivation letter, a brief summary of previous research, a list of publications and the names of one or two references (J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, n.d.). The label changed, and the rule did not. In MAAS's reading, "cover letter" and "motivation letter" are interchangeable names for the slot, and the part that matters is the instruction attached to it: written for this position, not for any position.
A letter that could be sent unchanged to ten vacancies fails that test by construction. What passes is a letter that names the project, the group and the method, and says what the candidate has done that bears on them.
What if the scheme replaces the letter with a form?
Direct answer: Then there is no cover letter to write. The Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership says its personal statement proforma is “used in place of a standard personal statement or cover letter”, that it is compulsory, and that an application without it is rejected (Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership, n.d.). A letter written earlier has nowhere to go.
The partnership gives its reason: the proforma exists to standardise this part of the application, so that candidates who receive help and candidates who do not are compared more evenly (Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership, n.d.). The research statement is also a proforma, and the partnership publishes guidance for both. It asks for a CV of around one to two pages, details for two referees, and, at most, three projects.
For a candidate this is the clearest example of why the list comes first. The same effort spent on a polished letter would have been wasted here, and the form's own guidance is the thing to read.
Is a cover letter the same as a statement of purpose or personal statement?
Direct answer: Not quite. An advert's cover letter replies to a published request, whereas the first email to a professor is unsolicited. Hall (2024) calls the cover letter more functional, bringing the application together, whereas a personal statement is longer and covers experience, interests and aspirations.
Hall (2024) adds that some institutions want both, in which case the content must be planned so the two do not repeat each other, and that a cover letter can be used to explain a gap in the CV. Umeå's list shows the limit of that distinction, because its "cover letter" asks for ideas and plans for the research project, which sounds closer to the longer personal statement Hall describes. The label decides nothing. The content list in the advert does.
The unsolicited route is covered in What does a first email to a professor need to do?, and the naming question in Statement of purpose or motivation letter: which one is it?. This guide is about the case where the vacancy has already told you what to send.
What should you do with the advert before writing?
Direct answer: Copy the advert's document list and, for each item, write down five things: who receives it, how long it may be, what it must contain, how many you must send, and how it is named and sent. Then check whether extras are deleted. Only then draft the letter, and write it for this vacancy alone.
Four of the instructions in this guide show why each of the five matters. The recipient is a named supervisor at QUARTILES DLA. The length is two pages at Umeå and 250 words at iGGi. The content is three listed items at Umeå and a fee-status declaration at iGGi. The count is one letter per project at QUARTILES DLA. The sending rules are PDF format at Umeå, one email with a subject line at QUARTILES DLA, and a supplied form at the Norwich partnership.
MAAS helps candidates read an advert's document list and prepare drafts from the candidate's own account of their work; the candidate reads, edits, approves and submits each document personally. See PhD Application Strategy and Execution for what the service covers.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a cover letter for a PhD position?
Only if the advert lists one. In their application instructions, QUARTILES DLA and the iGGi programme list a cover letter, while the Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership replaces it with a form (QUARTILES DLA, n.d.; iGGi PhD, 2023; Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership, n.d.).
How long should a PhD cover letter be?
Whatever the advert says. Umeå set a maximum of two pages and the iGGi briefing set 250 words for the letter (Umeå University, n.d.; iGGi PhD, 2023).
Is a cover letter the same as a motivation letter?
The two names fill the same slot. The Heyrovský Institute used "motivation letter" with the same rule as Umeå's "cover letter": it must be tailored to the position (J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, n.d.; Umeå University, n.d.).
Can I send one cover letter to several projects?
Not at QUARTILES DLA, which required a letter for each project and considers only the first choice if one letter covers two (QUARTILES DLA, n.d.).
What is the difference between a cover letter and a personal statement?
Hall (2024) describes the cover letter as the functional piece that presents the whole application and the personal statement as the longer account of experience, interests and aspirations.
Related MAAS guides
- What does a first email to a professor need to do?
- Statement of purpose or motivation letter: which one is it?
- How do you use a PhD personal statement example?
- What should a CV for a PhD application include and omit?
- PhD application resources
- PhD Application Strategy and Execution
References
Hall, C. (2024, September 6). How to write a cover letter for PhD applications. jobs.ac.uk. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://career-advice.jobs.ac.uk/studentship-advice/phd/how-to-write-a-cover-letter-for-phd-applications/
iGGi PhD. (2023). Documents to be submitted with your application [Briefing slides]. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://www.iggi-phd.org/_files/ugd/a3d5c3_d40c4e85c5a54548b6fc2868964361c3.pdf
J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry. (n.d.). Cotutelle PhD position in physics of 2D materials [Job advertisement]. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://www.heu.cas.cz/recruitment/cotutelle-phd-position-physics-of-2d-materials
Newcastle University. (n.d.). How to apply for a PhD studentship. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate-research/how-to-apply/studentships/
Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership. (n.d.). Application guidance. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/how-to-apply/application-steps/
QUARTILES DLA. (n.d.). How to apply. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://quartiles-dla.ac.uk/how-to-apply/
Umeå University. (n.d.). PhD student in Computing Science with focus on AI policy and climate risk narratives [Job advertisement]. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://umu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:870935/
Tools & resources
- jobs.ac.uk guide to PhD cover letters: https://career-advice.jobs.ac.uk/studentship-advice/phd/how-to-write-a-cover-letter-for-phd-applications/
- QUARTILES DLA application instructions: https://quartiles-dla.ac.uk/how-to-apply/