University of Nottingham Masters and
PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations
Brief Description
University of Nottingham Masters and PhD
Four-Year
Masters and PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations
The School
of Politics and International Relations invites expressions of interest from
suitably qualified candidates for a fully-funded study programme leading to a
PhD in Politics and International Relations
Host country
Ø UK
Host university
Ø University of Nottingham
Scholarship funding
Ø Masters programme and PhD
We are
actively seeking potential candidates who would like to develop and submit
studentship proposals in the area of politics and/or international relations. There
are no restrictions on the proposed topic area, but we have identified a number
of priority topic areas where we believe a PhD project would be particularly
cutting-edge and where we strongly welcome expressions of interest. The topic
areas are:
International
Relations
Ø Topic 1 Britain and proxy wars
Ø Topic 2 Struggles over water
commodification
Ø Topic 3 Alternative trade policy
Ø Topic 4 The EU and the global South
British
politics
Ø Topic 5: The changing nature of election
campaigns: Evidence from the OpenElections project
Political
theory
Ø Topic 6 Bullshit, bollocks, and bad
thinking (in political discourse)
Ø Topic 7 Conceptions of liberal
socialism
Comparative
politics
Ø Topic 8 Federalism and the management
of ethnic conflict
Ø Topic 9 Gender and political
representation in Asia
Ø Topic 10 Public administration in
post-communist Europe
Ø Topic 11 Anti-corruption in developing
countries
Prospective
candidates should outline their own doctoral research topic, but if you are
interested in the priority topic areas listed above, our team will help you
develop your ideas.
Candidates
will be expected to demonstrate an excellent record of academic achievement in
politics and/or international Relations or a related discipline and potential
to complete an original and independent research project.
The school will
select one or more candidates to co-develop full applications for funding
offered through the Politics
and International Relations pathway of the Midlands Graduate School
(MGS) Doctoral Training Partnership. The MGS is one of 14 UK Economic and
Social Research Council (ESRC) Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs), and
comprises the University of Warwick, Aston University, University of
Birmingham, University of Leicester, Loughborough University and the University
of Nottingham.
Successful
applicants will join a team of PhD researchers in the School of Politics and
International Relations. You can find out more
about our staff, their research interests and current doctoral supervision,
as well as the pages of individual academics.
The awards
include the +3 programme or the 1+3 programme (funding to include an integrated
Masters programme that precedes the three-year PhD). The 1+3 programme
comprises 1 year of training in social science research methods (to MA level),
plus 3 years of research on an original topic in the area of politics and
international relations (to PhD level). Candidates who already have an
ESRC-accredited MA in politics and/or international relations or a cognate
discipline, and/or can demonstrate extensive expertise in social science
research methods, may apply for a +3 PhD programme. Candidates without MA
degrees and those with a non-ESRC-accredited MA degree may only apply for the
1+3 programme. All awards are available for study part-time.
Eligibility Requirements to Apply University
of Nottingham Masters and PhD
Eligibility Requirements
The Midlands
Graduate School ESRC DTP is delighted to open this year’s studentship
competition, for entry in October 2022, to both home and international
students. All applicants will be eligible for a full award consisting of a
maintenance stipend (£15,609 in 2021/22; rate to be confirmed for 2022/23), and
payment of tuition fees at the home fee rate.
Eligibility
To be
classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following
criteria:
Ø Be a UK national (meeting residency
requirements), or
Ø Have settled status, or
Ø Have pre-settled status (meeting
residency requirements), or
Ø Have indefinite leave to remain or
enter
If an
applicant does not meet any of the criteria above, they will be classed as
an international student. Please note that we can award up
to 30% of studentships to international students per cohort.
Please see
below for each institutional position on what proportion of the international
tuition fee will be covered for successful international MGS applicants. This
guidance is correct at the time of writing for international students beginning
in October 2022. Any changes to this guidance will be confirmed prior to the
application deadline in January 2022.
Aston
University -
International students awarded funding through the MGS at Aston
University will be required to fund the difference between
home and international fee rates from alternative funding sources. Neither the
MGS DTP or Aston University can provide funds to cover this difference.
University
of Birmingham -
International students awarded funding through the MGS at the University of
Birmingham will not be required to cover the difference
between home and international fees.
University
of Leicester -
As international tuition fees are higher than UK tuition fees, you might want
to look into ways that you can cover the difference in fees. There are several
different ways to do this:
Ø Some schools at the university have
funding available to cover the difference. To find out if the School you are
applying to has funding to cover the difference between UK and international
fees, please contact the University of Leicester directly – esrcdtp@leicester.ac.uk.
Ø Get a third-party sponsor to cover
you.
Ø Cover the difference yourself.
Loughborough
University -
International students awarded funding through the MGS at Loughborough
University will be required to fund the difference between
home and international fee rates from alternative funding sources. Neither the
MGS DTP or Loughborough University can provide funds to cover this difference.
University
of Nottingham -
The University of Nottingham will be offering a limited number of Fee
Scholarships to international applicants who are successful in securing
studentship funding from MGS. The Fee Scholarship will be used to cover the
difference between the level of home fees and international fees.
University
of Warwick -
International students awarded funding through the MGS at the University of
Warwick will not be required to cover the difference between
home and international fees.
Residency
requirements for UK nationals
In terms of
residency requirements for UK nationals, for courses starting from 1st August
2021, candidates will continue to be eligible for home fee status as long as:
Ø they were living in the EEA or
Switzerland on 31st December 2020, and have lived in the EEA,
Switzerland, the UK or Gibraltar for at least the last 3 years before starting
a course in the UK
Ø have lived continuously in the EEA,
Switzerland, the UK or Gibraltar between 31st December 2020 and
the start of the course
Ø the course starts before 1st January
2028
Residency
requirements for those with pre-settled status
If
applicants do not have 5 years’ continuous residence in the UK when they apply
to the EU settlement scheme, they will usually get pre-settled status. They
must have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020.
Those with
pre-settled status will qualify as a home student if they have 3 years’
residency in the UK/EEA/Gibraltar/Switzerland immediately before the start of
their course.
Other Eligibility Criteria
Ø Students intending to study
part-time are eligible for an ESRC award.
Ø Students are able to apply
directly from undergraduate programmes (as we have a 1+3 award option
with a Masters continuing onto PhD study) and we ring-fence a number of
studentship awards for students applying straight from an undergraduate degree.
Ø Students applying for Distance
Learning programmes are not eligible for an ESRC award.
Ø Students who already hold an
award, or who are financially supported by another organisation, which
covers maintenance and/or tuition fees are not eligible for an
ESRC award.
Ø Students who have already commenced
doctoral study are eligible to apply for an ESRC award,
provided that they are within the first year of a full-time programme
or the first two years of a part-time programme. However, if you have
already begun your PhD, you must already have completed the required
training as outlined in the Guidance
Notes for Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP applicants. The ESRC does not
permit the suspension of a PhD to undertake the required training modules, nor
for them to run alongside year 2 and 3 of a PhD.
Ø Students must usually have
qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first or upper
second class level or equivalent professional experience.
Ø The proposed research project must
fall within the ESRC's
scientific remit.
How to apply University of Nottingham
Masters and PhD
Applicants
interested in applying for entry October 2022 should contact Professor Andrew
Mumford (andrew.mumford@nottingham.ac.uk)
and Dr Scott Moser (scott.moser@nottingham.ac.uk) as
soon as possible before 6 December 2021.
Please send
your CV, a one-page note on your preparation and motivation to
conduct research to PhD level on a topic in Politics and International
Relations using social science methods, and a one-page outline of your
proposed research topic. We can advise on your eligibility and the fit of
your proposed research with our interests and expertise.
If the
school agrees to support your application to the MGS, you will then need to
submit applications, first, for a PhD place to the University of Nottingham
(two academic references will be required) and, subsequently, for funding to
the Midlands Graduate School, the deadline for which is 18 January 2022 (23:59
GMT).
Application Deadline
Ø The
deadline for Applying University of Nottingham Masters and PhD is 6 December 2021.