Section: Fees, Funding and Scholarships

School Scholarships

School of Social and Political Science Graduate School Scholarships, 2012

The School is pleased to offer a number of scholarships for PhD research degrees on a competitive basis, open to applicants in any field of study in the School. 

Please note that the application deadline and procedures on this webpage do not apply to non-SSPS scholarships such as ESRC or Commonwealth Shared Scholarships.

Before applying, please read the Self-Assessment page, which provides helpful information about the factors that help make a successful application.  Please note that the SSPS Scholarships application is extremely competitive, and every year demand far outstrips supply.  In 2011 we received 192 applications for 10 Scholarships.   Experience suggests that candidates who do not already have (or are studying for) a Masters degree are unlikely to be successful in the College Scholarship competition, and are only likely to be successful in the School Scholarship competition if their undergraduate degree is, or is predicted to be, in the highest possible classification in their university system.

Results enquiries

Students hoping to find out the results of their application, please see the results section here.

 

Value of Award

These scholarships cover University tuition fees at the Home/EU rate, plus a research expenses allowance of £500, for a maximum of three years (pro-rata for part-time students).

Awards are made for one year in the first instance and are renewable for up to a further two years (pro-rata for part-time students), subject to satisfactory academic progress. 

Students liable to pay international fees may combine the SSPS Scholarship with other Scholarships (such as EGRS), to cover all the fee costs.

SSPS scholarships may only be used towards fees.

 

Eligibility

The scholarships are available both to students intending to commence PhD study in September 2012 and to on-course students currently in the first year of their PhD.

Students in the first year of their PhD may apply for a scholarship to cover the Home/EU fees for years 2 and 3.

Please note these scholarships are only for PhD study, not for MSc by Research.

When making decisions, the Selection Committee will consider the applicant's academic achievements, research proposal, research potential, any publications made, any relevant non-academic experience, and the degree of support provided by references.  Financial status and nationality are not taken into account.

 

Application Process and Deadline

The deadline has now been extended to Friday 3rd February 2012.

Applicants must submit 2 separate applications by this deadline (further information about both is given below):

  1. SSPS Graduate School Scholarship application
  2. Full application for admission to a PhD degree

Your Scholarship application will not be considered if you have not also submitted a complete application for PhD study by this deadline. 

Please note that this deadline and procedure does not apply to ESRC Scholarships.

1. SSPS Graduate School Scholarship Application

Application to the Graduate School Scholarship is via the University's on-line form on the Scholarships Office website, here: Postgraduate Research Scholarship Application

Please note the following:  

  • This form is also used for several other scholarships, including College Research Awards, Edinburgh Global Research Scholarships and the Principal's Career Development PhD Scholarships, all of which have the same deadline of 1st February.
  • Before applying, please read our Self-Assessment page, which provides helpful information about the factors that make a successful application.  The SSPS Scholarships application is extremely competitive, and every year demand far outstrips supply.
  • You do not need to wait to receive an offer to study before applying for a School award - but you must submit a complete application to study by the deadline of 1st February or your Scholarship application will not be considered. To access the application form you need your EASE user-name and password, which are created at the start of the application to study process.  You will not be able to access the scholarship application form until you have at least started your application for PhD study.
  • Once you start the on-line scholarship application, you must complete it (or abandon that application and then create a new one) as partly-completed applications cannot be saved. 
  • The form asks for standard personal information, including contact details.  Please ensure that you include an email address that will still be valid in the spring and even summer - every year we cannot contact some successful candidates because they have given an email address which is no longer valid!
  • The form asks for standard details about your academic and professional qualifications, including academic degrees, relevant publications, and employment and training history.
  • The form asks for information on your proposed programme of research, including the name of degree programme (e.g. PhD in Social Anthropology), name of School (Social and Political Science), and a brief description (max 300 words) of the proposed research field or project.  
  • The form also asks for a brief personal statement (max 300 words), explaining why you think that you are a particularly suitable candidate for a scholarship and how a scholarship will contribute to your long term career aims.
  • Partly completed Scholarship applications will not be considered.
  • We cannot accept applications or additional information or supporting statements after the deadline.
  • Scholarship applicants must also submit a complete application for admission to study by the deadline or their Scholarship application will not be considered.

  •  

2. Full application for admission to a PhD research degree

You must submit a complete application for admission to a PhD research degree by the deadline of 1st February.  Please note the following:
  • The application to study is made via the University's on-line applications system EUCLID. 
  • For further information on PhD study please see our PhD Programmes webpage.
  • For further information on the application process, please see our How to Apply page.
  • Note that you must submit a full application by this deadline, including references and all supporting documents. 
  • References for the application to study are also used for the Scholarship application.
  • You can also contact the Admissions Team on pgadmissions.sps@ed.ac.uk.  If you need to contact us, please let us know that you are applying for a School Scholarship with this deadline, and please contact us in good time as we receive very high numbers of applications at this time of year. 
  • A gap of at least two weeks between applying for admission and applying for an award is strongly encouraged.

Your Scholarship application will not be considered if you have not submitted a complete application for PhD study by this deadline.

 

First Year On-Course Students and Deferred Applications

First year PhD students already at the School of Social and Political Science and applicants who have deferred entry until 2012-13 are also eligible to apply for these scholarships.  Applicants in the former group, if successful, would receive 2 years' funding.

Application is via the on-line form described above.

The default position is that we will look at the two references and your original research statement provided on your EUCLID application for PhD study.  However, we would recommend that you request your supervisors, who can comment on your progress to date, to provide updated references.  We also strongly advise that you update your research statement (3-5 pages).  These should be emailed (from a University account) to Matthew Harrison in the Graduate School Office by the deadline of 1st February.

 

Results

The School selection panel will meet in Spring 2012, and results will be communicated to candidates by email shortly thereafter.  Note that we also hold a reserve list; in the event that a successful candidate later declines their award (e.g. because they obtain different funding) the award will be offered to the top candidate on the reserve list.  Please ensure that you include a valid email address in your application form - every year we cannot contact some successful candidates because they have given an email address which is no longer valid!

We are aiming to contact all School award candidates to let them know the outcome of their application in early April and we will also contact the short listed candidates for the Principal's Career Development Scholarship at that time. Due to the volume of applications we receive and the lengthy assessment and ranking process, we are unable to answer individual responses until then.

The College Postgraduate Office will contact candidates about the outcomes of the College Scholarship applications, Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship candidates and the unsuccessful Principal's Career Development Scholarships candidates.

 

Social Work McLean Legacy

There are a small number of awards available for new PhD students in Social Work.  For further information, please see the Social Work McLean Legacy page.

 

Queries about the School Scholarship scheme should be addressed to the Graduate School of Social and Political Science, gradschool.sps@ed.ac.uk


This page was published on 12 March 2012


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