PhD in Sociology

Welcome to Edinburgh Sociology

Application deadline for September 2012 entry is 15th July 2012

Welcome to our webpages. We warmly invite candidates wishing to undertake doctoral research in Sociology. Edinburgh Sociology is one of the leading centres of excellence in the UK. In the 2011 Guardian newspaper University Guide it was ranked second in the UK, behind only Cambridge. In terms of research we are ranked third to sixth in the UK according to the UK government sponsored research assessment exercise, depending on the ranking method. Over 50% of our research was recognised as 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'.

From Adam Ferguson to Erving Goffman, many of the world's leading figures in Sociology have been associated with the university. Edinburgh Sociology is a busy and active place and contains a number of world-leading research centres, including Families & Relationships, Governance, Narrative & Auto/Biographical Studies, Science Studies and South Asian Studies. It is well-known for its commitment to all that is best about the sociological imagination and the way this brings together individual and group biography, time and history, and social structure.

We are also deeply committed to our students at all levels, and to investigating the social world cross-culturally as well as within Scotland and the UK generally. We have a large, vibrant, intellectually stimulating and international community of postgraduate students from the UK, Europe, the Nordic countries, North America, Asia and Africa. Our PhD degree has ESRC funding for home/EU students.

PhD research in Sociology at Edinburgh is located in the Graduate School of Social & Political Studies, which brings together Sociology, Politics, Social Anthropology, Social Policy and Social Work. A flourishing programme of events and seminars complements our postgraduate courses (See http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/).