PhD in South Asian Studies

Application deadline for September 2012 entry is 15th July 2012

We warmly invite candidates to apply for a PhD degree in South Asian Studies. PhD research in South Asian Studies at Edinburgh is managed from within the Graduate School of Social & Political Studies, which brings together Sociology, Politics, Social Anthropology, Social Policy and Social Work. For research in South Asian Studies, PhD and MSc® supervisors can also be found in other subject areas, especially History, Religious Studies, Asian Studies and Geosciences. A flourishing programme of events and seminars complements our postgraduate courses (See http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/ ).

Edinburgh South Asian Studies is one of the UK’s leading centres of excellence and is the largest such Centre outside London. For social sciences, it offers a wider range of expertise than anywhere else in the UK and is a leader within Europe.

We are 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.

Funding Opportunities for 2010/11

In 2010-11 we anticipate funding for excellent PhD applicants will be available, but cannot yet say how much. Candidates with a disciplinary specialism (such as History, Sociology, or Social Anthropology) may be eligible for an ESRC or AHRC award, if they qualify as Home or EU students:

• ESRC Quota Awards
• ESRC PhD national competition places (Home/EU fees, plus maintenance, for up to 4 years).
• AHRC PhD national competition places for excellent applicants (Home/EU fees, plus maintenance, for three years)

Deadline for applications for all ESRC and AHRC awards: Mid-March 2010 - date TBC. How to apply? Inform the South Asian Studies PG advisor of your intention to apply and send in a standard research proposal by the deadline. nb. Please do not fill out the official AHRC/ESRC forms at this stage. South Asian Studies staff will contact PG advisers from other subject areas shortly after the deadline to ensure our best applicants get considered for these awards. There will be ample time, guidance and support at that point to fill out the online application forms.

In addition to these we have access to up to five College and School awards:

College of Humanities and Social Sciences PhD Awards. Deadline late February 2010 (tbc). Full details http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/Postgraduate/index.htm

New this year! School of Social and Political Science Overseas Research Student Awards for College Award Applicants - the School offers an additional contribution to fees for Overseas Applicants who are successful in the College PhD Scholarships competition.

School of Social and Political Science PhD scholarships (Home/EU fees only for three years) Deadline late March 2010 (tbc). Full details: http://www.scholarships.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate/colleges/sps.htm

Doctoral Research at Edinburgh

We welcome applications for PhD research across the whole range of disciplines that take South Asia as a central concern. All members of Edinburgh South Asian Studies are involved in PhD supervision and our staff research and teaching interests can be seen at: http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/index.php.

South Asian Studies' PhD programme attracts many applications each year for an intake of around 5 to 10. Along with other students studying South Asia within disciplinary programmes, we have a large, flourishing, intellectually lively and international community of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers from the UK, Europe, the Nordic countries, North America, Asia and Africa. Our PhD researchers work on a broad range of theoretical, methodological and substantive topics. The interests of recent and current PhD students can be found at http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/pgstudents.php?menu=1.

Undertaken full-time over three years, or part-time over six years, the PhD in South Asian Studies is a research degree in which people explore in depth a piece of theoretical, and/or methodological, and/or substantive, research on a topic of their choice.

PhD researchers in South Asian Studies are allocated a supervisor and a co-supervisor, who will advise on the entirety of the research process, from reading and assembling ideas, to fieldwork, to analysing empirical or theoretical materials, to writing up chapters, to completing the thesis, to the viva which rounds off the process. There is a regular progress review, to discuss ideas, review progress and provide help and support where necessary. The supervisors and the Postgraduate Advisor are there to facilitate the existence of a supportive framework and to promote an active and sustaining research culture for our PhD students.

For academic inquiries, contact the Centre’s postgraduate advisor:

Professor Roger Jeffery, email: r.jeffery@ed.ac.uk

For general information (e.g. fees, qualifications) and application queries:

See: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/how_to_apply.php

E-mail: pgadmissions.sps@ed.ac.uk