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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Doctoral Scholarship
A number of Faculty Doctoral Scholarships are available in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is a dynamic and creative community of enquiry, learning and engagement, and encourages both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary work and research.
Level of Study: PhD degree
Eligibility: UK students and international students (including EU and EEA).
Applicants must already hold an offer of a place to study a postgraduate doctoral programme in any department in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences before applying for a scholarship,and be due to commence their studies during the 2024-25 academic year. We warmly welcome applications from home and international students, in all diversity groups. Two of the scholarships are reserved for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority applicants with UK home status.
Details of Award: Cost of tuition fee plus a maintenance award equal to the UKRI minimum award, which was £18,622 in 2023/4.
Deadline for Scholarship applications: Tuesday 19 March 2024, 17:00 GMT
Applications for a scholarship are welcomed in the following disciplines of postgraduate study:
Architecture | Art | Creative Writing | Criminology | Design | Educational Research | English Language | English Literature | Environment, Culture & Society | Languages & Cultures | Film | Gender Studies | History | Law | Linguistics | Media & Cultural Studies | Philosophy | Politics | Religious Studies | Social Anthropology | Social Work | Sociology | Theatre Studies
Important
Full details and the application form can be found on the Faculty website
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ESRC funding - North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP)
Apply for a place on a programme by Friday 12 January 2024 AND submit a NWSSDTP Funding Application by Monday 26 February 2024 (5pm)
Lancaster University forms part of the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) which offers scholarships covering tuition and maintenance for a Master's plus PhD (1+3) or for a PhD alone (+3, +2).
The pathways available within the Sociology Department are:
- Criminology, Social Policy and Social Work (MA Social Research, PhD Criminology)
- Development and Humanitarianism in an Unequal World (PhD Environment and Society)
- Social Anthropology (PhD Sociology)
- Social Studies of Science, Technology and Medicine (MA Social Research, PhD Sociology, PhD Science Studies)
- Socio-legal Studies (MA Social Research, PhD Criminology, PhD Law)
- Sociology (MA Social Research, PhD Sociology)
Please note that Master's programmes can only be funded as part of a 1+3 studentship. The NWSSDTP does not fund standalone Master's programmes.
Due to the competitive nature of this funding, usually only students with a first-class UG degree or a distinction in their MA would be successful.
Full details on eligibility and how to apply can be found on the FASS Funding website and NWSSDTP website
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Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP)
Apply for a place on a programme by Friday 12 January 2024 AND submit a NWCDTP Funding Application by Friday 2 February 2024 (5pm)
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If you are interested in applying for a PhD place at Lancaster in the area of Media & Cultural Studies and you are interested in applying for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding, please first look at the information on the NWCDTP website.
The application process is lengthy, so you should contact Debra Ferreday as soon as possible.
Securing AHRC (NWCDTP) funding is very competitive, so to stand a chance of success you need to have a 1st class degree at the undergraduate level and a Distinction at Master's level (or if you are currently doing your MA, grades that look like you will achieve a Distinction by the end of your Master's degree).
The AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) doctoral studentship competition is now open, including ring-fenced studentships for BAME and disabled students. All applicants must have a confirmed offer of a place on a doctoral programme at Lancaster University. International students, as well as UK students, may apply. More information about the NWCDTP application process and what subjects they cover is available on the NWCDTP website.
To apply for an award, candidates must have applied for a PhD place at Lancaster University by Friday 12 January 2024. The PhD in Media & Cultural Studies is run by the Sociology department. (See these web pages for how to apply). But you may also apply for Media & Cultural Studies AHRC pathway funding if you intend to register on another PhD degree (e.g. PhD Gender & Women’s Studies, PhD Sociology) if your PhD project is based on media or culture.
Writing the AHRC PhD application (including the research proposal) is complex and you should work with your proposed PhD supervisors on improving your draft as much as you can. Your draft should also be shown to Debra Ferreday for comments.
Candidates must submit a NWCDTP Funding Application by Friday 2 February 2024 (5pm).
Further details including frequenty asked questions can be found on the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences website.
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Other funding for PhD students and applicants
Visit the faculty website for details on other funding sources for PhD applicants and registered students.
How to Apply
Apply online
To submit an application, simply create an account on the My Applications website and then select ‘Create a new application’ from your homepage once you are logged-in.
Using your account on the My Applications website, you are able to submit applications for the programme(s) which you wish to study, upload supporting documentation and provide us with information about referees.
Current Lancaster Students
If you are a current Lancaster student, or you have recently graduated from Lancaster, we can reduce the amount of information that you will need to provide as part of your application. You will need to provide only one reference and will not need to supply your Lancaster degree transcript. We will also pre-fill your personal details, ready for you to check.
Finding a supervisor
Please take a look at the list of available superviors further up this page and indicate in your application the names of several supervisors you would be happy to work with.
While it is not necessary to get in touch with these potential supervisors before submitting your application, in some cases it can be useful to email staff whom you would be interested to work with before applying. This could be helpful for you in finding out whether you do share similar interests or theoretical orientations. You can get in touch with staff directly through the information on their profile pages.
What should I include?
If you use the My Applications website then you will be advised which documentation you need to upload or send to us. We can automatically contact your referees once you have submitted your application if you ask us to.
The supporting documentation screen will provide you with a list of required documents. These will usually include:
- Degree certificates and transcripts of previous higher education (college/university) degrees or other courses that you have completed/for which you are currently studying. For transcripts in languages other than English, a certified English translation will be required.
- A personal statement to help us understand why you wish to study your chosen degree.
- You also need to complete a research proposal which should include the following:
- the research area you are interested in
- the research question(s) you are specifically interested in
- who within our department appears best qualified to supervise you
- the methods you envisage using in your studies
- plus any other information which may be relevant
- An example of postgraduate level written work (e.g. MA Coursework, article or research paper)
- Two references
- If English is not your first language, we require copies of English language test results. It is possible for us to consider your application before receiving these test results, and to then give you a conditional offer that will be dependent upon receiving test results at a later date.
When to apply
You can apply at any time of the year for PhD study, but we encourage you to start at one of the predefined start dates of October, January or April. In some circumstances, a July start date can be considered.
If you wish to be considered for funding, are applying from overseas or require on-campus accommodation, we recommend you apply as early as possible.
Further information
If you would like more information before applying, please contact us at spgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk or + 44 (0)1524 593148. If you have any queries during the application process, please contact our Postgraduate Admissions Team.
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