Birmingham Business School Doctoral Scholarships

Process and timetable for PhD scholarships in the College of Social Sciences

Each of the Schools within the College of Social Sciences are offering a selected number of Scholarships and in addition, applicants to the College can apply for ESRC-funded studentships from the Midlands Graduate School Doctoral Training Partnership.

The deadline for applications for both School scholarships and the ESRC scholarships is the 18^th January 2018.  If you intend to apply for both, you will need to submit two separate applications (although the format is very similar). In order to have time to prepare for that deadline, we have provided an indicative timetable below.

School Scholarships will cover Home/EU fees for 3 years full time (or 6 years part time), plus some research and training expenses, subject to satisfactory progress. In some case, Schools will also offer a stipend or will cover fees for non-EU students. Please contact individual Schools to get details of what they are offering.  Applicants for School scholarships who are eligible for ESRC scholarships will be expected to apply for one as a condition of their award.

• School of Social Policy (email: [email protected])
• Birmingham Business School (email: [email protected])
• School of Education (email: [email protected])
• School of Government and Society (email: [email protected])

ESRC Scholarships will cover your fees for 3 years full time (or 6 years part time), plus some research and training expenses. In addition, you will receive a stipend at ESRC rates unless you have a fees-only award (available to EU applicants).  The ESRC awards require that you have completed a Masters in Social Research and you can apply for a 1+3 scholarship, which includes a Masters year, prior to commencing the PhD. 

Please see the Midland Graduate School website for more details on how to apply. In this College we will be nominating students in the following pathways: Applied Linguistics; Area Studies; Economic and Social History; Economics; Education; Health and Well-being; Human Geography; Management, Business Studies and Finance; Political Science and International Relations; Psychology, Social Policy and Social Work; Socio-legal Studies, and Sport and Exercise Science.

Timetable

Expressions of interest – as soon as possible

You should make initial contact with the School that is closest to your proposed research topic. Feel free to approach specific academics directly to enquire whether they would be willing and able to supervise you, but please also inform the School PGR team that you are planning to make an application so that they can support the process. If you are planning to also apply for ESRC Midlands Graduate School funding, then you would be advised to contact the pathway lead at Birmingham as soon as possible to check that you project falls within the remit for that pathway.

You should include in your email:

• a short covering letter providing information about your background, qualifications and motivation for undertaking a PhD and whether you plan to apply for the School scholarship, the ESRC Midlands Graduate School scholarship or both.
• a research proposal of approximately 1000 words including a brief summary of the existing literature and potential gaps in knowledge, the research questions, and an outline of the methods that you might use to answer these questions.

Formal application for a place to study – ASAP (ideally by the end of November)

In order to be offered scholarship funding you must hold an offer of a place from the University of Birmingham. We have set an indicative deadline of 30^th November for receipt of applications, as it can take a few weeks for the application process (including interview) to be completed and an offer made. You will need to submit an application for the appropriate doctoral programme in your chosen School. 

This also allows applicants plenty of time to develop their applications further in advance of the scholarship deadline.

Scholarship applications – 18 January

The deadline for applications for both School and ESRC funding is 18th January.  However, if you wish to apply for both, you must submit two separate applications. School scholarship applications should be submitted by email to the appropriate School PGR team email address. Download the application form (Word doc)

If you are applying for ESRC funding that application is managed by the ESRC Midlands Graduate School.

Decisions on scholarships

Decisions on School Scholarships will usually be made by the end of March.

Decisions from the ESRC Midlands Graduate School are usually made by the end of March.

All applicants for School awards that are eligible for ESRC funding are expected to apply to the ESRC as well.  If you are offered both a School and an ESRC scholarship, you will be expected to accept the ESRC one. (If it is a fees-only award, we may be able to offer an additional stipend to the same level as a School award).  The School scholarship will then be made available to other candidates on a waiting list.