If your first supervisor is a member of Arché and you want to become a member, too, all you need to do is send an e-mail to the Director of Arché archedirector@st-andrews.ac.uk asking to be admitted, and you’ll become a member by default.
If your first supervisor is not a member of Arché and you want to become a member, you’ll still send an email to the Director and we’ll take it from there. Normally, the Arché Management Committee will decide on your request on the basis of whether your main research topic is within Arché’s remit, or you want to work with other Arché members on a regular basis, or so.
Arché membership brings many benefits. Arché provides office space for its graduate students, who interact on a daily basis with other Arché researchers, and are encouraged to approach any Arché member at any time for feedback on their work. In return, Arché graduate students are expected to participate fully in Arché’s activities, by attending seminars from the active Arché streams, assisting with minute-taking, helping to organise events, and attending meetings of the Arché Council. Arché students are expected to regularly attend seminars from two streams.
Graduate students are welcome to work within any of Arché’s current research projects, or on any other topic within Arché’s broader remit (Logic, Language, Metaphysics and Epistemology). Becoming an Arché graduate in no way restricts a student’s intellectual freedom: Arché students may begin working on topics within Arché’s remit, then find later that their work leads them into another area. Such students remain members of Arché, but have the benefit of interaction with other members of the Philosophy Departments whose interests converge with their own. Arché PhD Students remain full members of the Philosophy Departments: they have normal access to its facilities and involvement in its activities.
Arché has been extremely successful in placing its graduating students. For more information, please visit our placement page.
Details about funding sources is available here.