Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities AHRC-funded PhD studentship competition

The Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) is Scotland’s consortium for AHRC postgraduate funding.

If you want to apply for SGSAH funding for the PhD, you must first have an application for PhD study accepted by one of the Scottish universities. You must then be selected as one of the applicants who that university wishes to support. Applicants will normally hold a Masters qualification at the start of their doctoral study.

The deadline for SGSAH submission is in February.

PhD application and draft SGSAH application form

If you want to be considered for selection, you must:

  1. Complete an application to the University of St Andrews through the online application system.
  2. Email a draft SGSAH application form to the School's Director of Postgraduate Studies, classicsdopg@st-andrews.ac.uk. 

The deadline is in early December for entry the following year (the exact date will be confirmed later in the year). The School strongly encourages earlier applications. Candidates who contact potential supervisors or the Director of Postgraduate Studies in November or before will be at an advantage because the School will have more time to help refine your SGSAH application form.

Research areas

The SGSAH particularly values applications where there is a close fit between the PhD proposal and the research interests of the sponsoring department. It is therefore worth thinking carefully about that at an early stage. For example, the School is keen to support applications linked with:

  • the School's cluster of research expertise in classical Athenian literature and culture
  • the Centre for the Literatures of the Roman Empire
  • the Centre for Landscape Studies
  • the Centre for Late Antique Studies
  • the Centre for the Public Understanding of Greek and Roman Drama
  • other areas of individual staff expertise.

The SGSAH panel also values applications where there is carefully thought-out joint supervision between two Scottish institutions. The School is keen to explore opportunities for that kind of arrangement.

Criteria

Studentships are available for full-time and part-time study. Students who have completed their first year of doctoral study, or part-time equivalent, are eligible to apply for a studentship for the remainder of their registered period of study (up to the end of their third year).

In line with AHRC regulations, in order to be eligible for a studentship, a student must also meet certain conditions relating to residence. Full awards covering both fees and maintenance are restricted to applicants who are 'ordinarily resident' in the UK. There are also fees-only awards open to applicants who are 'ordinarily resident' in other EU countries.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to explore the possibility of making an application, please contact the postgraduate secretary, classpgr@st-andrews.ac.uk.