Students interested in applying to this interdisciplinary collaborative venture will need to apply to the relevant disciplinary pathway. The accredited pathways in the social sciences at Goldsmiths are: social anthropology , cultural studies, media and communications, politics, psychology, sociology. Studentships will cover up to four years of tuition fees and provide a maintenance grant of £15,590 p.a. They will fund a combination of research training with a MPhil/PhD scholarship. Each of the successful students will have the potential for a variety of flexible models of research training where the student can either follow a 1 + 3 model (i.e. a 1 year doing an MA in advanced research training plus 3 years of funding for the completion of the PhD) or more flexible models where the research training is completed throughout the course of the 4 years of the studentship. The Goldsmiths/Queen Mary Doctoral Training Centre is intellectually distinctive in its commitment to fostering interdisciplinary research that is committed to advanced quantitative and qualitative social science while equally dedicated to methodological innovation and expanding the repertoire of intellectual tools available to researchers working today.
In recognition of the expertise in quantitative training within the Goldsmiths/Queen Mary Doctoral Training Centre, the ESRC has provided a disciplinary steer, requiring that four of the studentships each year should be awarded in areas of research that utilise quantitative methods. Students recruited as part of this requirement will receive the Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) increased stipend of £3,000, taking their total maintenance stipend to £18,590. The ESRC has also emphasised the importance of encouraging potential students to develop collaborations with government, business and third sector organisations. The expectation is that 20 per cent of the Goldsmiths/Queen Mary allocation (two awards) should involve some form of collaboration with other public, private or third sector organisations. Goldsmiths and Queen Mary particularly welcome proposals utilising quantitative methodologies and analysis and proposals that have been developed through collaboration with non-academic partners
Eligibility: ESRC studentships are available from the Goldsmiths/Queen Mary Doctoral Training Centre for UK and EU students who meet the residence requirements set out by the ESRC. Check the ESRC website for guidance. Along with other Councils, the ESRC has relaxed the rules around international eligibility in strategic areas, allowing fees and stipends to be paid for students from outside the UK. Doctoral Training Centres will be able to recruit students for awards in Economics or Advanced Quantitative Methods without adhering to the current residential eligibility rules as laid out in the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide. In order to be eligible for the studentships, applicants must already hold a conditional or unconditional offer of a place in an appropriate school or department at either Goldsmiths or Queen Mary.
Scholarship Application Deadline: 3 May 2011
