ESRC DTP Joint PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham

Following a recent announcement by the ESRC, the Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP is delighted to open this year’s studentship competition, for entry in October 2021, to both home and international students. The applications are inviting for an ESRC Doctoral Training Programme PhD studentship on the topic “Education, extremism and utopian thinking” to commence in October 2021.

All applicants will be eligible for a full award consisting of a maintenance stipend and payment of tuition fees at the home fee rate.

Summary

Project Description

Midlands Graduate School are now inviting applications for an ESRC Doctoral Training Programme PhD studentship on the topic “Education, extremism and utopian thinking” to commence in October 2021. The project will be jointly supervised by Professor Michael Hand (School of Education, University of Birmingham) and Dr David Stevens (School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham). The successful applicant will be based at the University of Birmingham.

A salient feature of the extremist mindset is the belief that no price is too high to pay for the achievement of some utopian ideal. With schools in the UK and elsewhere now tasked with building children’s resistance to extremism, the questions of what we should make of this belief, and whether and how we might properly discourage people from holding it, have become pressing ones. This theoretical research project aims to develop and defend answers to these questions.

Co-supervised by a philosopher of education and a political philosopher, the studentship-holder will use the analytical and argumentative methods of philosophy to diagnose the problem with the belief that utopian considerations trump all others and to develop a normative account of how educators should address it.

The Midlands Graduate School is an accredited Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). One of 14 such partnerships in the UK, the Midlands Graduate School is a collaboration between the Universities of Warwick, Aston, Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham. 

Application Deadline

The deadline for applications is March 03, 2021

Award Information

All applicants will be eligible for a full award consisting of a maintenance stipend (£15,609 in 2021/22), and payment of tuition fees at the home fee rate.

 Eligibility

• To be classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following criteria:
• Be a UK national (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have settled status, or
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

If an applicant does not meet any of the criteria above, they will be classed as an international student. Please note that we can award up to 30% of studentships to international students per cohort.

Please see below for each institutional position on what proportion of the international tuition fee will be covered for successful international MGS applicants. This guidance will be updated to confirm the fees information for the remaining institutions in advance of the open competition deadline (January 26 2021).

Other Eligibility Criteria

• Students intending to study part-time are eligible for an ESRC award.
• Students can apply directly from undergraduate programmes (as we have a 1+3 award option with a Masters continuing onto PhD study). We ring-fence several studentship awards for students applying straight from an undergraduate degree.
• Students applying for Distance learning programmes are not eligible for an ESRC award.
• Students who already hold an award, or who are financially supported by another organisation, which covers maintenance and/or tuition fees are not eligible for an ESRC award.
• Students who have already commenced doctoral study are eligible to apply for an ESRC award, provided that they are within the first year of a full-time programme or the first two years of a part-time programme. However, if you have already begun your PhD, you must already have completed the required training as outlined in the Guidance Notes for Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP applicants. The ESRC does not permit the suspension of a PhD to undertake the required training modules, nor for them to run alongside year 2 and 3 of a PhD.
• Students must usually have qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first or upper second class level or equivalent professional experience.

Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP 

Our ESRC studentships cover fees at the home rate, a maintenance stipend and access to research activity support grants. Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements listed here: www.mgsdtp.ac.uk/studentships/eligibility/ 

Informal enquiries about the project before the application can be directed to Professor Michael Hand (m.hand@bham.ac.uk).

Application Process

To apply, please complete the Joint Studentship application form available here and email this, along with two references, to pgreducation-enquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Apply Now