Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) via IAPETUS Doctoral Training Partnership
There are also instances of interdisciplinary research studentships from more than one research council. Allocation of all these studentships are competitive.
Other research council studentships
At times, the School offers additional research council studentships, sometimes associated with particular projects or in collaboration with non-academic partners (ESRC-collaborative studentships).
These may be linked to the AHRC, ESRC or the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Collaborative awards that are available will be advertised in the press and on this website.
The ESRC also occasionally offers collaborative studentships linked to a government department (such as the Department for Transport or the Scottish Government).
Information about these awards will be posted in the ESRC's website and available awards will be advertised here and in the press in the early summer.
Newcastle University research institutes may also advertise specific bursaries and scholarship funding opportunities.
We enjoy continuing high levels of ESRC funding success through four pathways within the school: Human Geography, Sociology and Children, Youth & Families and Conflict, Security & Justice.
The Human Geography training pathway is offered at Newcastle University via the School of Geography, Politics & Sociology.
Students following the Human Geography pathway engage with research which is conceptually rooted, theoretically innovative and empirically rigorous. Our research has research-user impacts, and we have significant global academic impact as well. Opportunities exist for PhD research training and to conduct research across a wide range of human geography fields, including political, economic, social and cultural geography.
Students applying to this pathway on a 1+3 basis receive Masters-level research training via the MA Human Geography (Research) or the MA Local and Regional Development (Research). These programmes combine core geography or local and regional development-specific research training with more generic training in research skills, methodologies and theories. Students awarded 1+3 funding can then proceed to their PhD here at Newcastle in Geography.
Students already holding a recognised geography research training qualification at MA level, and those with some Masters-level research training, are eligible to apply for funding on a +3 or +3.5 basis. For these applicants, further research training is available and is undertaken in conjunction with their primary research on their PhD topic.
A full list of potential supervisors and the areas in which they can offer supervision is available here
The Children, Youth and Families pathway of NINEDTP is available to prospective students through the school of Geography, Politics and Sociology (GPS).
The pathway is open across four of the NINEDTP institutions:
Newcastle
Durham
Teesside
Queen’s University Belfast
Choosing to base your studies with us at Newcastle in the school of GPS however will give you access to specialist research expertise from our staff in the following areas:
Specialisms within our human geography staff include: participatory and collaborative research with children and youth; geographies of religion, faith and spirituality among young people; cooperative living and family life; ethnographies and infranstructures of everyday life; marriage, ender and family; masculinities and gender-based violence; geographies of gender and generation; health and inequalities; children, young people and critical geopolitics; domestic divisions of labour
Specialisms within our politics staff include: political representations in children’s literature; social movements and adolescent gender roles; social capital and political representation
Specialisms within our sociology staff include: identities, embodiments and selves; imagining pasts and futures; power, inequalities and citizenship; young people, everyday life and friendships; childhood disability; medicine, community and family
Prospective PhD applications should not be limited to the topics listed above and interdisciplinary and inter – as well as intra – institutional applications are also encouraged.
Current director of the Children, Youth and Families pathway is Dr Michael J Richardson, Michael is happy to speak with potential candidates and to help facilitate student/supervisory connections.
The Conflict, Security and Justice thematic pathway is offered at Newcastle University through four key disciplines; Environmental Planning, Human Geography, Law and Sociology. It is a collaborative pathway which offers students the opportunity to pursue cutting-edge interdisciplinary research supported by scholars working across a range of areas. Within these subject areas we have particular strengths in military, war and security related research, as well as in human rights and social justice scholarship. The establishment of secure, peaceful, and just societies requires insight and innovation from all disciplines, and as an inter-disciplinary pathway, Conflict, Security and Justice provides crucial opportunities to support and encourage cross-cutting research that addresses global challenges in novel ways.
The Conflict, Security and Justice pathway offers funding for 1+3 (MA + PhD), +3.5 (PhD with additional research training, or required language training) and +3 (PhD). Students will be based in Newcastle but may have supervisors based in Durham or one of the two Belfast universities within the partnership.
A list of potential supervisors at Newcastle can be found by following the links to the four subject areas;
International students will only be eligible for an ESRC award if they have a relevant connection with the UK. A relevant connection may be established if you have:
been ordinarily resident* in the UK for the three-year period preceding the course; and
not been resident in the UK, in that period, wholly or mainly for full-time education (EU students see below)
settled UK status within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 (not subject to restriction on stay)
*Ordinarily resident is defined as a ‘habitual and normal residence from choice and for a settled purpose throughout the prescribed period, apart from temporary or occasional absences of the applicant, their spouse, civil partner or parent’.
Following the Bidar Judgement in 2005, EU nationals resident in the UK for three years preceding the date of an award, including for purposes of full time education, are now eligible for a full grant.
The School of Geography, Politics and Sociology is a partner of the IAPETUS North East and Scotland multi-disciplinary Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).
IAPETUS’ postgraduate studentships are tenable for between three and four years, depending on the doctoral research project the student is studying.
They provide the following package of financial support:
full UK/EU tuition fees
an annual tax-free stipend (or living expenses) of £14,296 (pending confirmation)
Extensive research support funding is also offered
In 2018, The following PhD studentships were offered under the IAPETUS doctoral training partnership for projects under taken in Geography at Newcastle University. The deadline for applications has now passed
IAPETUS is only able to consider applications from Home/European Union candidates. International candidates are not eligible to be considered and where an candidate from another EU country has not been resident in the UK for 3 years or more prior to the commencement of their studies with IAPETUS, they will only be eligible for a fees-only studentship.
