ESRC Doctoral Training Centre

The Award

In recognition of the strength of its research and postgraduate training in a range of social sciences, the University of Warwick has recently been awarded a Doctoral Training Centre by the Economic and Social Research Council. As a result of this, PAIS will be responsible for the Politics and International Studies Training Pathway, and will also be jointly responsible for the Security, Conflict and Justice Pathway. One scholarship award will be offered under the PAIS training pathway for 2012-13. Confirmation of SCJ pathway award(s) will be published here shortly.

These studentships will provide tuition fees and a maintenance grant; details about the maintenance grant amounts can be found on the ESRC website. In addition to this funding, there will be training provided by the DTC at the Faculty and Departmental level. This training will be tailored to the individual award holder's needs and research area in accordance with a training needs assessment performed at the beginning of the PhD programme.

Eligibility

The DTC awards available to PAIS PhD students must follow one of the following training pathways:

Security, Conflict and Justice

This is a joint pathway (with Law and Sociology) that is particularly suited to candidates interested in Security, Conflict, and Justice studies. The PAIS department is ideally placed to supervise projects in this area as International Security and Security Studies is one of its major research clusters. Several members of PAIS staff are world-leading researchers in this field, and the department has a strong track record for attracting funding for major Security research projects, including Landscapes of Secrecy, led by Professor Richard Aldrich, and New Security Challenges, led by Professor Stuart Croft. We are particularly interested in applications for this pathway that are interdisciplinary in nature.

Politics and International Studies

This pathway is open to research projects that fall under any of the PAIS department's diverse areas of research expertise, provided the candidates meets the other criteria stipulated by the ESRC. PAIS provides supervision in subject groupings that include International Political Economy, Comparative Politics, Public Policy, Globalisation and Democratisation, International Security, Political Theory, etc. PAIS also provides region-specific supervision, particularly in East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Candidates should consult the department's Staff Directory, which lists the research supervisory interests of all PAIS staff, before applying.


The competition is open to Home/EU candidates; full details on eligibility are available from the ESRC and should be consulted before applying.

Only candidates who also hold an offer for a place of study on the PhD programme at the University of Warwick (PAIS) will be considered, so an application to PAIS must be submitted before or concurrent with the scholarship application.

It should be noted that due to the small number of awards and high quality of applicants, competition for the DTC awards is very fierce. Successful candidates will, in addition to fulfilling the above criteria, have a good first degree (equivalent to a high 2.1 or 1st class BA/BSc Honours) and normally a strong Masters degree in a relevant field of study.

How to apply

Please note that you must apply to the PhD programme via the University application system before you submit your DTC application. Before submitting an application to the University, all candidates should consult the PAIS website for details on how to apply and what we look for in a research proposal.

Eligible candidates who are currently in their first year of PhD study at Warwick, awaiting the result of their PAIS PhD application, or have already received an offer should submit all of the following no later than 30 April:

  • A PAIS application form. This is a requirement whether or not an offer has already been made.

  • A 2000 word case for support, to be included within the application form. Failure to provide this document will result in disqualification. The case for support should include the following 6 points:

    1. An outline of your research project and its theoretical background

    2. How your project relates to previous and current research in the subject

    3. The significance of your project (intellectual, practical, etc)

    4. The proposed methodology and why it is a good fit for your project

    5. How your project relates to your previous research and experience

    6. How your project fits with your proposed supervisor’s research interests and activities

  • Two scholarship references. These references should comment specifically on a) the research potential of the candidate, b) the strength of the research proposal and project, and c) the potential contribution of the proposed research project to the literature and debate in the area chosen. You may use the same referees as for your Warwick application if you choose. These references should be emailed by the referee directly to Melissa Venables as indicated below.
  • Your academic transcripts.
  • Your current CV.

All of the above documents should be submitted to Melissa Venables by email no later than 30 April 2012.

Questions regarding the ESRC DTC scholarship awards should be directed to Dr Dom Kelly or Melissa Venables in the first instance.