In addition to a maintenance stipend and tuition fees CHASE studentships provide access to opportunities for placements, fieldwork and extensive access to arts and humanities training. CHASE students join an active community of arts and humanities doctoral researchers within Birkbeck and across the CHASE consortium.
CHASE is is working in partnership with the Stuart Hall Foundation (SHF) to support at least two studentships a year for Home candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic to undertake doctoral research in arts and humanities. Applicants with an interest in the work and legacy of Stuart Hall are particularly encouraged. All applicants will also be entered into the general studentship competition.
How to apply
For details of how to apply, and how applications will be considered please visit Birkbeck’s AHRC CHASE landing page.
Important: We strongly encourage you to submit a programme application as soon as you can. The earlier you receive an offer of a place on your chosen PhD programme, the earlier you can begin to prepare your application for CHASE funding.
Important dates
Friday 5 January 2024: Deadline to submit an application for entry to an MPhil/PhD programme here at Birkbeck.
Midday 26 January 2024: Deadline to submit an online CHASE application form to be considered by our Birkbeck CHASE recruitment and selection process.
The Bloomsbury Colleges Consortium (Birkbeck, UCL Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary College and School of Oriental and African Studies) have opened applications for 10 three-year PhD studentships, available for intercollegiate research collaborations starting October 2023.
The studentships will cover fees at the home rate and maintenance at the level recommended by the Research Councils. Supervisors wishing to invite applications from international students will be required to demonstrate how they will meet the costs of overseas fees from other sources.
The deadline for submissions is Monday 10 October 2022 and successful applicants will be notified by the end of November. Further information and applications form available below. Applications should be submitted by the lead applicant to: graduateresearchschool@bbk.ac.uk
Applications are invited for a fully-funded three-year CHASE doctoral studentship, jointly supervised within the Departments of Politics and International Studies (SOAS University of London), History, Classics and Archaeology (Birkbeck College, University of London), and the Arab and African Research Center (AARC) in Egypt.
Project
The studentship will support interdisciplinary (Politics and History) research examining the dynamics and dilemmas of transnational solidarity as exemplified in Egypt’s role as sponsor of South ern African liberation movements during the 1960s. This will be one of the first studies of its kind, contributing to scholarship on the Cold War, Afro-Asian decolonisation, and African liberation struggles’ contemporary legacies.
This project’s overall aims are to retrieve and analyse the shifting motivations, power balances, and mutual influences driving relations between the Egyptian state and the southern African liberation movements which it sponsored during the era of decolonisation, and to engage with theories of solidarity in politics and historical geography to evaluate these.
The successful candidate might focus specifically on one or a combination of the following questions: the nature of Egyptian diplomatic, financial support to, and influence on Southern African liberation movements; the place of Egypt in the political imaginaries of nationalist liberation activists’; the implications of the case study for theories of transnational solidarity; the role of Cairo as a Cold War city.
Supervision
The three supervisors will be Dr Reem Abou-El-Fadl (Politics, SOAS), Dr Hilary Sapire (History, Birkbeck) and Professor Helmi Sharawy (Director, AARC). This is an opportunity to work with two disciplinary/regional experts, and with both a scholar and former co-ordinator of African liberation movements in Egypt’s presidency (1958-1971).
Requirements
The PhD will commence in October 2022. The student will spend at least three months each at the AARC, and at archives in South Africa. Fluency in Arabic, a capacity to travel freely in Africa, and a first-class degree in Politics/History are essential.
Benefits
The candidate will benefit from two world-leading Departments, enjoying specialisms in Middle East and African politics at SOAS, with its internationally renowned research library, and expertise in global history, transnationalism, and African History at Birkbeck. Rigorous methods training will be offered at both institutions. The candidate will join the AARC’s Africanist research network and gain special access to its archives/publications. They will also participate in the University of London Southern African seminar series events and workshops.
Funding Amount
For the academic year 2022-23, the stipend will be £18,612 with London weighting. This includes enhanced stipend to cover additional travel costs relating to the project. The funding will cover UK fees.
How to Apply
Applications for this studentship must be made via the SOAS University of London application form, available at this link , by Friday 6 May 2022 at 12 noon. Applicants must provide two references in support of their application.
Candidates will be assessed by a shortlisting process, and shortlisted candidates will be interviewed. Interview outcomes will be received by the Management Board for approval.
Synconais a FTSE 250 healthcare company focused on creating global leaders in life sciences. We operate as a hands-on venture capital, working closely with world class scientists to found, build and scale companies with the aim of delivering transformational treatments to patients. We invest in all therapeutic modalities (e.g., small molecules, antibodies, nucleic acid therapies) and currently have 11 companies in our portfolio that are developing therapies to treat diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, metabolic disorders and inherited diseases. In parallel to supporting our portfolio companies, we are also constantly looking for the next breakthroughs in science and medicine and remain actively engaged with the academic and clinician communities.
Overview
Syncona are offering one PhD scholarship available to students conducting their doctoral research within Life Sciences at an accredited UK university. The scholarships are aimed at those from a Black African, Black Caribbean or Mixed Black heritage to support diversifying the talent pipeline in the sector.
Offer
Funding to cover
PhD fees at the home / UK rate
Maintenance stiped of £18,000 per annum for up to three years (£19,500 for Universities inside London)
Materials, consumables and running expenses up to £3,000 per annum for up to three years
Mentoring support from senior Syncona staff
Pastoral support from a Windsor Fellowship Mentor
Paid internship for six months with Syncona in the fourth year. This will include some dedicated time for writing up your PhD thesis if necessary.
Windsor Fellowship Leadership Programme in the fourth year of the programme
Eligibility
From a Black African, Black Caribbean or Mixed Black heritage
Secured a Full Time PhD programme for 2021 entry within Life Sciences
Have the right to work in the UK (Syncona will not be able to offer visa sponsorship)
Syncona is a FTSE 250 healthcare company focused on creating global leaders in life sciences. We operate as a hands-on venture capital, working closely with world class scientists to found, build and scale companies with the aim of delivering transformational treatments to patients. We invest in all therapeutic modalities (e.g., small molecules, antibodies, nucleic acid therapies) and currently have 11 companies in our portfolio that are developing therapies to treat diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, metabolic disorders and inherited retinal disorders. In parallel to supporting our portfolio companies, we are also constantly looking for the next breakthroughs in science and medicine and remain actively engaged with the academic and clinician communities.
Overview
During this internship, the individual will take part in Syncona’s full operating rhythm, attend internal meetings and be exposed to all new investment opportunities explored by the team. The individual will work closely with experienced members of the team to develop Syncona’s investment strategy in specific biological, technological and clinical areas of interest, as well as contribute to the diligence of active new opportunities. Examples of currently active opportunities include novel antibody-based therapies for auto-immune diseases, cell therapies for cancer and novel nucleic acid therapies for metabolic disorders.
Experience
We are looking for applicants who have a passion for science and a desire to learn, as well as be excited by the opportunity to contribute to the development of novel life changing therapies. Syncona operates in a very dynamic and demanding environment and the successful applicant will be expected to behave as a member of the Syncona team and collaborate with other members, be proactive, and be able to work independently. The intern will be paired with a Syncona team member who will be their buddy and provide guidance. We want to make sure that this experience is as fulfilling as possible and will therefore work with the individual to agree on the areas of focus prior to the beginning of the internship.
Location: London (Syncona office and/or remote, depending on COVID-19 restrictions)
Timing: 6 months full time, from August/September 2021
Salary: £34,000 p.a., (pro rata £17,000 for six months)
Eligibility
From a Black African, Black Caribbean or Mixed Black heritage
Have the right to work in the UK (Syncona will not be able to offer visa sponsorship)
Doctorate degree graduate and excellent academic record in biological sciences or a related (sub-) discipline
Ability to work independently
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Enthusiasm, entrepreneurial drive and a genuine desire to learn
My name is
Nerges Azizi and I recently started the MPhil in Law at Birkbeck, University of
London. My research addresses ways of resisting the European border regime,
with a particular focus on the role of strategic litigation. I chose this topic
because of the experiences I have had working with refugees as a translator and
interpreter. In the course of that work, the law again and again surfaced as an
obstacle and an instrument of power designed to regulate their existence,
behaviour and expectations. Despite the disciplinary and oppressive function of
the law, the people who I was working with were forced to appeal to the law in
order to receive protection. This provoked me to question whether there could
be alternative uses of the law, ones less geared towards regulating and disciplining
the lives of refugees, towards ones that hold states accountable. During my
preliminary research, I came across strategic litigation, which describes the
tactical use of legal tools to hold states accountable for their human rights
obligations.
At present, I
am sceptical about the prospects of this tool, however, I am looking forward to
examine all the ambivalences and difficulties of engaging with the law. I am
particularly interested in what the resort to legal means might be able to
reveal about the ways in which the European border regime is constituted and
contested. My geographical focus is the Mediterranean Sea, which presently has
been transformed into a site of death and racial violence by European policy
makers and border guards. I aim to place this sphere into a longer historical
perspective, in which the sea was not partitioned into north and south, east
and west – nor was it necessarily functioning as a border – rather, it might
have worked as a space of encounter, connection or a bridge. At the same time,
I will be attentive to the colonial, imperial and racial violence shaping the
history of its human crossings. Tracing histories of the Mediterranean, as well
as conceptually departing from the sea, hopefully allows me to imagine another
function for it and opens the possibility of an alternative future. I am very
excited to work on the project and look forward to the writing that will emerge
from it.
When applying
for the PhD, considering who my supervisors would be, and who else would be
working at the department and at the school where I would be based, was of high
importance to me. This is because I consider my environment to shape me
intellectually; we learn from the people around us. A PhD is a long project and
is potentially accompanied with some anxieties and self-doubt, therefore
working with supervisors whose work I am familiar with and respect ensures that
I can trust that my research will be guided in the right direction. Of course,
having the financial stability of a scholarship is indispensable and crucial to
be able to concentrate on researching and writing. This is particularly so for
students of working class background and ethnic minorities. I would recommend
everyone to apply to existing scholarship opportunities.
Birkbeck is offering a number of fully funded Diversity100 PhD studentships which actively address under-representation at the highest level of research, and encourage Black and Minority Ethnic students to consider academic research in all disciplines.
The call for Diversity100 PhD studentship applications is open until Monday 10 May. You can find further details about these studentship opportunities here including how to apply and about briefing sessions for prospective applicants where you can hear about the application process and what it is like to be a doctoral researcher at Birkbeck.
Debi Lewinson Roberts
In the video below we hear from Debi Lewinson Roberts who was awarded a Diversity100 PhD studentship and began her doctoral research in Autumn 2020. Debi speaks on the subject of bereavement, her family’s influence on her education and why she chose Birkbeck.
A BGRS blog post by Swathi Kumar (PhD Biology, Cancer Biology, ISMB)
I’m now in my second year of the BBSRC LIDo PhD programme. The first year was composed of two 4-month rotation projects, the first of which was based at both Birkbeck and UCL and is now my full-time PhD project. Like many others, March 17th was my final pre-lockdown day working in the lab and I was one month in on my second rotation project based at Barts Cancer Institute. The rest of the summer was a blur with days spent teaching myself to use command-line interfaces to run bioinformatic tools in an attempt to produce any data whatsoever for my project that had then become wholly computational. I managed to complete a coding course covering MATLAB, R and Python which was a mandatory part of my first year and a useful skill to learn as a biologist. All that remained was to return back to my old lab and officially start my PhD.
My first day back in the lab was July 27th – 4 and a half months post-lockdown. I had fastidiously read all the ‘returning to work’ documentation and was prepared for Birkbeck to look quite different to how I remembered it. Sure enough, the corridors were filled with COVID-19 safety measures and a 2-metre rule had been implemented. Luckily, I was already trained in the microbiology techniques I would need for the first month of my PhD thanks to my rotation project last year. My PhD researches the pathogenesis of the Kaposi Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus with a particular focus on a viral oncogene it produces called vFLIP. I am interested in cancer biology having done a master’s degree in it, and my interdisciplinary PhD combines structural biology and virology. Overall, the majority of my PhD is wet lab based.
Being supervised while adhering to social distancing rules vaguely resembles a Quickstep dance. The 2-metre rule was recently relaxed to 1-metre with masks on at all times, which made it significantly easier for my supervisor to teach me how to use structural biology equipment. Later this month I will be demonstrating these techniques to undergraduate summer camp students and supervising an undergraduate placement student – both firsts in my career. Apart from eating our lunches at desks spaced 2-metres apart, the daily work routine is becoming relatively normal. I do look forward to the day we can attend seminars and lectures in-person rather than online. However, I will say that the switch to online talks gave me the courage to try a new profession – teaching! Overall, I’m thankful that my transition from working at home to experimenting in the lab has been smooth. I hope my story encourages others who may have some anxiety about returning to work to not be afraid and to believe in themselves!
Five new awards have been announced for Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) PhD
students who start their studies at Birkbeck during 2020. The studentships will
help address the under-representation of BAME students at PhD level in all
disciplines.
Julian Swann, Pro-Vice Master of Research said:
“I am delighted that we have been able to fund these new research awards for BAME students. Birkbeck has a long history of widening access to higher education and compared with other institutions, we have a relatively high proportion of BAME students but representation at doctoral level is significantly lower than across our student population as a whole. I hope that these awards will help to address this and support more BAME students to lead research at the highest levels.”
The financial support will cover tuition fees and living expenses for
UK-based BAME students for the duration of their course.
Successful candidates will need to have a strong academic background and/or
exceptional research potential and to have been offered a place on a relevant
doctoral programme.
AHRC PhD Studentship in collaboration with Imperial War Museums (IWM) and Birkbeck
Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD at Birkbeck: “Confronting a masculine military ideal: the experiences of LGBTQ service personnel 1914–now”. This is offered under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership programme. The partner institutions are Birkbeck and the IWM. The studentship will be supervised by Professor Matt Cook at Birkbeck and Rebecca Newell of IWM. This full-time studentship, which is funded for three years at standard AHRC rates, will begin on 1 October 2018.
The Studentship
Using material from across the IWM’s collection, including the sound collection, and with a particular focus on the museum’s private papers and oral history archives, this project will examine narratives of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning) experience in the military for all or part of the period from 1914 to the present day.
Fifty years ago there was a watershed moment in British history. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised same-sex acts between men in England and Wales. However, policy makers in the armed forces agreed that decriminalising such acts in the military would affect discipline and threaten the safety of low-ranking servicemen. As a result they remained punishable by military law, even though they ceased to be illegal for consenting civilian men over 21. For three decades the MOD stood by its decision – creating a climate of secrecy for queer service personnel and the impression of a rather straight military. Fear of dismissal and condemnation prevented most from sharing their experiences. Only recently, as the law and cultural climate have changed, have some have felt able to be franker. Their stories are nevertheless still often modulated by an entrenched culture of discretion and framed by current understandings of liberation and sexual identity. We anticipate that these testimonies – and the complexities of gathering and analysing them – will be at the heart of this project.
New British Army Recruitment Campaign Tells Recruits ‘It’s Okay To Be Gay’ – January 2018
The student will explore existing testimonies and conduct new interviews exploring experiences and perceptions of being LGBTQ in the forces. They will also engage with historical work and ongoing debate about sex, sexuality and gender in the military and draw on expertise offered by the IWM and its partners. Aside from a doctoral thesis and associated publications, it is anticipated that research will feed into a future IWM public programme season on sex and war.
In discussion with their supervisors, the student will be responsible for formulating their research questions and methodology and for defining the period of investigation. Potential areas include:
• Accepted and hidden same-sex and homosocial experiences in wartime;
• The impact of serving in the armed forces on individuals’ sense of identity;
• The differential experience and/or representation of homosexuality in the army, navy and airforce;
• Gender crossings and the experience of trans people in the military;
• A comparison of the experiences of queer men and women;
• Masculinity, femininity and queerness in the forces;
• Narratives and experiences of sanction, tolerance, degeneracy, ‘passing’ and prejudice;
• Military sites/cities and associated local queer networks
• The role and responsibility of museums and IWM as a space and forum for excavating LGBTQ narratives.
These, and/or other questions, will be explored through a range of archives, including at the IWM, The National Archives, the National Maritime Museum, the National Army Museum and Tate, as well as through interviews with current and former service personnel gathered as part of the project.
Subject to AHRC eligibility criteria, the scholarships cover tuition fees and a grant (stipend) towards living expenses. The national minimum doctoral stipend for 2018/19 has been set by Research Councils UK as £ 16,777 (inc. £2,000 London Weighting) plus £550 additional payment for Collaborative Doctoral Students. For more information visit: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/skills/phdstudents/fundingandtraining.
Students are also eligible to draw additional funding from a Student Development Fund to support the cost of training, work placements, and other development opportunities that will benefit the student’s doctoral research and future career development.
In addition, the student is eligible to receive up to £1,000 a year from IWM and will be able to apply for internal funding from the University to support archival visits and the delivery of academic conference papers.
How to Apply
Applicants should have a good undergraduate degree in history or another relevant discipline, and will normally also hold a masters degree. They will need to satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements including Masters-level advanced research training or equivalent.
Applicants must be a resident of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA). In general, full studentships are available to students who are settled in the UK and have been ordinarily resident for a period of at least three years before the start of postgraduate studies. Fees-only awards are generally available to EU nationals resident in the EEA. International applicants are normally not eligible to apply for this studentship.
Applicants should submit via email a curriculum vitae (no more than 2 pages), a research proposal (of 500 – 1000 words)*, a sample of writing, a brief letter outlining their qualification for the studentship, transcripts of undergraduate and masters qualifications, and two academic references to Sian Green (sian.green@bbk.ac.uk) no later than 5pm on Sunday 8 July 2018 . Please note it is the responsibility of applicants to request references from their referees and ensure that they have been received by the Department of History by this deadline. All documents should be submitted in either a MS Word or PDF format. Please ensure the subject line of your email appears as ‘surname, first name – IWM/Birkbeck studentship.’
*for guidance on formulating a research proposal see: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services/admissions/phd-applications
AHRC-funded PhD studentship: Confronting a masculine military ideal: the experiences of LGBTQ service personnel 1914–now
This AHRC PhD Studentship is in Collaboration with Imperial War Museums (IWM) under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership programme. The partner institutions are Birkbeck and the IWM.
The studentship will be supervised by Professor Matt Cook at Birkbeck and Rebecca Newell of IWM. This full-time studentship, which is funded for three years at standard AHRC rates, will begin on 1 October 2018.
Using material from across the IWM’s collection, including the sound collection, and with a particular focus on the museum’s private papers and oral history archives, this project will examine narratives of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning) experience in the military for all or part of the period from 1914 to the present day.
Subject to AHRC eligibility criteria, the scholarships cover tuition fees and a grant (stipend) towards living expenses.
