Summary
The University of Aberdeen is part of a consortium of ten Higher Education institutions which has been awarded funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to support postgraduate doctoral studentships and training in the Arts and Humanities in Scotland
Description
Under the SGSAH Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) scheme, the consortium - comprised of; Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Highlands & Islands, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - will consider applications for doctoral studentship awards in the majority of Arts and Humanities subjects. The consortium is organised through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH).
The University of Aberdeen is accepting applications for nomination to the SGSAH for consideration for awards in the following subject areas for entry in session 2025-26.
Subjects: Archaeology; Art History; Creative Writing; Cultural Studies; Gaelic; History; International Development, Diplomacy and International Relations; Law; Linguistics; Media (incl. Film studies); Modern Languages; Music; Philosophy; Scandinavian Studies; Scottish and English Literature; Visual Arts; and Theology, Divinity and Religions.
Eligibility
Both new and continuing PhD students may apply. To be eligible, continuing students must have at least 50% of their PhD programme (3.5 years full-time or 7 years part-time) remaining at the time funding begins in October each year. Funding will only be available for this remaining period. Students who are 'writing up/thesis pending’ are not eligible to apply.
To be eligible to apply you must be resident in the UK and live within a reasonable distance to the University. The SGSAH define a reasonable distance as follows: “a student ought if necessary be able to travel to the University every day to work core hours (10am to 4pm)”.
Criteria
The AHRC expects that applicants to PhD programmes will normally hold, or be studying towards, a Masters qualification. If you are not in this position you may be able to use relevant professional experience to provide evidence of your ability to undertake independent research.
Application Procedure
There is a two step application process. Stage 1 involves applying to the University of Aberdeen for nomination to the SGSAH for consideration for an award.
To be considered for nomination, you must submit both an application for PhD study and an SGSAH DTP Scholarship Nomination Application form.
Applications for PhD study: Your completed PhD study application must be submitted through the University’s online application system by 12 noon (GMT) Friday 29 November 2024. When completing the PhD application applicants should list "AHRC SGSAH DTP Scholarship" as the intended funding source.
Applications for AHRC Scholarship: You should apply for nomination by the University of Aberdeen to the SGSAH before receiving a decision on your application for a PhD place, but if you do not receive an offer of a place, your application cannot proceed.
Completed nomination applications should be combined with academic references, undergraduate/postgraduate transcripts in a single PDF document using the file name "AHRC – Student Surname, First name" and submitted to pgrs-studentships@abdn.ac.uk by 12 noon (GMT) on Friday, 6 December 2024.
Those selected by the University of Aberdeen for nomination will proceed to Stage 2 of the application process and will be required to submit an application to the SGSAH by 14 February 2025 (tbc).
Deadline
6th of December 2024
Further Info
Any queries in relation to the application process or eligibility, please contact pgrs-studentships@abdn.ac.uk
There are also some information sessions recorded by SGSAH which you may find helpful: https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/prospective/dtp/help
Application Docs
UoA_SGSAH_AHRC_DTP_Nomination_Application_Form_2025-2026.docx
The PGRS hosted an information session regarding applying to the University of Aberdeen for nomination to the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) Studentship Competitions for entry in October 2025.
You can access the presentation slides from the Information Session held on 6 November 2024 here: