CoSS UofG/USyd Joint PhD Project

The College of Social Sciences (CoSS) and the University of Sydney (USYD) are delighted to be inviting applications for 4 funded Joint PhD Studentships in Social Sciences that will see PhD candidates commence their projects in October 2025.

The projects will fund a PhD candidate for 3 years and projects are expected to be designed and supervised in such a way that candidates can realistically complete the research and submit their thesis within the funded period.

Important considerations

  • 2 scholarships will be offered for projects where the Home institution is UofG, and 2 offered for projects where USYD is the Home institution
  • The PhD candidate must spend a minimum of 30% of thier candidature physically based at each institution - this would usually follow a Year 1 - Home institution, Year 2 - Host institution, Year 3 (and submission) - Home institution format.
  • The successful applicant must meet the PhD entry requirement of both institutions and will need to complete a Joint PhD Student Agreement for consideration by Sydney prior to lodging a Sydney PhD application (although the Glasgow PhD application can be lodged without this)

Funding Benefits

Each of the four funded projects will be granted a full scholarship with benfits that match the CoSS PhD Scholarshipo (for UofG based candidates) or the Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship (for USYD based candidates) and a one off travel grant of up £3,000 (UofG) or $5,000 (Sydney Global Mobility Joint PhD Travel Scholarship) to facilitate the required travel between the two institutions.

Project proposals can come from supervisors in any of the following Schools:

  • UofG > CoSS > Adam Smith Business School > Economics
  • UofG > CoSS > School of Education
  • UofG > CoSS > School of Law
  • UofG > CoSS > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
  • UofG > CoSS > School of Social & Political Sciences
  • USYD > FASS > School of Economics
  • USYD > FASS > SACE > Discipline of Media & Communications
  • USYD > FASS > School of Social & Political Sciences
  • USYD > FASS > Sydney School of Education & Social Work
  • USYD > Sydney School of Law

Project Teams must include at least 1 supervisor from both UofG and USYD, with projects being designed in such a way that allows a PhD candidate to complete the project and submit their thesis within the 3-year funded period.

Successful candidates will be required to register at both UofG and USYD and spent time at each institution.

Applications should be submitted by prospective first/lead supervisors based within one of the eligible Schools (above). Supervisors must have undergone the relevant supervisor training/development within their current institution during the last 5 years.

Applications are welcome from academics at any stage of their careers i.e. from early career researchers to more experienced supervisors. We do ask, however, that if an academic is applying as the first/lead supervisor, that they have one or more members on the supervisor team that are experienced in supervising a PhD candidate to completion, i.e, a supervisor with at least two PhD completions.

A table of potential co-supervision pairings can be found linked on the right-hand side but the competition is open to any eligible co-supervision pairings, and applications should be lodged on the CoSS UofG/USyd Joint PhD Project Proposal form, to the CoSS Graduate School (gradschool.socsci@glasgow.ac.uk) by 09 December 2024.

Timeline

  • 16 October 2024: Supervisors invited to submit applications
  • 09 December 2024: Application deadline, form submitted to the CoSS Graduate School
  • By 31 January 2025: Award outcomes communicated to project teams
  • 20 February 2025: Student recruitment adverts due to CoSS Graduate School and USYD (CoSS Graduate School will configure student applicants in the Scholarships Application Portal)
  • 24 February 2025: Student recruitment adverts go live
  • 31 March 2025: Student application closing date
  • 07 April 2025: Deadline for references and application to be circulated to projects for assessment/shortlisting/interviews
  • 30 May 2025: Deadline for project teams to identify preferred applicant to projects so that funding offers can be made and successful applicants can be invited to apply for relevant PhD programmes.
  • October 2025: Projects to commence

Please let the CoSS Graduate School know if you have any questions.