UofG/USYD Joint PhD Scholarships
The University of Glasgow (UofG) and the University of Sydney (USYD) are delighted to be inviting applications from academic teams, in participating Schools/Colleges, for up to 7 funded Joint PhD Projects that will see successful candidates commence their projects in January 2027.
The projects will each fund a PhD candidate for 3 years. Projects are expected to be designed and supervised in such a way that candidates can realistically complete the research and submit the thesis within the funded period.
Important considerations
PROJECTS
- 2 Scholarships will be offered for projects where UofG (College of Social Sciences) is the Home Institution and up to 5 for projects where USYD is the Home institution. It should be noted that, if the institution that funds a pproject is not the proposed Home institution, projects may be requested to revise the proposal to be based at the funding institution
- Projects are encouraged from all research disciplines within the participating Colleges/Faculties and Schools at both institutions (listed below) and do not have to involve a UK/Scotland/Glasgow to Australia/NSW/Sydney comparative element.
- Participating Schools/Colleges:
- UofG > COAH > School of Critical Studies [USYD-Homed projects only]
- UofG > COAH > School of Culture & Creative Arts [USYD-Homed projects only]
- UofG > COAH > School of Humanities | Sgoil nan Daonnachdan [USYD-Homed projects only]
- UofG > COAH > School of Modern Languages & Cultures [USYD-Homed projects only]
- UofG > CoSS > Adam Smith Business School
- UofG > CoSS > School of Education
- UofG > CoSS > School of Law
- UofG > CoSS > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
- UofG > CoSS > School of Social & Political Sciences
- UofG > Centre for Public Policy
- USYD > FASS > School of Economics
- USYD > FASS > School of Humanities [USYD-Homed projects only]
- USYD > FASS > Sydney College of the Arts [USYD-Homed projects only]
- USYD > FASS > School of Languages and Cultures [USYD-Homed projects only]
- USYD > FASS > School of Social and Political Sciences
- USYD > FASS > School of Art, Communication and English
- USYD > FASS > Sydney School of Education and Social Work
- USYD > Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
- USYD > University of Sydney Business School
- USYD > Sydney Law School
- USYD > Sydney Conservatorium of Music [USYD-Homed projects only]
- Proposals that include colleagues from within UofG's College of Arts and Humanities (COAH) are required to have a primary/first supervisor at USYD, which must be the Home institution
- Proposals involving colleagues from UofG's Centre for Public Policy (CPP) should note that the CPP supervisor/s must be from within the College of Social Sciences (or College of Arts and Humanties - although in this situation the above point should be noted). Proposals involving CPP supervisors who do not fall within these UofG Colleges will not be considered.
- Funded projects will be required to recruit a PhD candidate openly and fairly through a process that includes interviews and feedback to unsuccessful applicants
APPLICANTS/CANDIDATES
- Successful applicants must have a First Class Honours degree or Masters by Research with outstanding results (at least 80%) and must also meet the PhD entry requirements of both institutions. It should be noted that the Joint Doctor of Philosophy (Business) at USYD also requires prior completion of a 20,000 word (approximate word count) honours or Master’s thesis.
- Each PhD candidate is required to enrol/register at UofG and USYD simultaneously and must maintain enrolment/registration at both institutions for the duration of their candidature.
- Candidates must physically base themselves at their Home institution for Year 1 of their candidature. Year 2 is to be spent at the Host institution and Year 3 at the Home institution (with submission and examination to take place at the Home institution). At least one third (1 year) of the candidature must take place at the ‘Host’ institution.
SUPERVISORY TEAMS
- Project Teams must include at least 1 supervisor from both UofG and USYD, although 2 supervisors from each institution is encouraged to ensure a degree of confidence that both institutions can continue to support the PhD candidate if any supervisor was unable to continue on the supervisory team for any reason.
- Proposals are welcome from academics at any stage of their careers, i.e. from early career researchers (ECRs) 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 supervisory team that are experienced in supervising PhD candidates to completion, i.e. a supervisor with at least two PhD completions. Supervisors must have completed Supervisory training at their current institution as per that institution’s policy.
- A table of potential co-supervisors at each institution can be found on the right-hand side (Note: this table is currently made up of colleagues in the Social Sciences disciplines only) but the competition is open to any eligible co-supervision pairings. Colleagues may find the UofG’s ‘Staff research interests search’ and USYD’s ‘Find an expert’ useful, however co-supervisors must be formed within the eligible Colleges/Faculties/Schools listed above
All Proposals must be lodged to the CoSS Graduate School (gradschool.socsci@glasgow.ac.uk) by 16 January 2026.
Timeline
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 19 November 2025 | Launch of competition (Supervisors invited to submit applications) |
| 16 January 2026 | Application deadline, form submitted to the CoSS Graduate School (gradschool.socsci@glasgow.ac.uk) |
| 19 January 2026 | Project proposals circulated to Joint Selection Panel (representatives from UofG COSS/COAH and USYD) |
| Week of 23-27 February 2026 | Joint Selection Panel meet to select successful projects |
| 02 March 2026 | Outcomes communicated to all projects. Student recruitment adverts requested from successful projects. |
| 20 March 2026 | Student recruitment adverts due to CoSS Graduate School |
| 24 March 2026 | Student recruitment goes live |
| 21 April 2026 | Student application closes |
| 28 April 2026 | References due from all applicants' referees |
| 29 April 2026 | Student applications circulated to project teams for assessment/shortliste/interview |
| 19 June 2026 | Deadline for project teams to identify preferred applicants to projects |
| 08 July 2026 | Tentative outcomes begin to be sent to student applicants (pending formal assessment by both institutions admissions teams) |
| 01 September 2026 | Deadline for USYD funded preferred candidates to apply to Joint PhD programme and associated scholarship |
| January 2027 | Funded students to commence PhDs at both institutions |
CONTACTS
- University of Sydney:
- Jessica Davis | Dual and Joint Degree Coordinator (M/W/Th/F) / T +61 2 8627 6210 / E jessica.d@sydney.edu.au
- University of Glasgow College of Social Sciences (CoSS):
- University of Glasgow College of Arts and Humanities (COAH):