External Funding
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/2026stanfordadvancedmaterialscollegescholarship/
Following the successful exploration of the industrial prospects of rare metals in 2025, Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) continues to focus on the practical application of advanced materials in key industries. As medical technology enters an era of precision and personalization, chemical materials are playing an increasingly critical role than ever before.
Scholarship Overview
As a trusted supplier of advanced materials for the medical, industrial, and energy sectors, SAM remains at the forefront of material innovation. In 2026, we turn our attention to the healthcare industry, with a particular emphasis on how chemical materials—such as hyaluronic acid and beryllium sheets—are driving breakthroughs in medical applications. We invite passionate students to explore how these chemical materials are reshaping the future of healthcare and to identify innovative solutions with transformative potential.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/ahrccollaborativedoctoralpartnershipcdpstudentship/
The V&A Dundee and the University of Glasgow are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2026 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme
The project will investigate how and why textiles are central to Scottish industrial and design heritage, and demonstrate how knowledge of textile design and manufacture can be used to interrogate Scotland’s past in a museum setting. Using a collections based approach, Warps and Wefts will holistically trace and assess the legacy of textiles on Scottish industry and identity and, in turn, the impact and legacy of Scottish textiles from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Recent exhibitions, publications and projects have shown how textiles in general, and Scottish textiles specifically, resonate with diverse audiences. To date, however, such works have focused on specific fibres or types of textiles such as tartan or linen. This CDP will expand on this scholarship to look at textiles holistically, rather than individual types, examining how cloth as a distinct form of material culture has shaped Scottish history. The project will interrogate and question the idea of ‘Scottish’ design, by examining colonial networks and influence, and by considering environmental impact and sustainability of textile production and display. The project will also determine how these narratives might be shared with museum visitors to enrich understandings of the past, present and future of Scotland’s textile heritage.
Three key perspectives form the foundation of the project:
- The making of textiles in Scotland and beyond from the nineteenth century onwards.
- The movement of textiles in global networks and their impact on Scottish trade, manufacture and consumption.
- The past and future meaning of these textiles as they move through location, time, ownership, use and display.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/ajproductsukscholarship/
About AJ Products
AJ Products is a leading business-to-business retailer that creates modern workspaces where people can perform at their best. With a focus on innovation, efficiency and ergonomics, our workplace furniture and equipment is designed around the people who work there to make everyday life at work a little easier.
About the scholarship
At AJ Products we are committed to supporting the next generation of talent. That's why we are offering a £1,000 scholarship to one UK university student to help with the cost of their studies. This opportunity is open any student enrolled on a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate-taught course at a UK university during the academic year of 2025-2026. The scholarship aims to encourage and support students who have new ideas and projects to improve working environments in the workplace of the future. We want to support initiatives that reduce friction and make workplaces more ergonomic, productive and enjoyable.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/annhartbuchananstudentscholarship/
The University of Glasgow has been the recipient of a bequest from the estate of Mrs Ann Hart Buchanan for the purpose of nurse education and training.
It is proposed that a scholarship should be endowed to benefit a nursing student(s) on the BN (Hons) programme or student/nurse accepted for a postgraduate course of study in the Nursing & Health Care School at the University of Glasgow.
This scholarship will be awarded annually for the purposes of:
- Travel in connection with study or research that will enhance the student’s learning and learning experience (undergraduate or postgraduate)
- Supporting tuition fees for a graduate with BN (Hons) [1st or 2:1] to undertake a postgraduate course of study in the Nursing & Health Care School at the University of Glasgow within 2 years of graduation
- Support undergraduate student(s) with a minimum of one-third of the funds in any three-year period ie allocating £600 to an undergraduate student(s) within each 3 year period.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/bellburnellgraduatescholarship/
The Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund is for full or part-time graduates wishing to study towards a doctorate in physics and from groups that are currently under-represented in physics. It is administered by the Institute of Physics, and is open to UK and international applicants.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/britishmarshallscholarships/
The Marshall Scholarships offer top quality US students the opportunity to study at any British University for at least two years. Up to 40 new Scholarships are awarded annually. A Marshall Scholarship is tenable for 22 months (two academic years). Candidates may apply in any discipline leading to the award of a degree from any British University. The closing date is normally in October. Full details on regional application centres and online application forms are available from the Marshall website.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/butexstudentscholarships/
Each year BUTEX awards a number of scholarships to students studying abroad for a semester or a whole academic year, and students undertaking an overseas work/internship/traineeship placement of varying lengths of time.
BUTEX scholarships are based on a calendar year and not the academic year. Students that have a placement that will take place across two calendar years will be able to apply in each year, but please note individuals can only win a BUTEX scholarship once.
Students must be undergraduates and be affiliated with a BUTEX Full Member University to be eligible to apply.
Please see BUTEX Student Scholarships for more details
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/carnegiemastersgrants/
If you have any questions about the scheme or would like to discuss your eligibility before applying, please contact: grants@carnegie-trust.org, the Scholarship team at the University of Glasgow will not be able to provide further information on this scheme.
Postgraduate study can open doors to better careers, new opportunities and higher earning potential, however cost can be a major barrier. Funding options for study at this level in Scotland are limited, but the new Carnegie Masters Grant from Carnegie Education Fund (CEF) help to address this problem.
This new scheme helps students from low-income Scottish households undertake masterʼs programmes of study at Scottish universities. It helps to cover the cost of tuition fees and, in some cases, will offer additional support for study costs.
The scheme aims to:
- Support people from low-income backgrounds who want to return to higher education to upskill or reskill to change career.
- Increase the numbers of low-income students undertaking postgraduate study in Scotland
- Equip graduates with the skills and expertise to meet current and emerging skills gaps in Scotland.
About Carnegie Education Fund Carnegie Education Fund is an independent charitable trust that aims to support participation in and improvement of Scotlandʼs higher education system through grants and research. It was established in 1901 as the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (SC015600).
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/carnegietrust-undergraduatetuitionfeegrants/
The Carnegie Trust Tuition Fee Grant Scheme supports students enrolled on an undergraduate degree course at a Scottish Institute of Higher Education who are not eligible for government funding for their tuition fees.
Applicants making a request for funding to the Carnegie Trust need to demonstrate that their financial circumstances do not allow them to cover the cost of their tuition fees.
The majority of the students the Trust supports attended university or college in the past but withdrew before completing their studies. Often this was the result of ill health, financial problems, or personal circumstances. Sometimes they just felt that their chosen course of study was not the right one for them. The Trust also support a number of students who are seeking asylum in the UK.
Please see the Carnegie Trust website for full details.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/carnegievacationscholarships/
Carnegie Vacation Scholarships enable undergraduate students to develop their abilities and knowledge through the design and execution of an independent summer research project.
The scheme is open to students from low-income households who are ordinarily resident in Scotland and enrolled on an undergraduate degree course at an eligible Scottish institution. Scholarships are intended to cover recipients living costs while they undertake their research, learning how to design and manage a self-developed project, gaining useful experience and skills in preparation for postgraduate study or the workplace. Students often see their research results published in academic journals or reported in conference presentations.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/cheveningscholarship/
Please note that the Chevening Scholarships are now closed for application for the 2026/27 academic year.
Chevening Scholarships are the UK government's global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations. The scholarships are awarded to outstanding scholars with leadership potential. Awards are typically for a one year Master’s degree at universities across the UK. There are over 50,000 Chevening Alumni around the world who together comprise an influential and highly regarded global network.
For further information, please refer to the Chevening website.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/chinastudiesprogrammecspphdfellowships/
This programme selects and sponsors outstanding foreign young scholars interested in China studies, provides them with prestigious opportunities to study and work with top Chinese professors in the academic field, to do in-depth research with first-hand resources and in-person experience, to pursue a widely acknowledged PhD, to make friends with their Chinese counterparts, and to be part of a life-time scholar network. Duration is between six months to two years, full scholarship is included in the package.
PhD in China Fellowship
This programme supports outstanding foreign master's degree holders in pursuing doctoral degrees at Chinese universities.
Joint Research PhD Fellowship
This programme funds outstanding foreign doctoral students (candidates) registered with foreign universities coming to China for study, research and writing of their doctoral dissertations.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/clarkmile-endbursaryfund/
The Clark (Mile-End) Bursary Fund is a charitable endowment which was established in 1868 by a Victorian philanthropist by the name of John Clark. He was a thread manufacturer and prominent citizen from Paisley. The fund is now governed by Rules laid down in a 1974 Scheme (as varied with the consent of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in 2013).
Please see the Clark (Mile-End) Bursary Fund for more information.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/commonwealthscholarshipschemes/
Commonwealth Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development, and are offered to citizens from low and middle income Commonwealth countries. The majority of Scholarships are funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), with the aim of contributing to the UK’s international development aims and wider overseas interests, supporting excellence in UK higher education, and sustaining the principles of the Commonwealth.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/cossphdscholarship-regulationofthecreativeeconomycreativitytechnologyandmarkets/
https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/studentfundingopportunities/postgraduateresearch/latestphdopportunities/#cossphdscholarship-regulationofthecreativeeconomy%3Acreativity%2Ctechnology%2Candmarkets
Project details
CREATe invites applications for funded PhD research projects aligned with its AHRC infrastructure research programme, which focuses on legal and regulatory issues at the intersections of Creativity, Technology, and Markets. The legal domains CREATe’s work principally focuses on are intellectual property law, competition law, information and technology law.
We welcome proposals that engage with legal and regulatory dimensions of the creative economy and emerging technologies and platforms, and which may also consider economic, historical, technological, or socio-cultural dimensions of the creative economy. These projects may correspond to a single area of law or multiple areas of law within CREATe’s scope (intellectual property, competition, information and technology law).
Although the proposals need to consider law and regulation in a broad sense, this call is open to all social science disciplines. We welcome proposals from candidates with any social science background.
We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary projects and those engaging with policy, industry practice, or empirical methods.
More detail on CREATe’ s work and its research themes can be found on our website: www.create.ac.uk/projects/
Supervisory Team
Supervisory teams will be constituted based on project fit. Supervisors have to be members of the CREATe research centre. Interdisciplinary supervision acorss Law, Social Science and Cultural Policy may be available where appropriate.
About the School/Research Unit
The Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy (CREATe) is an interdisciplinary research centre based at the University of Glasgow. Its work is anchored in intellectual property, competition, information and technology law, with a focus on how law and policy shape – and are shaped by – cultural and creative production and consumption, as well as by digital platforms and emerging technologies. CREATe staff work in the School of Law, as well as in the School of Culture & Creative Arts, and School of Humanities. Following a major infrastructure award from the from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), CREATe’s research agenda is structured around research themes addressing the relationships between Creativity, Technology and Markets.
PhD researchers at CREATe benefit from an established interdisciplinary environment, engagement with policymakers and industry stakeholders, and access to training and research networks across the UK and internationally.
The successful candidate would be a member of the School of Law’s PGR cohort. The School of Law is ranked 4th amongst law schools in the UK in the Times Higher Education UK University Rankings 2026. It is a centre for innovative world leading research and excellence in education. We are proud to be an international law school with a rich heritage. Law was one of the four original faculties established by the University upon its founding in 1451. The subject has been taught continuously since 1714. Today, we teach students from over 30 countries with a staff from across the world.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/coss-uwicollaborativephdscholarship-strengtheningcaribbeanhealthsystemsacosteffectivenessapproachtomaternalmentalandadolescenthe/
Project details
This funded PhD project explores how scarce health resources can be allocated more effectively to improve maternal, mental, and adolescent health in the Caribbean. The student will apply health economics methods to three linked studies on postpartum health, mental health investment, and adolescent mental health programmes. The first study evaluates a community-led, digitally supported programme to reduce postpartum cardiovascular risk among women affected by adverse pregnancy outcomes. The second develops an investment case for mental health in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, with a focus on intervention costs, benefits, and domestic resource mobilisation. The third assesses the cost-effectiveness of multisectoral mental health promotion and care programmes for Indigenous adolescents in Dominica and Brazil. The project is embedded in international collaborations with partners at the University of the West Indies, and offers the opportunity to produce policy-relevant, publishable research with real-world impact. The successful applicant will have access to training in economic evaluation, applied microeconometrics, and health policy analysis.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Professor Anwen Zhang
Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Alberto Ciancio, Professor Simon Anderson (UWI) & Dr Althea LaFoucade (UWI)
About the School/Research Unit
This is not a joint or dual degree, but external supervision is provided. The project is based in the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, and is jointly supervised with leading academics at the University of the West Indies. The supervisory team brings together expertise in health economics, development economics, population health, and Caribbean health systems. It is embedded in a strong international collaboration with clear pathways to policy engagement. Through this partnership, the student will benefit from a stimulating research environment and rigorous methodological training at Glasgow, and direct engagement with Caribbean policy and health research networks through the University of the West Indies.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/daiwafoundationscholarshipsgrantsawardsandprizes/
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK charity, established in 1988 with a generous benefaction from Daiwa Securities Co Ltd. The Foundation’s purpose is to support closer links between Britain and Japan. It does this by
- making grants available to individuals, institutions and organisations to promote links between the UK and Japan across all fields of activity
- enabling British and Japanese students and academics to further their education through exchanges and other bilateral initiatives
- awarding Daiwa Scholarships for British graduates to study and undertake work placements in Japan
- organising a year-round programme of events to increase understanding of Japan in the UK. Daiwa Foundation Japan House, the London-based headquarters, acts as a centre for UK-Japan relations in Britain by offering a wide programme of lectures, seminars, book launches, courses and exhibitions as well as meeting rooms for Japan-related activities and facilities for visiting academics. The Foundation is represented in Japan by its Tokyo Office, which provides local assistance to Daiwa Scholars and administers grant applications from Japan. It also handles general enquiries and forms part of the network of organisations supporting links between the UK and Japan.
Further information about the foundation is available on their website.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/engineeringleadersscholarship/
The Engineering Leaders Scholarships (ELS) programme provides support for undergraduates in UK Higher Education Institutions, who display the potential to become leaders and innovators in engineering and who want to become leadership role models for the next generation of engineers.
These scholarships help ambitious undergraduates, in engineering and related disciplines, to undertake an accelerated personal development programme, which will help them to gain the necessary skills to become engineering leaders, soon after graduating.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/epsrcdoctoralstudentship-plansvsrealityai-enhancedmodellingofdisruptedurbanmobility/
Project details
Overview
Urban mobility models typically assume fixed daily activity schedules and stable transport networks. In reality, individuals continuously adapt their plans in response to disruptions such as delays, missed connections, time pressures, caring responsibilities, safety concerns, and changing priorities. This gap—between planned and realised behaviour—is poorly represented in current models, limiting their usefulness for designing robust, equitable, and sustainable transport systems.
This PhD will extend an existing agent-based and activity scheduling framework developed through the EPSRC AI4CI Hub. The framework integrates: (1) synthetic population generation grounded in demographic structures; (2) activity-based demand modelling; (3) multi-modal routing (walking, cycling, car, and bus); and (4) dynamic schedule adaptation under constraints. The project will advance this system by incorporating behavioural realism and disruption-aware modelling.
Two key innovations underpin the research. First, behavioural modelling using AI, including reinforcement learning (RL) and large language models (LLMs), will be explored to better represent decision-making under uncertainty, including preference evolution and context-aware adaptation. Second, disruption-aware scheduling and routing will be developed by embedding stochastic models of events such as delays, congestion, weather shocks, and safety perceptions, allowing analysis of how disruptions propagate through individual schedules and the wider system.
Aims and research questions
The overarching aim is to develop a framework for resilient urban mobility modelling that integrates machine learning with individual-based simulation. The project will:
- Compare behavioural modelling approaches (rule-based, RL, and LLM-assisted) for dynamic decision-making.
- Quantify how disruptions lead to plan breakdowns, rescheduling, and unequal impacts across populations.
- Generate actionable insights for transport planning, including reliability, service design, ans support for vulnerable users.
Key research questions include:
- How do different modelling approaches perform in representing adaptive behaviour under uncertainty?
- How do disruptions affect activity completion, mode choice, and network performance?
Methodology
The project will build on and extend an existing modelling framework through four components:
- Synthetic populations and activity generation: A detailed population will be created using census and survey data (e.g. National Travel Survey), capturing household structure and care responsibilities.
- Network modelling: A unified, multi-modal, time-dependent network will be constructed, incorporating travel time, cost, comfort, and perceived safety, alongside dynamic routing capabilities.
- Dynamic activity scheduling: Individuals will follow baseline daily schedules subject to hard and soft constraints, with real-time adaptation triggered by disruptions such as delays or cancellations.
- Behavioural modelling: Agents will be implemented using rule-based approaches, RL policies, and LLM-guided decision-making, and evaluated based on realism, robustness, and task completion.
Model calibration and validation will be conducted throughout
Experiments and policy scenarios
The model will be applied to policy-relevant scenarios developed with stakeholders (e.g. Transport Scotland, local authorities, operators). Scenarios may include reliability improvements, safety interventions, and enhanced real-time information systems. The aim is to identify how interventions affect disruption propagation, accessibility, and equity.
Supervisory Team
Prinicipal Supervisor: Professor Alison Heppenstall
Secondary Supervisor/s: Dr David McArthur & Dr Yahya Gamal
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/epsrcdoctoralstudentship-thesocialstudyoflowpowerenvironmentalmonitoring/
Project details
The climate crisis has produced an urgent, planet-wide demand for environmental data. As temperatures rise, air quality deteriorates, and extreme weather intensifies, the need to monitor environmental conditions has grown ever more pressing. Against this backdrop, environmental sensors have become a critical material infrastructure through which climate adaptation and corporate compliance with targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions reductions are being governed. Yet the design and deployment of electronic sensing technologies is also creating new flows of electronic waste, making this a critical frontier for innovation in circular engineering and manufacturing.
Supervised across the School of Social and Political Sciences and the REACT (Responsible Electronics and Circular Economy Centre) labs at the University of Glasgow, this fully funded doctoral project offers a cutting-edge opportunity for doctoral research at the intersection of anthropology, design, science/technology studies, and sociology to follow the development of next generation low power environmental sensing technologies from design to global contexts of use.
Low power environmental sensors are not neutral instruments. They enact visions of what a well-managed environment looks like, what counts as evidence, who produces knowledge, and whose experience of environmental change matters. When engineers design low-power environmental sensors, whose sense of urgency shapes the design? The regulatory urgency of net zero targets? The health urgency of particulate matter exposure? The political urgency of citizens seeking evidence of harm? How are low-power environmental sensors designed and what assumptions about environments, users, and evidence are embedded in their architecture? How do these devices operate in across radically different contexts. And what adaptations, improvisations, and failures occur when environmental monitoring devices designed and built in the UK meet diverse material and institutional realities around the world?
This EPSRC funded Doctoral Project will address these questions by investigating the design, deployment, and lived experience of environmental sensing technologies, tracking the development of prototype devices from laboratory settings in Glasgow into real-world contexts, bringing ethnographic and design research methods to bear on the development of future technologies that seek to reduce electronic waste and regenerate planetary ecosystems.
The project will generate ethnographic data about how monitoring technologies operate across diverse social contexts, revealing where design assumptions break down, and produce new insights into the relationship between sensor data and lived experience.
Supervisory Team
Prinicipal Supervisor: Professor Jamie Cross
Secondary Supervisor/s: Dr Mark Wong & Professor Jeff Kettle
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/erasmusmasterdegreeloans/
Erasmus+ Master Degree Loans are EU-guaranteed loans with favourable pay-back terms. They’re designed to help prospective students finance their Master’s courses in an Erasmus+ Programme country while leaving as little of a lasting economic footprint as possible.
The scheme is designed to provide postgraduate students with the means to pay their tuition and living expenses – thereby allowing individuals to focus on their degree instead of managing their bank balance. The programme aims to be as inclusive as possible, working under the following guidelines:
- No need for collateral from students or parents - ensuring equality of access
- Favourable, better-than-market interest rates
- Pay-back terms that allow graduates up to two years to find work before beginning repayment.
Please visit the Erasmus+ Master Degree Loans website for more information.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/ercmortalmedphdscholarship-lethalprescriptionssodiumpentobarbitalandassisteddyinginswitzerland/
Project details
This subproject examines the role of sodium pentobarbital (SP) in assisted dying practices in Switzerland, focusing on how this pharmaceutical is embedded within medico-legal, ethical, and institutional regimes that govern voluntary death.
Switzerland occupies a singular position in the global landscape of assisted dying, where right-to-die organisations operate within a complex legal framework that permits assisted suicide under specific conditions.Within this context, SP has become central to the enactment of a “good death,” functioning not merely as a technical means to end life, but as a pharmaceutical through which broader debates around dignity, autonomy, suffering, and legitimate death are negotiated.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Basel, Switzerland, this subproject investigates how SP circulates through the infrastructures of assisted dying, from medical prescription and pharmacy acquisition to its administration in assisted death procedures. The project combines participant observation, semi-structured interviews with staff members of assisted dying organisations, physicians, pharmacists, and individuals seeking assisted dying, alongside discourse and legal analysis of medico-legal documents, court cases, and regulatory frameworks surrounding SP in Switzerland. Particular attention will be paid to how assisted dying organisations navigate legal uncertainty, pharmaceutical regulation, and shifting public debates concerning the legitimacy of assisted death.
The project explores how SP becomes entangled in everyday practices of care, bureaucratic procedures, and institutional forms of authorization, tracing the social and political conditions under which access to assisted dying becomes possible. It asks how SP is sourced, prescribed, distributed, and administered; what ethical and legal responsibilities shape pharmacists’ and physicians’ involvement; and how eligibility for assisted dying is established and contested.
Supervisory Team
Prinicipal Supervisor: Dr Marcos Freire de Andrade Neves
Secondary Supervisor: TBC
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/ercmortalmedphdscholarship-pharmaflowsmappingsodiumpentobarbitalacrosstimeandspace/
Project details
This project traces the social life of sodium pentobarbital (SP) across time and space, following its transformation from a widely prescribed sedative in the mid-twentieth century to a highly regulated pharmaceutical primarily associated with assisted dying, state executions, and animal euthanasia.
PharmaFlows investigates the historical trajectories and contemporary global circulation of SP. By mapping the movements of SP across legal, medical, and commercial infrastructures, the project examines how pharmaceuticals become embedded in broader regimes governing life and death.
The project is structured around two interconnected themes. The first explores the temporal transformations of SP, examining how its medical, legal, and cultural meanings have shifted over time through historical advertisements, medical literature, press coverage, and pharmaceutical archives. The second investigates the spatial circulation of SP, tracing how the pharmaceutical moves through different regulatory frameworks, jurisdictions, and socio-political contexts, particularly in relation to assisted dying and capital punishment. In doing so, the project asks what travels alongside pharmaceuticals beyond their material properties, which actors and institutions shape their circulation, and what structural factors facilitate or restrict their global movement.
Methodologically, the project combines archival ethnography, discourse and media analysis, and interviews with key actors involved in the regulation, production, and use of SP.
Supervisory Team
Prinicipal Supervisor: Dr Marcos Freire de Andrade Neves
Secondary Supervisor: TBC
Information on the School/Research Group
MORTALMED (Mortal Medicine: The Social Life of a Death-Inducing Pharmaceutical) is a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant) and led by Dr Marcos Freire de Andrade Neves.
Situated at the intersection of Medical Anthropology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Political and Legal Anthropology, the project investigates the global circulation and local uses of sodium pentobarbital (SP), a pharmaceutical employed in assisted dying, state executions, and animal euthanasia.
By tracing SP across different legal, medical, and political contexts, particularly Switzerland, the United States, and Mexico, the project examines how pharmaceuticals participate in the governance of life and death and contribute to the emergence of what the project conceptualises as “necro-socialities”: social worlds organised around death, dying, and pharmaceutical mediation.
The project adopts a primarily ethnographic and interdisciplinary approach, combining participant observation, interviews, archival ethnography, discourse and media analysis, and assemblage ethnography to follow SP across institutions, borders, and infrastructures.
MORTALMED consists of five interconnected subprojects. The project aims not only to contribute to academic debates on pharmaceuticals, governance, and death, but also to engage broader public audiences through a final public exhibition in Glasgow. The successful applicant will join an internationally oriented and collaborative research environment and contribute actively to the development of this ERC-funded project.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/esrcdoctoralstudentshipdiettransitionunderstandingtheeffectivenessofcommunityorganisationinsupportingchange/
What we eat has significant impacts on human and planetary health. Poor diet is the biggest contributor to preventable ill-health and the food system produces approximately one third of carbon emissions globally. While household dietary change is pertinent, this is hampered by entrenched behaviours that are challenging to change. Community organisations play an important role in supporting such behaviour transitions. Constrained by short term funding and increasing demand as a result of polycrisis, it is important to understand their (in)effectiveness in facilitating diet transition.
This research will examine the role community organisations play in supporting household transitions towards healthy sustainable diets. The research will take place in Glasgow, in partnership with Glasgow Food Policy Partnership, given high levels of household diversity, deprivation and ill-health in the city and new policy interventions at the national (Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022) and regional (Glasgow City Food Plan; Food and Climate Action project) levels. This research takes an ethnographic approach with 10 households and 2 community organisations supporting household transition to healthy sustainable diets.
Data collection will comprise of in-depth interviews, participant observation, accompanied shopping and reflective diaries. The research explores the capacity and limits of community organisational support as a lever for change, by examining how exposure to community supported food work can shape household behaviour.
This has implications for transformative food policy work, and for the community food sector as a whole, as it seeks to understand and explain barriers and opportunities for change at the level of everyday action within households. As such, the research will contribute to sustainable food system debates and deepen our evolving understanding of how to implement effective change within food systems.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/esrcdoctoralstudentshipexploringalternativefinanceforimpact-drivendeeptechventures/
This research explores how alternative and social finance models can support the development of impact-driven deep tech ventures: science-based innovations with potential to address complex societal challenges, such as in biotech, quantum computing, space technologies and emerging green energy innovations. Deep tech ventures typically face long R&D cycles, high technical risk, and substantial capital requirements. However, existing funding pathways present a structural challenge: public research funding often stops short of commercialisation, while private capital tends to favour rapid returns over public good. This creates a funding paradox, particularly acute for founders aiming to scale while staying mission-aligned and purpose-first.
This project investigates whether alternative and social models of finance (such as impact investing, venture philanthropy, and blended finance) can be adapted to support deep tech ventures in moving from lab to market. While such models are increasingly used in social innovation and community enterprise contexts, they remain underexplored in the deep tech space. In partnership with Considered Capital, a leading intermediary organisation in alternative finance, which supports and educates purpose-led founders to align funding with values, this PhD will conduct qualitative research across two stages: (1) a macro-level mapping of the current funding ecosystem, and (2) micro-level case studies and interviews with founders, funders, and intermediaries.
The study aims to generate a typology of funding pathways, identify new models of practice, and offer
insights for theory, policy, and practice. It contributes to scholarship at the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation policy, and alternative finance, while informing new strategies for bridging the funding gap in deep tech. Findings will be shared through academic publications, practitioner resources, and policy engagement, co-developed with the collaborative partner.
Ultimately, this project seeks to shape a more inclusive, mission-aligned innovation ecosystem: one that enables scientific breakthroughs to reach society without compromising purpose for profit.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/glasgowhighlandsocietyscholarship/
The University of Glasgow is excited to promote this scholarship opportunity on behalf of the Glasgow Highland Society.
The Glasgow Highland Society is offering multiple grants of up to £500 for new and continuing students of Glasgow university who fit the eligibility requirements of the scholarship
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/gordonstudentshipinamericanstudies/
Each year the Centre for American Studies offers several modest partial fees-only American Studies postgraduate studentships at the university. These studentships are available to UK students, EU nationals and applicants from outside the EU wishing to study any aspect of American Studies at Masters level, including the American Studies MLitt and American Modern Literature MLitt, or at PhD level, with American Studies broadly defined, encompassing American culture, history and literature.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/greaterglasgowclydehealthcarecharity/
Greater Glasgow & Clyde Healthcare Charity (formerly the NHSGGC Endowment Fund) provides millions of pounds of charitable funding to projects that benefit staff and patients every year. These projects support the advancement of health and wellbeing by providing services and facilities to:
- Help improve the physical and mental health of the population
- Fund important health related research and innovation projects
- Support education and development.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/gyandhanscholarship/
The GyanDhan Scholarship 2026 is a test-based program for students across the globe, reflecting GyanDhan’s commitment to rewarding talent fairly. Open to students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, it supports higher studies in India and abroad, ensuring that ambition isn’t limited by past academic scores.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/johnbuchananrankintravelscholarship/
This scholarship is funded by a legacy to the School of Law from the estate of Mr John Buchanan Rankin. The scholarship funds international travel in connection with postgraduate programmes in commercial law at the University of Glasgow. The scholarship is awarded for a period not exceeding one year.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/karimjeeconservationscholarships/
The Karimjee Foundation offers two Karimjee Conservation Scholarships each year for Tanzanian nationals. The scholarship covers all fees and a living allowance (stipend) for studies while in Glasgow and for the additional year in Tanzania, including funds for an extended research project.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/lpdpscholarship/
LPDP Scholarship provides financial support to Indonesian citizens to pursue higher education at top universities around the world. LPDP provides full scholarships for postgraduate study, including tuition and living expenses, as well as partial scholarships.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/marshallsherfieldfellowship2025-closed/
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission will offer one Marshall Sherfield Fellowship for post-doctoral research in any area of science and engineering.
First awarded in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan and funded by the Marshall Sherfield Fellowship Foundation, the aim of the Marshall Sherfield Fellowships is to introduce American scientists and engineers to the cutting edge of UK science and engineering. It is intended to build long-term contacts and international links between the United Kingdom and the United States in key scientific areas. The wider objectives are similar to those of the Marshall Scholarships programme:
- To enable intellectually distinguished young Americans, their country's future leaders, to study in the UK.
- To help fellows gain an understanding and appreciation of contemporary Britain
- To contribute to the advancement of knowledge in science and technology at Britain's centres of academic excellence.
- To motivate fellows to act as ambassadors from the USA to the UK and vice versa throughout their lives thus strengthening British American understanding.
- To promote the personal and academic fulfilment of each fellow.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/maryelizabethrankintravelscholarship/
This scholarship is funded by a legacy to the School of Law from the estate of Mrs Mairi Rankin. The scholarship funds international travel in connection with postgraduate programmes in private international law at the University of Glasgow. The scholarship is awarded for a period not exceeding one year.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/postgraduatestudentloanscotlandandeu/
Eligible full-time and part-time students, undertaking an eligible postgraduate course, can apply for a tuition fee loan up to a maximum of £7,000 towards their course. Eligible full-time postgraduate students can apply for a living-cost loan of up to £4,500.
This support extends to online Masters or Postgraduate Diplomas, and not to the online Postgraduate Certificate courses.
For more information visit the SAAS website.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/raengmscmotorsportscholarship/
The MSc Motorsport Scholarship Programme, supported by Mission 44, helps UK-based students pursue a master’s degree in motorsport or a related field. Applicants must hold (or be completing) an undergraduate degree in engineering, a STEM subject, or a related field, and plan to study an MSc in motorsport or a related course in the UK for 2026/27. Graduates must have finished their undergraduate degree within the last five years and not already hold a Master’s or higher qualification in a related subject.
For more information please visit MSc Motorsport Scholarship Programme
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/saidfoundationscholarship/
The Saïd Foundation has offered educational scholarships and training opportunities since 1984. The programme aims to empower people through educational opportunities and to encourage the development of the Middle East. It is targeted towards outstanding individuals with leadership potential who will be drivers of positive change within our target countries of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.
There are no restrictions on academic subjects but candidates must demonstrate that their subject will enable them to contribute to the development of their home country.
Saïd Foundation scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit and applications are carefully considered by officers and trustees of the Foundation and external assessors.
Applications for 2026/2027 academic year are now open.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/saintandrewssocietyofthestateofnewyorkscholarship/
For the academic year 2026 the Society will offer Scholarships to the total value of $90,000 to enable Scottish graduates to study for a year in the United States. Up to two Scholarships will be offered of up to $45,000 each.
Preference will be given to candidates who have no previous experience of the United States and for whom a period of study there can be expected to be a life-changing experience. Selection will be on the basis of an all-round assessment, including character, experience and academic achievement and need.
The selection process is conducted by Scholarship Committee of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/scottishpowermasterscholarship/
ScottishPower will provide scholarships for the 2026/27 academic year for postgraduate studies at universities in the United Kingdom in the following areas of knowledge:
- Electrical / Mechanical / Civil / Electronic Engineering
- Data / Cyber / Cyber Security / Telecoms / Business Analytics / Cloud Computing
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/theadiandiscawittenbergscholarship/
In 2025, one person will be supported with a Wittenberg Scholarship to study for a first degree or equivalent professional qualification. The Scholarship will focus on mental health related degree courses such as mental health nursing, psychology, or social work.
The scholarship will pay home tuition fees* and associated study costs. The specific amount awarded will be dependent on the candidate’s individual circumstances and university location.
*The Trust will help candidates who are successful at interview to negotiate home fees from their chosen university. The final award of a Wittenberg Scholarship will be dependent on successfully getting a ‘home’ tuition fee offer.
Please click here for more information: The Adi and Isca Wittenberg Scholarship
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/theanndodgsonfoundationgrant/
Young people between 16-25 years of age whose intentions for the grant fall within the Foundation's Aims are encouraged to apply for a grant. Through the provision of grants, The Ann Dodgson Foundation endeavours to further the following aims:
To advance in life and help young people in particular by:
- encouraging young people in the United Kingdom to be comfortable beyond the boundaries of their own culture and by promoting French culture.
- helping young people as well as aspiring, training and practising teachers and others involved in education, to enjoy, understand and be inspired by France – its people, its language, its history and its culture.
- helping young people learn about the United Nations – its Charter, its purpose, its range and its value.
- advancing the education of young people in the subject of France – its people, its language, its history and its culture.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/thechinascholarshipcouncil/
This scheme provides academically excellent Chinese students with the opportunity to study for a PhD at the University of Glasgow. The scholarships are supported jointly by the China Scholarship Council and the University of Glasgow
For successful applicants, the applicable College/School will provide scholarships to cover tuition fees, and the CSC will consider their application for a living allowance as set by the Chinese Government (which includes Student Health cover), a return airfare from China to the UK by the most economical route, and visa application fees.
The scholarships will be awarded to citizens and permanent residents of the People's Republic of China at the time of application that are accepted for admission on a full-time basis for a postgraduate PhD degree programme at the University of Glasgow.
Candidates should not be currently working outside China at the time of application, and successful candidates must agree to return to China upon completion of their research degree at the University of Glasgow. Candidates currently studying outside China are eligible to apply.
•High achieving Chinese students only.
•Full tuition fees.
•All studentships are funded for 3 years.
•Applications will be judged in terms of qualifications and the quality of the proposed project.
•All applications are reviewed and decided by the School funding panel. Only applicants nominated by the relevant College Graduate office will be eligible for the tuition fee waiver.
•Applications approved by the School are subject to further approval by the China Scholarship Council
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/thecoltfoundationphdfellowship/
The Colt Foundation is interested in high quality research projects in the field of occupational and environmental health, particularly those aimed at discovering the causes of illnesses arising from conditions in the workplace.
The Foundation also makes grants each year to PhD students whose subject is relevant to this field of research. The grant is normally for three years, and the stipend rate for the first year is £15,285 rising with inflation for the following two years. Payments will include UK/EU fees and overseas students applying would be expected to meet the difference in UK/EU and International Rates. A sum towards research expenses will also be available.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/thedatalabmasterscholarship/
It takes more than good academic and technical skills to start your career in data and AI. You must also communicate well, have real-world experience, and have a good network. You need to prove that you are innovative, ethical, and employable.
We provide scholarship funding that covers your MSc fees and includes access to our dynamic programme of workshops, networking events, masterclasses and a residential innovation challenge to support your professional development.
Participating in the programme also allows you to apply for a paid industrial placement, putting you in an ideal position to get the best possible graduate job.
For more information, please visit Data and AI MSc Scholarships in Scotland | The Data Lab
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/thesnowdontrustmastersscholarship/
The Snowdon Trust Master’s Scholarship is accelerating exceptional Disabled Students through masters’ programmes into leadership positions to create change.
Do you have ambitions to change the world? Are you pioneering in your field? Are you creating change for Disabled People? Let us open some doors.
We are searching for individuals who choose to use their lived experience of disabling barriers to make a difference. To create change.
Please see Snowdon Trust, Investing in Disabled Students website for more details.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/uofg-usydcollaborativephdscholarship-caughtinthesludgelegibilityandtheaccessibilityofenergysupportinaustraliaandgreatbritain/
Project details
Energy poverty remains a growing issue as cost-of-living rises and extreme weather events increase. Policies for energy poverty relief are becoming more common. However, as with other types of public programs, accessing these supports can be its own challenge. Administrative burdens can form a 'sludge' that inhibits access to relief, such as complex paperwork, intrusive checks, and hard-to navigate websites. In Great Britain, an estimated £722 million for the Warm Homes Discount will go unclaimed in 2025/2026, despite average electricity debts of £1,749 per household, and in Australia an estimated 19 – 38% of households are not receiving energy concessions they are eligible for.
In this unique PhD programme, jointly supervised between the University of Glasgow and University of Sydney, you will use framings of administrative burden and Design Thinking to develop your own independent investigation to answer the question: where do current systems place additional burdens on the most vulnerable, who is bearing these, and how could these burdens be alleviated?
Administrative burdens in energy systems are only just starting to be understood, and these burdens and their impacts are highly specific to jurisdictional design of social policy and electricity regulation. While support for the essential service of energy could be improved, it sits within a complex web of policies of different designs. People experiencing energy poverty may simultaneously be navigating challenges such as insecure housing or caring responsibilities. In this project, you would use Design Thinking as a novel way to examine policy re-design through an approach grounded in empathy and understanding complexity. You will have the opportunity to examine Australia and Great Britain as a cross-case comparison, given richness by the differences in policy design for energy poverty relief across two places with similar electricity market designs. Importantly, both countries have substantial ongoing policy reform, such as the Better Consumer Energy Experiences review in Australia, and Review of the Fuel Poverty Strategy in England. Project findings could directly inform policy design changes to alleviate burdens.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Professor Harriet Thomson (UofG)
Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Lee White (USYD), Dr Assel Mussagulova (USYD) & Dr Hannah Salamon (UofG)
About the School/Research Unit
This PhD will be jointly hosted by the University of Glasgow and the University of Sydney, with a multidisciplinary supervisory team comprising Professor Harriet Thomson (UofG), Dr Lee White (USYD), Dr Assel Mussagulova (USYD), and Dr Hannah Salamon (UofG).
The project sits within the public policy cluster in the Government and International Relations discipline at USYD, in the School of Social and Political Sciences, and within the Urban Studies and Social Policy discipline at UofG, also in a School of Social and Political Sciences, with associated methodological expertise and mentorship opportunities beyond the core supervisory team. It is also closely aligned with the Sydney Environment Institute, Glasgow Centre for Sustainable Energy, and the Centre for Public Policy, all of which offer wider opportunities for research training and mentorship, as well as Early Career Researcher networks
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/uofg-usydcollaborativephdscholarship-weaponisingcriminallawnationalsecuritydissentandconstitutionalprotectionsinsouthasia/
Project details
Recent years have seen governments across South Asia suppressing dissent through the use of colonial era criminal laws such as the laws of sedition and conspiracy. These have also been combined with laws which permit measures such as preventive detention under emergency powers. In such a situation the question arises of how constitutional protections might be used to fight back against such measures. While the use of such 'weaponised' criminal laws and emergency powers are often seen as extraordinary measures, they can instead be seen as a continuation of colonial powers as post-colonial states draw on and reconstitute the resources of colonial era statutes and laws to suppress dissent. As a continuation of imperial logic, these laws sustain a normative argument that privileges state security over individual liberty, embedding authoritarian tendencies within democratic frameworks.
The project would thus explore four inter-related questions:
- First, how such colonial era laws are being weaponised, and how emergency powers are being used in South Asia, in order to develop a picture of how the law is being used in different states.
- Second, how national security is understood and how this shapes the interpretation of constitutional protections in post-colonial states.
- Third, the project would explore the history of criminal laws such as the laws of sedition and conspiracy in the colonial and post-colonial eras, in both South Asian jurisdictions and the UK, to understand how such laws have been interpreted and used over time.
- Finally, the project would look at the question what it would mean to truly decolonise law and legal thought. The project thus aims to illuminate an important yet neglected dimension of comparative constitutionalism which is how colonial legal inheritances, far from being discarded, have been weaponized in ways that reshape the contours of democracy, rights, and accountability in the Global South.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Professor Lindsay Farmer (UofG)
Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Arlie Loughnan (USYD), Dr Paul Scott (UofG) & Professor Tyrone Kirchengast (USYD)
About the School/Research Unit
This PhD opportunity brings together the expertise of two globally renowned institutions - University of Glasgow's School of Law and the Sydney Law School - offering an unparalleled research environment. Glasgow Law School is a leading UK centre for scholarship in both criminal law and public law providing a supportive environment for postgraduate scholars. The University is also home to the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) which provides a rich interdisciplinary network. Sydney Law School is home to world-leading scholars in criminal law and criminal justice. Students benefit from a vibrant seminar scheme and visitor program and the School hosts two major research hubs: the Sydney Law School Centre for Asian and Pacific Law and the Sydney Institute of Criminology.
The project provides a unique chance to investigate the relationship between criminal law, public law and postcolonial theory across two leading institutions, under the guidance of an excellent supervision team with extensive research networks.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/usyduofgjointphdscholarshiplivingwithprintintheeighteenthcentury/
Information on the School/Research Groups:
The University of Sydney's School of Art Communication and English explores how people perceive the world and express themselves through various literary, verbal, visual, digital, and performative modes. This project is located in the discipline of English and Writing, which hosts a significant concentration of research expertise in eighteenth and nineteenth century literary studies. The student will join a large and vibrant cohort of doctoral researchers characterised by collaboration, intellectual exchange, and strong peer networks.
The University of Glasgow's School of Critical Studies reflects a core commitment to criticism, textual interpretation and the analysis of language, over diverse but inter-related subject areas. This project will be based in the English Literature subject area and the student will work with the Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Studies research cluster, which comprises a significant concentration of world-leading scholars. The cluster includes a strong cohort of doctoral researchers, supported by the University’s world-class Archives and Special Collections holdings in eighteenth-century and Romantic-period material.
Abstract:
We invite applications from qualified candidates who wish to complete a fully-funded doctorate examining the diverse ways in which eighteenth-century readers lived actively with print. The project will focus on underutilised archival materials—including manuscript commonplace books, annotated copies, collections of anecdotes, scrapbooks, and albums—to explore how reading practices extended beyond passive consumption to encompass a wide range of dynamic engagements with texts and with the material forms of books. By tracing practices of annotation, excerpting, compilation, and reuse, this PhD will provide opportunities to shed new light on how eighteenth-century readers actively participated in knowledge circulation and the production of literary meaning.
Bringing new materials into the centre of analysis will allow the project to develop a rich account of reading as a creative and materially embedded practice, contributing to broader debates in eighteenth-century studies, book history, and the history of reading about the entangled relationships between manuscript, print, and lived experience. The student will be guided by two experienced supervisors, Nicola Parsons (Sydney) and Matthew Sangster (Glasgow), but will have considerable scope for shaping the project based on their interests.
The project takes full advantage of the Sydney–Glasgow joint PhD structure to bring together unique archival holdings and specialised scholarly expertise. The successful applicant will spend the first year undertaking a literature review and initial archival work in Sydney, followed by a substantial period of research in Glasgow engaging with extensive eighteenth-century collections held across Scotland and the UK, before returning to Sydney for a final year of intensive writing and synthesis. This structure supports a research approach that reconnects geographically dispersed but methodologically connected materials, allowing for an analytical breadth that would not be possible within a single institutional or national context. The student's studies will also incorporate extensive opportunities for professional development, including bespoke training in rare book and manuscript studies; public-facing writing; and collaborations with cultural heritage professionals on physical and digital exhibitions.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/usyd-uofgcollaborativephdscholarship-designingpolicywithlivedexperiencevisualisationstorytellingandtheproductionofpolicyknowledge/
Project details
This PhD investigates how design-led approaches can reshape the epistemic foundations of policymaking, enabling lived experience to become a more active, legitimate and generative form of policy knowledge. Whilst there is growing recognition that effective and equitable policy should reflect the experiences of those impacted, lived experience is often incorporated in limited or extractive ways. Simultaneously, policymaking is increasingly structured around data practices that privilege abstraction, marginalising experiential, relational, and situated forms of knowing.
This project seeks to understand and prototype novel approaches to designing policy with lived experience. Building on existing links between Sydney Policy Lab (SPL) and the Centre for Public Policy the project will embed design-led interventions within existing research initiatives that have explicit policy aims and strong community engaged focai. At SPL, projects will be selected from across four core programs: Communities and Universities, Good Childhood, Inequalities and Poverty, and Australia's Relational Economy, each of which explores how policy, institutions, and everyday life interact. At the CPP, the policy labs will build upon existing work on poverty and inequality, examining how fragmented policy systems shape social outcomes, and the use of composite story methodology grounded in lived experience.
Design is positioned as a mediating practice capable of producing new policy spaces in which different forms of knowledge can meet, be negotiated and shape policy together. Drawing on the disciplinary expertise of the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, the project will employ visual mapping, storytelling and co-design to examine how lived experience is articulated, visualised, legitimised, and translated within policy systems.
The project brings together scholarship on public engagement, policy design, participatory governance, design ethnography, data visualisation and narrative theory. It considers visual storytelling and design not as neutral communication tools but as epistemic and political drivers that shape what is seen, valued and acted upon in policy.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Leigh-Anne Hepburn (USYD)
Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Kate Harrison Brennan (USYD), Dr Claire MacRae (UofG) & Professor Nicola McEwan (UofG)
About the School/Research Unit
The Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning hosts a dynamic community of research groups who respond to contemporary challenges through expertise in architecture, design, and urbanism, including the Civic and Social Design Research Group who explore how design shapes equitable, inclusive, and participatory futures. This PhD is also supported through partnership with Sydney Policy Lab, a multidisciplinary institute that brings community members and academics together to set the agenda for transformative public policy.
Based in the College of Social Sciences (CoSS), the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) at the University of Glasgow brings together experts across disciplines, sectors and communities to help policymakers deal with the many challenges they face by connecting research, policy and practice. The Centre brings together a diverse community of researchers and affiliates who examine complex policy challenges such as climate change, economy, poverty and inequality, migration, public administration, multi level governance, and intergovernmental relations.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/usyd-uofgcollaborativephdscholarship-epistemicinfrastructuresofplanetaryhealthgovernanceinsoutheastasia/
Project details
This project examines how knowledge systems shape planetary health governance in Southeast Asia. As the region faces climate change and ecological degradation, it is pertinent to understand the implications of new ‘green’ and ‘smart’ development initiatives that are presented as planetary health interventions though often involve massive land transformation, environmental destruction, and displacement of local and indigenous communities. The project focuses on the concept of ‘epistemic infrastructure’, which relates to the material, institutional, and discursive systems that determine what counts as evidence, who qualifies as expert, and how knowledge circulates. It investigates how these infrastructures mediate between local environmental knowledge and global planetary health frameworks, and how epistemic authority is geographically and geopolitically distributed. Central research questions include:
- How do epistemic injustices shape whose futures are imagined in planetary health governance?
- What knowledge forms become invisible in policy processes?
- How might alternative epistemic infrastructures enable more just, pluralistic governance?
Drawing on science and technology studies, global governance scholarship, and multispecies ethnography, the project positions Southeast Asia not merely as vulnerable to climate change but also as a laboratory for interventions. This framing challenges universalising Anthropocene narratives and contributes to decolonising planetary health scholarship. Case studies will examine controversial sustainable development projects ( for instance Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City, Malaysia’s Forest City, or the Philippines’ New Clark City). Promising ‘green’ and ‘smart’ designs, these projects exemplify how techno-scientific knowledge legitimises large-scale interventions while marginalising alternative ways of knowing and living with environmental change. By revealing how epistemic infrastructures produce uneven governance outcomes, the research aims to make visible the power relations embedded in knowledge production and open pathways toward more equitable planetary health futures
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Professor Sonja van Wichelen (USYD)
Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Sotiria Grek (UofG), Dr Sophie Chao (USYD) & Dr Emiline Smith (UofG)
About the School/Research Unit
The School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney is a leading social science environment, focusing on five research themes: health, markets, governance, inequality and environment. This School is proudly home to one of the most successful academic groups in the world for research and teaching in the social sciences, and their work interprets and makes sense of societies, nation states and people.
In conjunction with two Multi-Disciplinary Initiatives at the University of Sydney, namely the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) and the Charles Perkins Centre (CPC), the School of Social and Political Sciences is seeking a PhD candidate. You will work with Professor Sonja van Wichelen and Dr. Sophie Chao, conducting research focused on the social, political, and epistemic aspects of planetary health governance in Southeast Asia. This is an exciting opportunity to work closely with a multidisciplinary research team, advancing knowledge in both science and technology studies and medical/public health research. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to share their work within a vibrant PhD community at the MDI level (SSEAC and CPC), School level (SSPS), and Discipline level (Sociology and Anthropology).
https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/usyd-uofgcollaborativephdscholarship-responsibleaiforactionablehomelessnessinterventionacrosswelfareregimes/
Project details
Frontline homelessness workers face daily decisions about allocating scarce housing resources and selecting support pathways that offer the best prospects for sustained stability. Contemporary artificial intelligence applications in this domain have focused predominantly on risk prediction—identifying individuals likely to experience adverse outcomes. However, prediction alone fails to address the question most critical to practitioners and policymakers: what intervention would actually help? This research develops a novel class of responsible AI algorithms that move beyond risk scoring toward actionable, feasible intervention design. The framework generates counterfactual explanations identifying the minimal combination of service modifications—such as adjusting referral timing, altering case management intensity, or restructuring support sequencing—required to meaningfully improve housing stability outcomes. Unlike existing explainable AI methods that recommend changes to single features in isolation without optimality guarantees, the proposed algorithms model interaction effects between interventions and identify optimal combinations while respecting operational constraints. A central methodological innovation is the cross-national comparative framework, developing and testing the approach across Australia's liberal welfare regime and the United Kingdom's social welfare model. The framework embeds three responsible AI principles: interaction modelling capturing synergies and conflicts between interventions; uncertainty quantification providing reliability bounds for decision-makers; and equity auditing preventing systematic disadvantage to marginalised populations. Through participatory co-design with service providers, the research ensures algorithmic recommendations reflect operational realities and community values.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Dr Rosa Taghikhah (USYD)
Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Bowei Chen (UofG), Professor Junbin Gao (USYD) & Dr Anupam Singh (UofG)
About the School/Research Unit
The University of Sydney Business School is a leading business school in the Asia-Pacific region, home to a vibrant research community in data science, analytics, and computational social science. The Research Discipline of Business Analytics specialises in machine learning, optimisation, and AI-driven decision support. The supervisory team at USYD (Dr Rosa Taghikhah and Professor Junbin Gao) brings expertise in AI and algoritm development.
The Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow is a triple-accredited (AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA) business school with internationally recognised research in management science, data analytics, and decision-making under uncertainty. The supervisory team at UofG (Professor Bowei Chen and Dr Anupam Singh) brings expertise in AI applied to business and societal challenges.
Together, the two institutions provide a rich cross-disciplinary and cross-national research environment for the successful candidate.
