Applications are invited from students keen to join Kent Law School’s vibrant postgraduate research community with a broad choice of studentships available to fund full-time PhD studies.
Ranked 6th best law school in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Kent students enjoy a diverse intellectual environment for research, in which traditional and critical legal scholarship, theoretical and empirical work, and interdisciplinary studies all flourish.
Amongst the studentships available for students wishing to begin their studies in September 2015, there are: five awarded by the University in celebration of its 50th Anniversary; three awarded by Kent Law School; two awarded to home/EU applicants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) via the South East Doctoral Training College; and a Larry Grant Award is offered for projects in the areas of human rights and criminal justice (covering fees and a stipend).
Opportunities also exist for home/EU applicants to apply for studentships under the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South East (CHASE). CHASE was awarded a £17 million Doctoral Training Partnership by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in October 2013. Kent’s partners include The Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmiths, the Open University, and the Universities of East Anglia, Essex, and Sussex. CHASE studentships, awarded for interdisciplinary research in law and one or more of the humanities, offer students a wide range of exciting opportunities to gain professional experience, work across institutions and disciplines, and acquire advanced research skills.
Any funding will be available for one year in the first instance, and extended for a second and third year providing verifiable progress has been made. Unless otherwise indicated successful applicants for the studentships will receive a maintenance grant equivalent to that currently offered by the ESRC and a fee grant which will fully cover tuition fees, paid either at the home/EU or the overseas rate.
Students awarded a University of Kent or Kent Law School studentship may be expected to do some teaching on an undergraduate law module, at the direction of the Head of School.
Applicants are expected to submit a high quality research proposal which addresses issues such as the current state of debate in their chosen field, their proposed research questions and the research methodologies they hope to use to address these research questions. Staff have a broad range of research interests, and the School has significant expertise in critical and interdisciplinary legal research. The School particularly welcomes research proposals in socio-legal and critical legal studies.
Those appointed to research studentships are provided with computing facilities and shared office facilities. There is also substantial annual funding available, within determined limits, (including for those PhD students without studentships), to attend conferences and present their research. The community of postgraduate students is provided with a common room and a facilitator to help them present, explore and develop their research ideas within a supportive community of their peers.
Postgraduate students at Kent also take a compulsory research methods module, together with an anchor workshop offered by the Graduate School as part of their Transferable Skills Programme. Many students also participate in regular reading groups.
For details of entry requirements and to make an application, please visit our website. Informal enquiries may be directed to the Directors of Postgraduate Research, Dr Donatella Alessandrini, Dr Emily Grabham or Dr Emily Haslam, via klspgstudentships@kent.ac.uk
The deadline for applications for CHASE studentships is 14 January 2015. The deadline for all other applications is 31 January 2015 but applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by 16 January 2015.
Postgraduate funding at Kent Law School forms part of an £8.5million scholarship fund available at the University of Kent and also includes opportunities for LLM students.