The British Society of Aesthetics proposes to award up to three PhD studentship full-time maintenance grants, plus tuition fees up to the maximum for UK/EU students, from September 2015 for up to three years.

The award is designed to support promising students of philosophical aesthetics by enabling them to pursue full time doctoral research.  The maintenance grant mirrors the AHRC’s studentship award. Rates for 2015-16 have not yet been announced but, for comparison, the 2014-15 maintenance award for full-time students was £13,863 (or within the City of London or the Metropolitan Police district £15,863).

Candidates for the studentship must be UK or EU citizens who are already accepted on to a PhD programme at a British university at the time of application, to research on a subject that falls within the remit of the British Society of Aesthetics. The proposed research must have a strong philosophical component.  For students with a conditional offer, any award made shall be conditional upon acceptance onto the PhD programme.

Application deadline: 30 April 2015

Requirements

Applications should be in the form of ONE document (Word or PDF) which includes ALL of the following:

  • a CV (include all academic qualifications to date and grades achieved)
  • a statement of proposed research (max 1,500 words)
  • a personal statement on how the proposed research relates to your previous philosophical career and interests, and how your project connects to the BSA’s remit (max 1,000 words)

In addition to the application, the following must be supplied:

  • TWO references which the applicant should ensure are received by the Society by the same deadline (your nominated referees should send these separately, direct to the BSA)
  • An official letter/email confirming acceptance of the candidate on to the PhD programme in the department in which the candidate proposes to hold the studentship (a scanned copy is acceptable).

All the above should be sent via email to Caroline Auty, BSA Manager: admin@british-aesthetics.org

Short-listed candidates will be invited to submit a piece of written work of (maximum 7,500 words) after this date.

Members of the BSA Trustees Committee will assess the applications received in consultation with one or more external readers. The BSA will endeavour to communicate the result of the competition to applicants by the end of July, but no later than the end of August. The BSA reserves the right not to make an award.

Conditions

It is a condition of application to the BSA, and should be confirmed in the covering email, that:

  1. candidates who are eligible to apply to the AHRC’s PhD studentship scheme have done so if a studentship is available, and
  2. candidates have applied to any other funding schemes available at the relevant institution.

If any such applications are successful, the amount of the BSA scholarship, if awarded, will be reduced by the amount of the other award(s).

The successful candidate(s) will be expected to complete a PhD, or be very close to completion, by the end of the award period, and to provide brief progress reports to the Society in August each year.