Supervisors

Prospective supervisors to be named as part of the application 

Exeter’s Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is offering up to three fully funded Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships in the Humanities, open to Home and International fee-paying candidates for study commencing in September 2025.

The research must be in the area(s) of history, literature or languages. The Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships defines these fields broadly and accepts inter-/multi-disciplinary studies. These fields are outlined as including:

·         History: As well as broad-based historical and historiographical studies, this may include such areas as classics, history of art, visual culture, or architectural history, provided the research is grounded within historical methodology.

·         Literature: As well as literary and textual studies, this may include research that involves critical theory, theatre, film and other visual media, provided there is a literary element within the research (e.g. translation of literature to screen). It excludes creative writing.

·         Languages: Research should be in applied languages other than English. It may involve the study of literary or historical texts, theatre, film or other visual media, translation, or the philosophy of language, provided that the research is focused primarily on a language other than English. It excludes linguistics.

Exeter is a centre for world-leading research across the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Our departments are consistently placed at the top of national and international rankings. These Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships could be located in the following departments:

• Arab and Islamic Studies
• Archaeology and History
• Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology
• Communications, Drama and Film
• English and Creative Writing
• Humanities and Social Sciences, Penryn (Cornwall)
• Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies
• Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology

Exeter is a portal to a rich variety of research resources offering unique archives in medieval and modern history, modern and contemporary literature and film. Dynamic partnerships with arts, culture and heritage organisations – British Museum, Historic England, London Film School, National Trust, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Tate Britain among many others – give our researchers access to a remarkable range of research collections and facilities.

Exeter offers PhD students exceptional support:

• A teamed approach to supervision combining research expertise from across our disciplines and access to a pastoral tutor
• A dedicated Doctoral College, a single point-of-contact for all programme and practical needs
• Access to a Digital Humanities Lab
• Research and career development opportunities within the Faculty and across the University
• Dedicated study space for HASS postgraduates
• A well-established postgraduate research culture including conferences, seminars and journals
• Funding opportunities for individual research needs

Awards will be granted to the strongest applicants based on an assessment of the applicant’s

·         Academic excellence

·         Research potential

·         Research proposal

·         Fit with research environment and supervision team

Applications will be assessed in line with the university’s commitment to supporting equality, diversity and inclusivity in postgraduate research.

Duration and value of award

The studentship will be for a period of up to 3 years (36 months), dependent on satisfactory progress, and provides funding of £36,250 per year. This funding will cover full tuition fees in the first instance and the remaining balance of funding will be provided to support maintenance, research, travel and training costs incurred during the student’s studies. The allocation of this funding is at the discretion of the student.

For international fee-paying students, as tuition fee costs are higher and will take up a greater portion of the funding award, the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences will provide a top-up for the maintenance element to bring this up to the UKRI minimum stipend level of £19,237 (2024/25 rate).

The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences will also provide, as part of this studentship, additional funds for international fee-paying students to help with visa fees and health surcharge costs. Successful applicants will need to initially pay the costs of these fees themselves and top-up funding to cover these costs will be provided upon registration with the University.

Please note that this studentship does not include funding for travel to the UK to take up this studentship, successful applicants must be prepared to cover these costs themselves.  

Residency Entry Requirements

*UK and international

*This studentship, including full tuition fees and maintenance allowance, is available to UK and International candidates.

For further information on research opportunities in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences please contact Dr Jonathan Doney, HASS Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research: j.doney@exeter.ac.uk.   

Entry requirements

Applicants should have at a minimum a good first degree (at least 2.1, or international equivalent) in a relevant field of humanities, and have obtained, or be currently working towards a Master's degree at Merit level, or international equivalent, in a relevant discipline. Evidence of relevant professional expertise can also be taken into consideration. 

How to apply

Apply now

To apply, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button above. You will be asked to submit the following by 17 February 2025:  

·         A research proposal of 1,500-2,000 words (exclusive of bibliography), with supervisors agreed in principle

·         A 200-500 word statement on your fit with the department/Faculty research culture and your prospective supervision team. You should also name which programme of study you are applying for

·         A CV

·         Proof of academic track record (transcripts/certificates)

·         Two references, at least one to be an academic reference

·         Proof of your English language proficiency, if relevant

Please submit all documents, apart from your references and degree transcripts, as one combined file and submit this against the research proposal section of the application form.

All application documents must be submitted in English. Certified translated copies of academic qualifications must also be provided.

Please note that we will seek a supporting statement from named prospective supervisors for all shortlisted candidates as part of the final assessment process.

Please quote reference 5317 on your application and in any correspondence about this studentship.

Reference information
It is your responsibility to ensure that your referees email their references to PGRApplicants@exeter.ac.uk, as we will not make requests for references directly; you must arrange for them to be submitted by 17 February 2025.  Please note that applications with missing documentation will not progress to shortlisting.

References should be in the form of a letter. Referees must email their references to us from their institutional email accounts. We cannot accept references from personal/private email accounts, unless it is a scanned document on institutional headed paper and signed by the referee.

No interviews will be held for these studentships. We expect to be able to communicate outcomes to all applicants by the end of April 2025.

Summary