Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities PhD Scholarships
Please note, you can apply to the PhD programme at GSA at any time before 28 June 2024 for September 2024 entry but will not be eligible for this scholarship after November 2023.
The Glasgow School of Art is part of a consortium of ten Higher Education institutions in Scotland which has been awarded funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to support postgraduate doctoral studentships and training.
Eligibility: You must have an offer of a place on our PhD programme in order to apply for this studentship. While you can apply for a place on our PhD programme at any time, in order to apply for this specific funding stream you must have applied to GSA by Monday 27th November 2023 by 12 noon at the very latest and be able for interview via Zoom in the week commencing 4th December 2023.
The studentships are being awarded as part of the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) scheme, which forms part of the wider Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH).
Further details of the Doctoral Training Partnership are available here:
Under the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) scheme, the consortium - comprised of The Glasgow School of Art, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Highlands and Islands, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Stirling and Strathclyde will consider applications for doctoral studentship awards in the majority of Arts and Humanities subjects.
Postgraduate research candidates applying for admission to The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) may be eligible for a studentship from the AHRC. GSA has a vibrant research community reflecting the diverse expertise of its members and the disciplines it brings together. It encourages applications from applicants who have research interests aligning with (or across) GSA's four Schools:
- The School of Fine Art
- The School of Design
- The Mackintosh School of Architecture
- The School of Innovation and Technology
Are you eligible?
Successful candidates will typically hold a relevant First Class Honours degree (such as BA, BMus, BSc, MA) and preferably a similar calibre of Masters degree (or equivalent relevant professional experience if you have been out of education for more than five years). There is further information on eligibility at:
The application process
Stage 1
To apply for the AHRC DTP Studentship, you must first apply for admission for an eligible PhD programme of study at GSA. You must make your PhD programme application in full by Monday 27 November by 12 noon at the very latest (the earlier the better).
Please ensure that all supporting documentation (e.g. research proposal, references, transcripts etc.) are uploaded with your application. It is also important that you make clear on your application that you intend to apply for AHRC DTP studentship under the 'Funding' section. This will allow us to track the progress of your PhD application alongside your AHRC DTP studentship application and ensure these are processed in time for consideration within the tight selection timescale.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
AHRC DTP studentship applications that do not have a matching PhD programme application will not be considered.
Please note that GSA is closed between Monday 18 December 2023 and Wednesday 3rd January 2024. If you would like to discuss your application with potential supervisors, or have any enquiries you wish to discuss with the PhD Co-ordinator in the School to which you are applying, please do so well before the Winter closure.
Stage 2
Applicants must then complete and submit the SGSAH scholarship application by email to the Research Office at research@gsa.ac.uk by no later than Thursday 4 January 2024. Applications received after this date will not be considered.
The AHRC DTP studentship application form and guidelines can be downloaded from the SGSAH website: https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/prospective/dtp/howtoapply/#/
Please refer to the AHRC DTP studentship application guidance and complete each section of the application form as instructed.
Please note that the Institutional Statement of Support and Nominating Member of Staff details are not required at this stage.
The GSA Selection Panel will meet in early January 2024 to select applications to go forward to the SGSAH for consideration.
Applicants will be notified by late January 2024 if they have been selected to go forward to the SGSAH AHRC studentship selection panels.
The SGSAH marking criteria for AHRC DTP Studentships will be used by the GSA Selection Panel. The Panel will rank the applications in relation to the criteria outlined in the AHRC DTP guidance on the SGSAH website http://www.sgsah.ac.uk/dtp/
Stage 3
If selected / shortlisted by GSA, you and your potential/proposed Primary PhD supervisor will be requested to work up the AHRC studentship application form and Institutional Statement of Support.
The AHRC studentship application must be submitted as an online version through the SGSAH Portal, along with 3 PDF documents - the Institutional Statement of Support, a copy of your conditional/unconditional PhD offer and the transcript(s) of your previous qualifications.
The SGSAH Portal will be open for the first two weeks of February 2024.
The SGSAH Panels will then consider the applications as per the review process outlined on their website. Final results will be announced by the SGSAH by April / May 2024.
Any questions?
If you have an academic enquiry or questions about this process please contact the relevant School PhD Co-ordinator for the programme for which you wish to apply:
The School of Fine Art - Dr Laura Guy - L.Guy@gsa.ac.uk
The School of Innovation and Technology - Prof. Lynn-Sayers McHattie - L.McHattie@gsa.ac.uk and Prof. Steve Love - S.Love@gsa.ac.uk
The School of Design - Dr Elizabeth Hodson - E.Hodson@gsa.ac.uk
Mackintosh School of Architecture - Dr Dave Loder: d.loder@gsa.ac.uk
