Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarships

Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarships

About us

Transforming Lives Through Excellent Education

London Met is an extraordinary institution. Equity and social inclusion have always been our driving principles, and it's what makes the University so unique. Our organisation is distinctive, both in its eclectic and diverse community of students and staff, and for its historical role in serving some of London's most deprived boroughs. Everything we do is underpinned by our philosophy that an individual should have the opportunity to transform their life through the power of education. Equipping our students with the tools for their future is at the heart of our academic offering. We pride ourselves on providing our students with access to a wealth of opportunities and professions. Our graduates benefit personally, but also contribute their unique perspectives to society, culture, public service, and the economy in all areas of London, the UK and around the world.

Research is a core part of life at London Met and informs all that we do, from teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses to supervising students on PhD and Professional Doctorate programmes. Students and staff at London Met research into innovative and impactful fields of enquiry, often driven by a desire to understand and address the cultural, political, socio-economic and scientific factors which lead to inequalities we see in society today.

The Vice-Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship fund aims to provide opportunities for those who may not otherwise have the means to pursue a full-time PhD and who wish to embark on research which is new, challenging and exciting and which pursues important questions that speak to our strategy for impactful Research and Knowledge Exchange and are driven by our values and mission to create equity, support diversity and inclusion. 

We invite candidates to apply for one of up to ten fully funded Postgraduate Scholarships for a period of up to four years’ support to complete a full-time PhD with us.

Candidates should contribute to our Race Equity agenda and enhance our intellectual life. These new colleagues and students will work on topics that align with our transformative agenda; they will be afforded the opportunity to interact with students (as tutors, lecturers, or mentors); and their contribution for students should bring something new to our curriculum.

Benefits

The successful candidates will be supported to achieve Associate Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy and will have access to the necessary teaching experience to achieve this.

The Vice-Chancellor's scholars are expected to undertake the in-house Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education module entitled Facilitating Student Learning (FSL) which typically runs from the end of October to the middle of February. The aim of this requirement is to enhance scholarship outcomes for the candidates by providing a foundation in contemporary practice in learning and teaching in higher education.

Successful completion of this module will enable students to qualify for the Associate Fellowship at Advance HE (AFHEA). As part of the requirements for the AFHE award, students need to be engaged in teaching or learning support sessions for at least 20 hours. Typically, this will be two hours per week with at least some of the hours running concurrently with the FSL module. The teaching/ learning support allocation will be arranged at a school level, as appropriate.

A work placement of up to three months may be included as a part of the PhD journey if it enhances the research outcomes and/or the career prospects of the student. It has to be accommodated withing the four years of maximum funding.

Those who are offered a post will also be given support to attend conferences and publish papers.

Successful candidates will also be given the opportunity to gain experience supporting various research fora and committees and be involved in University-wide research activity, initiatives and events.

Each scholarship will come with a fee waiver and a stipend of £23,000 per annum, a figure that is based on a London Living Wage rate of £11.95 per hour for 37 hours per week and 52 weeks per year net.

This funding will be available for a maximum of four years.

Criteria

All successful candidates will have an excellent degree in a subject relevant to the topic applied for. An excellent Master’s degree will be considered highly desirable. Those with alternative professional or occupational experience will also be considered in lieu of Master’s level qualifications.

Candidates must be available to undertake a full-time research degree beginning in October 2023 (a January 2024 start will also be considered upon request).

Projects

Projects are listed by Academic School. Six projects are led by multidisciplinary supervisory teams and are also listed separately. These can be found on our website.

Application process

The application process consists of two stages, the initial competition with a short research proposal and the official application through our usual system with a full research proposal for autumn 2023 start. Successful candidates must pass both stages.

Stage 1

All candidates must provide:

• A short cover letter outlining the motivation for applying (maximum one side of A4)
• A 300-500 word proposal that directly addresses the contribution they will make to the particular project. Candidates may only apply for one project.
• A 200-word statement describing their values in relation to race equity agenda and the University values
• A PDF/scanned proof of their qualifications
• Passport or other ID document scan

Failure to provide any of these documents will result in applications being rejected. Please refrain from submitting software-created text as this will, if discovered, count against your application.

Please submit your application by email to rpo@londonmet.ac.uk by Friday 9 June 2023.

Please insert all elements of the application as attachments. Applicants should mention the project they are applying for in their proposal and save ALL documents with their name included (eg: EDI Statement_FIRST NAME_SURNAME).

Shortlisted candidates will be informed in week commencing 12 June. We regret that we will not be able to inform candidates who have not passed the shortlisting stage.

Interviews of shortlisted candidates will take place during the week 19-23 June. Places will be offered for an Autumn 2023 start. They can only be taken up if the right to study in the UK is established.

Stage 2

The successful candidates of Stage 1 will submit a full application via our website for autumn 2023 start by 1 September 2023. The application must contain a full research proposal.

Decisions

Decisions will be communicated in early July at the latest.