Two fully funded PhD Scholarships at Queen Mary University of London – Apply Now!

The project

INFILTRATES: Influence of Financial Elites – Trajectories, Socialisation, Values and the Repercussions of Wealth – explores how financial elites in the UK, France and Germany influence wealth inequality, and how their career paths, values, and social networks maintain the status quo. As a PhD student on this programme, you’ll play a key role in generating new insights that could help challenge global inequality – while developing your own expertise through immersive, high-impact research.

Two doctoral scholarships are available as part of a project funded by the prestigious VW Foundation, to investigate the influence of financial elites on wealth inequalities, considering their trajectories, socialisation and values, in Germany, France and the UK. The studentships are for 2x fully funded 36-month scholarships.

The project aims to investigate how the growth and legitimacy of ‘asset manager capitalism’ and consulting industries contributes to wealth inequalities, with negative repercussions on the climate, social spending and public regulation. Understanding how the current status quo is maintained is vital to help generate new insights into how inequalities can be challenged.

This is a major project, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and executed by an international team of sociologists and political scientists.

The doctoral students based at Queen Mary University of London will work across three of the project’s six work packages. Using predominantly qualitative methods, this research will explore how apparently meritocratic recruitment, selection and promotion processes reproduce existing elites, shape value systems and contribute to their social legitimacy. It will examine the values financial elites hold on key issues such as taxation, wealth redistribution, or the environment, and how these values are reinforced through patterns of recruitment and promotion.

Project A will explore entry into elite finances and professions, possibly in a comparison between entry into the London financial and consulting industry and the Paris or Frankfurt financial hubs. Using surveys and interviews as key methods, the study will identify aspirant financiers and consultants as they navigate graduate recruitment and selection processes, following them over the course of c.18 months, to consider their experiences and explore what values, knowledge strategies and networks are conductive to successful applications or orientations towards the job market. This project will focus on different forms of socialisation, the adjustment of aspirations, the mobilisation of various resources and be focused on the supply-side.

Project B will explore the attitudes of more experienced professionals on the demand-side including those responsible for hiring and promotion decisions. Using in-depth interviews as key methods, this project will consider what soft skills and personality traits are valued, how and why, and how does this map on to the demographic and cognitive diversity of new entrants and of those getting promoted? It will consider how financial elites (investment bankers, strategy consultants) understand questions of inequality and merit, and the role of government, as they relate to their work. An international comparative perspective would be welcome but not obligatory.

While these scholarships are based in London at Queen Mary, the project offers excellent opportunities to engage with a team of four other doctoral students, two post-doctoral researchers, and senior researchers working on this project in Germany and France. Both scholarships will be co-supervised by Dr Louise Ashley and Professor Elena Doldor, based in the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity (CRED) within the School of Business and Management, and the UK leads for the INFILTRATES project.

Scholarship benefits

• Studentships to cover tuition fees (£4,786) and provide a grant for living expenses (c. £18,000 p.a. full-time). Please note that these awards cannot be deferred and can only be used for full-time study. PhD students can spend up to 6 months in one of the partner institutions of the project (based in Paris, Berlin or Magdeburg) which will be supported by a  €1,500 monthly allowance to cover the costs of travel and rent. Funding for participation in annual meetings, a summer school and field work is also available through the project funding.

Who is eligible

• You must apply for admission to study full-time for a PhD at QMUL (October 2025 or January 2026 start).
• Conduct research related to the VW Foundation project (INFILTRATES) contributing to your thesis creation under the joint supervision of Dr Louise Ashley and Professor Elena Doldor.
• You must have a strong academic background including at Bachelor’s level, in a relevant social science discipline (e.g. inclusive of but not limited to management, sociology, political science, psychology).
• An MSc in a relevant subject (as above).
• Additional languages (French or German) are desirable but not essential.
• You must be a UK resident / Home student (this scholarship is not available to international students).

How to apply

Applicants are asked to follow our usual online application process, by clicking the 'Apply' button, above.

On the online application form, you should indicate that you would like your application to be considered for the VW Foundation INFILTRATES project. 

Please indicate which project as outlined above you are applying for (A or B) in the personal statement. You will be asked to upload a full CV, a personal statement/proposal (one document) of up to 1500 words, and a writing sample. The personal statement/proposal should cover:

• Why you are applying for this programme?
• How does your education and previous experience make you suitable?
• What you will contribute to the project based on your expertise? What research do you broadly envisage undertaking in relation to the proposed project? Use references to support this section (the word limit excludes references).
• How your interests and experience fit with those of the two named supervisors?

The writing sample could ideally be a chapter of a Masters dissertation, or an academic paper (accepted or for submission). If not available, candidates should upload an alternative form of academic writing, which could for example include an academic essay.

Before applying, please visit the School of Business and Management PhD webpages, which will help you to complete your application. The guidance is relevant to all applicants, regardless of subject area and type of Studentship.

The deadline for applications to Queen Mary is June 27^th 2025.

How your application will be assessed

Your application will be considered and ranked by Dr Louise Ashley, Professor Elena Doldor and members of the INFILTRATES international team. The team will evaluate applications on the basis of the following criteria and weightings:

• Preparedness of applicant (50%) – i.e., academic track record and previous academic achievements in relevant subject areas; any relevant professional/practitioner experience (particularly for applicants with non-standard academic trajectories); and relevant knowledge, skills, and/or training for the proposed research
• Strength of Personal Statement (25%) – i.e., the candidate’s ability to complete the project within the timeframe; the identification of training needs; and fit with the expertise and interests of the two named supervisors.
• Strength of Writing Sample (25%) – i.e. evidence of strong academic writing skills.

Applicants will be ranked and the top three will be invited to interview, to take place in July 2025 (online). If two or more candidates are equally ranked following the interview, preference will be given to the candidate scoring more highly on the following criteria: quality of proposal: if still equal, preparedness of applicant; if still equal, quality of writing sample.

We anticipate offers will be made to successful candidates in July 2025 to be accepted or declined within one week.

If you are a non-English native speaker, you must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and send the evidence to Admissions. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible. Your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme. They are valid for 2 years. 

For any questions about these scholarships please contact:

Dr Louise Ashley l.ashley@qmul.ac.uk

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