PhD Studentship in East Asian Politics

Award Summary

Full PhD tuition fees paid at the UK home student rate (UK students and EU students with settled or pre-settled status) for 3 years. 

An annual tax-free maintenance grant equivalent to the National Minimum Doctoral Stipend (currently for 2026-27 this is £21,805 full time equivalent) across 3.5 years.  

Funding is also available towards fieldwork and research consumable costs relevant to the research project. 

Home and international applicants are welcome to apply. Successful international candidates are required to fund the difference between home fees and international tuition fees (applications for assistance can be made to the NUORS scheme, but cannot be guaranteed). 

Overview

We seek an excellent candidate who wishes to pursue a PhD in Politics in topics related to East Asian politics within the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. For purposes of this call, East Asia includes China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.   

Research Topics: We seek applicants interested in topics related to research in any of the major sub-fields of Politics including studies of the East Asian nations and / or their relationship with other nations, comparative studies employing at least one of these nations as a case, or political research focused on East Asian diaspora populations.   

The department of Politics at Newcastle University is home to a diverse and vibrant community of scholars and students. We have particularly strong expertise in comparative politics (identity politics, political behaviour, political economy, political institutions, party politics, and electoral systems), international relations (international organisations, international agreements, film, pop-culture, political economy, security studies, and foreign relations), political philosophy and theory, gender and politics, environmental politics, sustainability, public policy and area studies.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: September 2026 

Award duration: 3.5 years 

Shortlisted candidates may be invited to an interview in w/c 20^th April 2026.

Supervisors

Please specify two Politics academic staff members from the school of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University who are actively researching areas appropriate to your research.

Eligibility criteria

A demonstrable interest in social scientific inquiry is essential. It is desirable that the successful applicant shows evidence of an interest in East Asian politics and their substantive area in general, in addition to the eligibility requirements set by the university for a Politics PhD (i.e., 2:1 honours degree and a master's degree, or international equivalent, in politics or a related subject.)

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in all sub-skills (or equivalent accepted qualification – further details available on the Politics PhD webpage).

How to apply

For more details, please see www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-funding/search-funding/?code=GPSEAP26

Contact details

For questions about the position, please contact Dr Jemima Repo (Jemima.Repo@newcastle.ac.uk).

For questions about the application process, please contact gps.pgr@newcastle.ac.uk.

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