Funded School of GeoSciences 4 year teaching studentships

The School of GeoSciences is excited to announce two fully funded 42-month UK/EU PhD scholarships available from September 2017. The studentships involve training in both research and teaching skills. The successful applicants will gain practical experience through supporting core teaching, including field courses, on our undergraduate Geography degree programme.

One studentship focuses on Physical Geography and the other on Human Geography. There are defined projects available, which are below (further information about these is available from the School’s website), and we also welcome students submitting their own project proposal with an agreed supervisory team (see list of supervisors below).

The scholarship will provide:

• Coverage of tuition fees at the Home/EU fee rate
• 4 years of stipend funding at the RCUK rate with an 80/20 split between doctoral study and teaching in the School of GeoSciences, primarily on the Geography Degree Programme;
• Research and Training Grant (RTSG) of £1500 per year;
• Training to support acting as a Tutor, Demonstrator or Course Assistant through School and University provision.
• A pathway toward gaining the Edinburgh Teaching Award

The studentship is fully funded for 42 months from September 2017, and covers tuition fees RTSG, and an annual stipend for candidates from the UK, European Economic Area, or Switzerland who satisfies the criteria for 'home' fees as defined here.

We are unable to consider applications from international candidates.

The successful candidate will possess, or expect to obtain, a first or upper-second class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in Geography or a related subject area. Other essential attributes are good presentation and communication skills (written and oral).

Applicants are required to submit:

1. A letter describing their suitability for the advertised project OR a project proposal
2. A personal statement of their ambitions for teaching Geography, including any previous tutoring or demonstrating experience
3. 2 academic references
4. A supporting statement from their agreed supervisor

Formal applications are made through the University's EUCLID system, as outlined here.

We welcome students who propose their own topic listing an agreed supervisor and there are also four potential pre-specified topics for study.

1. Human Geography project
   • Espionage and Empire: British Explorer-Surveyors and the Making of Modern Afghanistan, 1790-1842 (principal supervisor- Professor Charles Withers)
   • A Spatial History of Sugar and Health in Greenock, Scotland (principal supervisor- Dr Marisa Wilson)
2. Physical Geography projects
   • The role of climate-forced ice shelf melt in biological production of the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica (principal supervisor- Dr Dan Goldberg)
   • Spatial and temporal drivers of soil erosion in Iceland (principal supervisor- Dr Anthony Newton)
3. For those submitting their own project proposal – a list of the School’s academic staff is available on our website and they are listed below.

Details of Geography & Lived Environment Research Group can be found at: www.geos.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/research/institutes.

List of Supervisors