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Centre for Political Thought

Postgraduate Opportunities 

The School of Government and International Affairs and the Centre for Political Thought at Durham University welcomes applications for a PhD in political theory. 

The School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA) is rare among Politics and IR  Departments in the UK in containing a high concentration of expertise in political philosophy and the history of political thought, with seven full-time members of staff in this area. SGIA is home to the Centre for Political Thought which runs a speaker series, work-in-progress session, and two annual guest lectures, the Alan Milne and Henry Tudor Memorial Addresses.  We have particular expertise in the following areas: 

  • Social justice (including structural injustice, epistemic injustice, global justice, productive justice and disability justice). 
  • History of Political Thought (especially Marx, Republicanism, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century British Political Thought, Cold War Liberalism). 
  • Methods in Political Theory
  • Violence and Political Resistance
  • Liberty, Wellbeing and Paternalism

There is funding  available via  the Northern Bridge Consortium's Open Studentship Competition. The Open Bridge Competition provides  doctoral studentships to outstanding applicants across a full range of arts and humanities subjects, including political philosophy and the history of political thought. You can read the eligibility requirements here. 

If you are interested in applying for the Open Bridge Competition, please contact Jan Kandiyali  (jan.kandiyali@durham.ac.uk) at the earliest opportunity. The deadline for applications is Tuesday 7th January 2025.  

 

 

We have an excellent masters programme with a strong political theory component - our MA Politics and International Relations (Political Theory) which we strongly recommend to those interested in doing more political theory at Durham or wanting to apply for doctoral study in political theory in the future.  
https://www.durham.ac.uk/study/courses/politics-and-international-relations-political-theory-l2k407/

 

The centre welcomes applications for doctoral study in political theory.  We are especially interested in recruiting students who wish to focus on our research themes or the particular interest of our members. Please get in touch with the centre director if you are interested in discussing a potential project with centre members and looking for advice on how to develop your research proposal on  elizabeth.kahn@durham.ac.uk .

 

Those wishing to pursue doctoral research with us can apply for a PhD in the School of Government and International Affairs (our home department).
https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/school-government-international-affairs/postgraduate-study/research-degrees/

We have strong links with the philosophy and law departments at Durham and political theory colleagues in Northern Bridge Universities (particularly Newcastle and  Queens University Belfast).  Joint supervision across these institutions and departments is an option, and one which has been taken up successfully multiple times in recent years.

Good PhD funding options include northern bridge: http://www.northernbridge.ac.uk/applyforastudentship/theopenstudentshipcompetition/

and NineDTP: https://www.ninedtp.ac.uk/the-application-process/

Chinese students can apply for Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) – Durham PhD Awards. For more information contact Lauren Todd (lauren.todd@durham.ac.uk).’

A full list of scholarships and funding options for the masters and PhD programmes are listed here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/study/scholarships/postgraduate/