SGSAH (AHRC) funding - School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

The University of Edinburgh is part of a consortium of eight Scottish Universities and two specialist Scottish institutions awarded funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) via the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) to support postgraduate studentships and training in the Arts and Humanities in Scotland.

The award on offer is a fully-funded PhD with stipend, a robust three-and-a-half year training programme, and access to Scotland's resources through SGSAH’s strong links and national networks with our supporter organisations in the education, creative, cultural and heritage sectors.

The School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) is delighted to consider applications from highly qualified candidates for SGSAH doctoral studentship awards in all our subjects.

Funding applications should be for projects within the AHRC disciplines. While all our PhD programmes are open to proposals on any relevant topic, we particularly encourage proposals that fall within these broad research themes:

Asian Studies

• Literature, film, media and performance
• Politics and governance
• Modern society and ethnography
• Religion, intellectual history and pre-modern culture
• Transnational and colonial history

Celtic and Scottish Studies

• Scottish Gaelic literature, history and culture 
• Linguistics and sociolinguistics of Celtic languages 
• Gaelic and Scots diasporas 
• Celtic languages, literatures and cultures of the Middle Ages 
• All aspects of Scottish ethnology 
• Traditional music and song, especially Scots and Gaelic 
• Scottish folklore 

English Literature

• Environmental humanities
• Scottish literary studies
• Transatlantic/US literary studies
• Digital Humanities, including textual editing and archival studies
• Postcolonial and Global Literatures

European Languages and Cultures

• Comparative Literature
• Intermediality
• Memory Studies
• Literature, Film and Visual Culture

Film Studies

• Film-Philosophy
• Screen Aesthetics
• Film Theory
• Film History

Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

• Classical and modern Arabic and Persian literature
• History and historiography of early Islam and the Ottoman Empire, of the modern Arab world, especially Egypt, and its ethnic and religious minorities
• Classical Islamic texts (Qur’an and tafsir, hadith, the biography of Muhammad)
• Cultural, media, film and gender studies of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa
• Shi’ism, intra-Muslim relaions, Islamism, social movements and Sufism
• Muslims in Europe

Translation Studies

• Translation and gender
• Audiovisual translation
• Translation and religion
• Translation and music
• Translation, postcolonialism and race
• Literary translation
• Translation and trauma (including gender-based violence)
• Translation and emotions
• Translation and health
• Translation and history

These studentships have residency requirements set by UK Research Innovation (UKRI). Eligibility extends to PhD researchers from around the world (UK, the EU and International). All funded PhD students, whether UK or International will be eligible for a full award covering fees and a stipend to support living costs. 

Find out all about residential eligibility criteria on the SGSAH website

Step 1

Tell us that you are intending to apply for a PhD programme and a SGSAH award by emailing the LLC Postgraduate Scholarships team. In this email, please include:

• your full name
• the name of the PhD programme you are intending to apply for

We will then email you the SGSAH nomination application form needed for Step 3 below.

Email the LLC Postgraduate Scholarships team

Step 2

Complete the University of Edinburgh online application for the PhD programme you are intending to study by Monday 11 November 2024. Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an email confirmation. This will include your Unique User Name (UUN). 

Explore our range of PhD programmes and apply online

Step 3

Complete the draft SGSAH application form and return it, by email, to the LLC Postgraduate Scholarships team by Thursday 21 November 2024. We will email you a copy of this form when you have completed Step 1; it will also be available to download from the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities website. Please follow the instructions and use the guidelines provided.

Read the guidelines on the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts & Humanities website

Email the LLC Postgraduate Scholarships team to submit your nomination form

PLEASE NOTE: ALL STEPS (1 TO 3) MUST BE UNDERTAKEN FOR YOUR APPLICATION TO BE COMPLETE AND CONSIDERED. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO ALLOW YOURSELF TIME BEFORE THE DEADLINES PROVIDED ABOVE.

Updated 31 October 2024: You will be notified by the end of December 2024 if you have been nominated by the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) to go forward to the next round of the funding competition. If you are nominated, you will work with your supervision team on the draft SGSAH application form which, when approved, will be sent to a University panel for review by 17 January 2025. If, after this review, you are nominated by the University to go forward to SGSAH, you will be asked to submit your SGSAH studentship application via the SGSAH application portal by 14 February 2025. The portal will open on 3 February 2025.

Final funding decisions will be made by the SGSAH by the end of April 2025.

Visit the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities website