PhD Scholarship Opportunity
PhD Studentship in History and Geography
Dublin City University, School of History and Geography
Funding amount: €25,000 pa plus fee waiver
Duration: 4 years, full-time
Deadline: 28 March 2025
Start date: Sept 2025
The DCU School of History and Geography is a research-active school in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. We are offering a doctoral scholarship in either history or geography, and invite applicants who wish to undertake PhD research in the following areas:
History
We wish to particularly encourage applicants interested in: Medieval Ireland (12th-16th century), especially social history, the history of Irish towns and cities, legal history and women’s and gender history.
Other areas of expertise in the School include:
- Early modern and modern Ireland
- Aspects of Irish history in the later early modern period, c.1660-1850
- Aspects of Irish women's lives in the period 1850-1985
- The Irish Revolution and post Civil War Ireland
- Partition and its consequences
- History of religion, in particular all aspects of Irish Catholicism
- Aspects of labour and legal history
- The history of science, medicine and technology
- The history of children, childhood and youth
- The history of crime and punishment
- The history of Dublin
- Poverty and efforts at its amelioration
- Early modern Italy (c. 15th-18thc)
○ History of religion
○ Gender and sexuality
○ Social history
○ History of crime
○ Comparative and/or transnational projects are welcome
Geography
Areas of expertise in the School include:
- Historical geography including
- Geography of Irish crime and punishment
- Landlord landscapes of town and country (18th to 20th c.)
- Housing and suburbanisation in Ireland (late 19th c. to present)
- Infrastructural labour
- Urban governance of sustainability and/or just transitions
- Waste geographies
- Freshwater and drinking water quality
- Rewilding as a nature-based solution to address Ireland's climate and socio-
environmental challenges. - Societal and/or policy impacts of citizen science monitoring of freshwater quality
- Coasts and climate change
- Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services
- Environmental Systems Modelling
- Health, wellbeing and climate change
- Climate change policy and governance
- Social and Political Geography including:
- Migration and Development
- Diplomatic Practice
- Diaspora organisation (particularly Indian and/or Brazilian diasporas)
Applications in research areas not listed above may also be considered, provided the applicant has identified a suitable research supervisor from among the members of the staff. Please find information about staff research interests here: https://www.dcu.ie/historygeography/people. Once you have identified a potential supervisor, please contact them to see if they are interested in supporting an application. Applications made without the agreement of a potential supervisor will not be considered. Please direct any general queries to Dr Juliana Adelman (juliana.adelman@dcu.ie).
A successful candidate will be offered a scholarship that covers all tuition fees (EU or non-EU) and provides an annual stipend for living expenses of €25,000 pa for up to 4 years subject to satisfactory annual progression.
In addition to expert supervision, DCU research students are afforded the opportunity to engage in professional development activities, including targeted training within the School, at the Faculty and University level, and teaching and tutorial support. In recognition of the various career pathways that PhD awardees pursue, these activities include career development above and beyond careers in academia. Students are encouraged to participate in the School’s research seminar and opportunities for paid tutorial teaching.
In advance of an application, prospective applicants are required to make contact with the member of staff whose research area covers their proposed doctoral work. For faculty research interests, see: https://www.dcu.ie/historygeography/people.
Following informal consultation with the relevant staff member, applicants should complete the application form which can be downloaded below.
Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:
Quality of the research proposal (including originality, potential research contribution and impact, clarity with which project elucidated and the overall scope); feasibility of the proposed research; strength and suitability of the candidate; and match with the proposed supervisor and School. Interviews may be conducted as part of the process of evaluation.
Completed application forms, accompanied by a CV, should be emailed to
historyandgeography@dcu.ie. Applications should be received by the closing date of 5pm on 28 March 2025. Only applications submitted using this form will be accepted. The decision of the panel is expected to be announced in April 2025.
A successful candidate will be required to apply formally to be admitted as PhD students by the University. They may also need to show proficiency in the English language. A successful candidate will begin their studies in September 2025 and is normally expected to reside in Ireland for the duration of the programme. Please note that if a student commences later than September 2025, for visa or other reasons, and subsequently enter into Year 5, the Faculty will not be able to fund the fifth year of fees.