Bourse doctorale Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson

2021-22 Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Studentship

Call for applications

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is pleased to invite applications for a three-year full-time PhD studentship, starting in early January 2022, funded by a donation from the Wilkinson Charitable Trust. 

The research training environment

Students, academics, and professionals come to LSHTM from all over the world because of its international presence, collaborative ethos, research excellence and prestigious study programmes in public and global health. Find out details of the School’s rankings and awards as well as current research in action.

The studentship will be based in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy (PHP) which is focussed on the improvement of health throughout the UK and worldwide. We do this through research, teaching and the provision of advice in the areas of health policy, health systems and services, and individual, social and environmental influences on health. Interests and activities embrace the health needs of people living in countries at all levels of development. We run a range of popular and highly respected MSc courses, short courses and CPD. We encompass the disciplines of epidemiology, public health medicine, economics, political science, international relations, anthropology, sociology, history, psychology, statistics and mathematics.

General information about the MPhil/PhD programme structure at LSHTM can be found on the Research Degrees and Doctoral College pages. Students will be mentored by supervisors at LSHTM, and be guided by an Advisory Committee consisting of at least two other experienced researchers who may be external to LSHTM. Students are expected to take part in the academic life of their department and can also be members of Academic Centres. All research seminars and journal clubs are open to PhD students from across LSHTM. Students are able to take up to four Master’s level Study Modules per academic year, subject to approval from their supervisor. The PhD programme also facilitates national and international conference attendance by students.

Support for research students’ future career development is covered through the supervision process, through the Transferable Skills Programme (in the School and the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network) and the LSHTM’s Careers Service.

The successful applicant will have unprecedented opportunities to network and establish professional contacts through formal and informal interactions with members of staff at LSHTM and other students. 

 
Doctoral research project

The Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Studentship is available to applicants interested in pursuing a PhD project in the history of public health.

The exact focus of the project will be developed by the successful candidate, in discussion with their proposed supervisor. Possible topics for research include, but are not limited to, the history of the following areas:

• Health laws and ethics
• Mental illness
• HIV/AIDS
• Healthcare in prisons
• Colonial history of training in tropical medicine
• Health systems and policy
• Health education/promotion
• Health consumerism
• Drugs, alcohol and tobacco

The research project will be supervised by one of the following Centre for History in Public Health (CHiPH) staff:
Martin Gorsky
Alex Mold
Janet Weston

 
Financial support

The studentship award covers:
tuition fees (at the LSHTM Home fee rate);
a tax-free stipend at the UKRI Studentship rate (2021-22 rate, with London weighting, is GBP 17,609.00); and
up to GBP 2,000.00 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) for relevant research study costs determined by the supervisory team (eg travel to archives, meetings and/or attendance at conferences and necessary equipment, training and fieldwork)

for three years. 

Eligibility criteria

All applicants must meet minimum LSHTM entry requirements.

Applicant must hold relevant undergraduate and Master’s degrees in history, both awarded at a high grade. Applicants with a very strong undergraduate degree and relevant experience will be exceptionally considered.

This PhD Studentship award is only available to candidates who meet the eligibility requirements for the home fee rate. Please see the LSHTM fee assessment policy, in particular the 'criteria' section, for further details. Further information about fee status assessment can be found on the UKCISA website.
How to apply

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact their proposed primary supervisor for an informal discussion before applying. The proposed supervisor must be one of the following:
Martin Gorsky
Alex Mold
Janet Weston

To apply, submit a completed research degree application online using the LSHTM application portal by the scholarship deadline of 23:59 (BST) on Sunday 3 October 2021.

Applicants must ensure all information and standard required documents outlined on the LSHTM 'before you apply' page is included/uploaded with the application, including:

• academic transcripts (official transcripts for all completed study; interim transcripts for any ongoing programmes of study);
• a two-page Curriculum Vitae;
• a research proposal (the research proposal should identify a specific research question or hypothesis, expanding on one of the topics listed on the website, summarise the relevant background information (with no more than five key references) and should outline an appropriate research methodology by which the question can be addressed); and
• references.

In addition, applicants for this scholarship must upload the following documents:
A personal statement outlining why you are interested in, and suited to, undertaking a PhD in this area at LSHTM; and 

A writing sample (this may consist of your dissertation, an essay, a blog post or other piece of long-form writing and should be around 5,000-10,000 words long).

Applicants must indicate that they wish to apply for this funding by entering ‘2021-22 Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Studentship’ under the ‘funding' section on the application.

Incomplete applications will not be considered for this studentship. This includes any applications missing supporting/supplementary documents (eg transcripts or references) at the deadline. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete and therefore applications should be submitted as early as possible to give referees time to submit their references prior to the deadline.

All applications for this studentship will be held by the PHP Research Degree Office, and will only be reviewed and processed after the deadline. All applications that are submitted before the deadline will be considered equally, regardless of submission date.

Applicants short-listed for funding will be invited for interview. Interviews will likely be held remotely (via Teams or Zoom).

The successful applicant will be notified of the outcome by the week beginning 15 November 2021.