Closing date:  Monday 23 August 2010

The Department of Geography within the School of the Environment and Society at Swansea University invites applications for three, full-time, fully funded PhD studentships (fees and maintenance grant) in Human Geography, available from 1 October 2010.

Each studentship covers UK/EU tuition fees (£3,440 in 2010/2011) and an annual maintenance grant of £13,590 (equivalent to the ESRC’s Standard Maintenance Grant in 2010/11). The studentships are for three years of full-time study, subject to satisfactory progress.

Each successful applicant will have proven academic potential for postgraduate research (a first-class or upper-second-class undergraduate degree in Geography or cognate discipline, and ideally a relevant postgraduate taught masters degree, preferably with a Merit or Distinction, or equivalent); and will have submitted an outline research proposal that is well aligned with the research foci and staff expertise of our two Human Geography Research Groups. These Groups are:

1. Migrants, Boundaries, and Identities (MBI) Research Group

MBI research themes include:

• Forced migration, labour migration, and ‘mixed flows’
• UK and European asylum and migration policies
• Governance of international migration
• Migrant rights
• Gender and migration 
• Children’s experiences of migration
• Geographies and spaces of national identity
• Counter-urbanization and counter-cultural migration

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Heaven Crawley (h.crawley@swansea.ac.uk), Research Group Leader and Director of the University’s Centre for Migration Policy Research (CMPR).

2. Social Theory and Urban Space (STUS) Research Group

STUS research themes include:

• Social and spatial theory (especially poststructuralism)
• Cities and urban theory
• Consumerism and consumer culture
• Cinematic space and cinematic cities
• Cultural politics and performance
• Regional economic development
• The use of urban space

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Marcus Doel (m.a.doel@swansea.ac.uk), Research Group Leader and Co-Director of the University’s Centre for Urban Theory.

Conditions

As a condition of the studentship, the studentship-holder will be required to undertake undergraduate teaching and assessment in the Department, which will be limited to no more than six hours per week during term time, and will typically entail tutorials, seminars, and support for practical and field work. (Full terms and conditions will be provided to those applicants invited to interview, and are available to any applicant on request.)

Application information is available on the University’s website.

When completing the application form, please note the following:

• You are applying for a School/Departmental studentship. 
• We require an outline of your proposed research. Please contact Sandra Kramcha (s.kramcha@swansea.ac.uk) to request a Research Proposal Form.   Your proposed research must be clearly aligned with one (or both) of our Human Geography research groups. You are strongly advised to peruse our website, and especially our staff pages. If you are especially keen to be supervised by a particular member of academic staff, then please make this clear in your proposal.  
• The referees that you nominate should be willing and able to comment on your academic achievements and potential, and your suitability for PhD research. Please ensure that they will be available so to do within the timescale of the selection process.
• You should enclose a copy of your Curriculum Vitae with your application form and research proposal.
• If you wish to provide us with an example of your work, such as a Dissertation (or a chapter thereof), this should be emailed directly to Sandra Kramcha (s.kramcha@swansea.ac.uk), preferably as a single PDF file. Please use the following Subject heading in your email: PhD Studentship Document.

The closing date for receipt of Applications is Monday 23 August 2010.

Short-listed applicants will be invited for interview. These are likely to take place on Wednesday 8 September 2010, or shortly thereafter.