PhD Scholarship: The Literature of the First World War, Liverpool Hope

A PhD scholarship is available for Autumn 2016 or January 2017 start at Liverpool Hope. 

Proposals are invited on the topic of The Literature of the First World War by July 31st.

About the award

Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship Award
Department: English
Research Supervisors: Dr Guy Cuthbertson and Dr William Blazek
Research Topic: The Literature of the First World War

This award will cover full tuition fees and a monthly maintenance grant each year for a maximum of three years of full-time doctoral study (subject to evidence of satisfactory progress and periodical review as deemed suitable by the supervisory team).

Successful candidates may also have the opportunity to support undergraduate teaching (no more than 6 hours per week) as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA).

The project

The successful candidate will be supervised by Associate Professors Guy Cuthbertson and William Blazek, both of whom have published widely in the field of First World War literature.

They will consider proposals on any aspect of First World War literature, but their own research has been focused on the literature of Britain and the USA.

A focus on Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, the Georgians, Edwardian legacies, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, other American writers, or life-writing would be especially welcome.

Liverpool Hope has excellent library resources for the study of the First World War.

About the department

English at Liverpool Hope performed very well in REF 2014 with war writing highlighted as an area of strength. We are one of the top 30 universities in the country for English, based on the quality of our research publications.A third of the research outputs were rated as world-leading. In the category of “World-leading Research”, we came above the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Bristol, Reading, Leeds, Keele and Lancaster, among others.

The official REF feedback stated that “[a] large proportion of the outputs were judged to be internationally excellent or world-leading. This included outputs from across all the main research themes included in the submission, with a particularly high proportion of outputs in editorial work, war writing, and gender studies producing significant innovation and important points of reference”.

Entry Criteria

Applicants applying for PhD should normally possess a Masters degree which matches the descriptor for a Level 7 qualification in the UK Framework of Higher Education Qualifications, and compromises:

EITHER a Masters Degree with Distinction from a UK University;

OR a Masters degree with Merit from a UK University, INCLUDING a Distinction grade for the Dissertation [or equivalent];

OR a Masters Degree from a UK University that does not offer awards with Merit, the Registrar having confirmed that the profile of marks awarded by that University satisfies or exceeds Liverpool Hope University’s requirements for the award of a Master’s Degree with Merit, AND that the Dissertation [or equivalent] was awarded a Distinction grade;

OR an equivalent qualification from outside the UK. Please note that equivalency of qualifications is judged by Liverpool Hope University, and all decisions are final.

In addition applicants must be able to demonstrate a high level of competence in written and spoken English.

Please note: As the successful candidates will undertake a PhD through full-time study there will be an expectation for you not to take an external commitment or job during the duration of the PhD studies. The only work that the candidates will be permitted to undertake is the GTA role for providing teaching support.

How to apply

Applicants must apply via our online application system.  Please see the ‘Apply Now’ tab: http://www.hope.ac.uk/research/postgraduateresearch

In the first instance, applicants must go through our ‘Expression of Interest Stage.’ This is normally reserved to general applications for candidates proposing the topic. Please enter the following statement in the expression of interest box: ‘Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship’ only. This will enable us to process your application quickly, and give you access to the full application, which must be submitted no later than 31 July 2016. Three references must be sent directly from your referees to researchdegrees@hope.ac.uk prior to the deadline.

It is currently expected that, following the application deadline, interviews shall take place the week of 22 August 2016. Applicants are requested to reserve this period.

Please contact Guy Cuthbertson at CuthbeG@hope.ac.uk if you would like to discuss a proposal.