Postgraduate Research
Applying for an ESRC studentship
These notes are intended to provide guidance for those considering applying
for an ESRC studentship to do a PhD in the Department of Government. They
include a number of general guidelines to supplement the discussions you have
with your prospective supervisor and others about your specific proposal:
- allow yourself plenty of time;
- make sure you familiarise yourself fully before you start
with the application process, the application form and the
information you need to provide on this form;
- consult with others on your application;
- make sure you liaise at an early stage with your prospective
supervisor and ask them to read drafts of your application;
- make sure you give them plenty of time to read your drafts
and get back to you;
- you should seek to achieve two things in an application:
convince those evaluating it that you know what you want to do
and that you are capable to doing it.
- Knowing what you want do: You need to
identify a clear research question, not just a
topic on which you intend to conduct research.
Your research question needs to be one that has
not yet been answered adequately by previous
scholars. It also needs to be an important
question, the answer to which will help to
address and solve real-world problems. In order
to identify a suitable research question, you
will need to do a fair amount of reading, so as
to ascertain what other scholars have found out
about your chosen topic, and where the gaps are.
Your research question should in most cases be
an explanatory question – a ‘why’ question about
causal relationships (though if you are working
in the field of normative political theory, this
will not necessarily be the case). You should
also demonstrate that you have some interesting
and original ideas as to how your research
question might be answered (your hypotheses).
In addition to establishing a research question
and your hypotheses, you also need to set out
how you are going to answer this question and
test your hypotheses in as much detail as
possible, This involves identifying the methods
and the data sources you will use as well as the
structure of your argument (chapter plan of the
dissertation). In general, you should be as
detailed and precise as possible in the space
allowed.
- Showing that you are capable of carrying out
the research: you should use the application as
an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of
your chosen topic, your ability to write
clearly, your analytic skills and the
originality of your thinking. Also, supply as
much information as possible about any previous
training you have had that is relevant to your
PhD project, and identify how you will
supplement that training with resources at Essex
and beyond. Provide a realistic timetable that
demonstrates you have thought through every
stage of the proposed research and have a
concrete plan for moving forward.
- Finally, make sure you want to do a PhD. A PhD is a
professional qualification to be an academic (though some people
do use PhDs to get other jobs). It is a long and gruelling
process that, if you undertake it, will eat up a substantial
portion of the best years of your life. You should only apply to
do a PhD if you want to embark on a career that requires a PhD.
You should not undertake a PhD because you can’t think of
anything better to do, or because you think it would be cool to
put ‘Dr’ before your name (that is indeed cool, but only for
about two weeks). So think hard about your reasons for applying
for funding and make sure a PhD is really the best thing for you
to be doing.
Sarah Birch, bircsi@essex.ac.uk
Graduate Director – Research
December 2011
*General Guidance and information can be found of the University of Essex
ESRC DTC website:
http://www.essex.ac.uk/dtc/
Last modified on 23 December 2011