Applications Deadline: 21.02.2020
Applications for the 2020 Doctoral Scholarship are open now.
The British Society for the Philosophy of Science offers scholarships for doctoral work in the philosophy of science at a UK university, subject to a candidate of sufficient merit presenting themselves. Scholarships are only available to students applying to degree programmes in philosophy or in philosophy of science.
The 2020 competition will be open to both UK/EU and international students. We anticipate that the scholarship will cover fees at the UK student level, as set by the UK Research Councils. International fees will be covered in part or in full, depending on the case, but will be covered at least up to UK levels. The scholarship also includes a maintenance grant at the UK Research Councils rate. The scholarship will be awarded for a period equal to the institutional norm for PhD study at the student’s institution minus any time already spent on the PhD. For example, applicants in their first year of postgraduate study at institutions that follow a 2+2 (Masters + PhD) model may apply for three years of funding to begin in the second year of their masters degree. Applicants must apply for all other sources of funding for which they are eligible. The scholarship is conditional on being accepted into an appropriate doctoral programme in philosophy of science at a UK university in time for the start of the corresponding academic year.
Applications for the 2020 Doctoral Scholarship are open now.
Applicants for doctoral scholarships should send as a single PDF which is titled LASTNAME-Firstname.pdf:
The proposed supervisor should send a brief statement to the Assistant to the Committee (no more than 500 words) explaining why they are happy to supervise the applicant on the proposed project and how and why the supervisor’s institution is a good fit for the person and project. (See, also, the Additional Information below.)
Two academic referees (at most one of whom can be the proposed supervisor) should write reference letters directly to the Assistant to the Committee (see below).
All doctoral scholarship applications should be sent by email to the Assistant to the Committee at bspsassistant@gmail.com . Any queries should also be directed to the Assistant to the Committee.
Full BSPS scholarships will not be made to anyone with another source of funding. In cases where an awardee has partial funding from other sources, the size of the BSPS grant will be set accordingly. For example, a successful applicant with fees-only scholarships from elsewhere would still be eligible to receive a maintenance grant from the BSPS.
Applicants may be in the position of considering a number of different departments for their doctoral studies and thus have a range of possible supervisors in mind. In this event, they should ask their currently preferred supervisor to write for them. Should an applicant be successful in the BSPS doctoral scholarship competition, but end up being accepted onto a PhD programme at a different institution from that of the supervisor who initially wrote for them, it would still be possible to hold the award at the new institution, subject to a suitable endorsement from the new supervisor. It should be noted that where it is obvious that a given applicant and project is a good fit to supervisor and institution, supervisors’ letters may be rather brief without thereby disadvantaging the candidate.
The BSPS scholarship is subject to renewal on a yearly basis, which requires the awardee to provide evidence of adequate progress towards the completion of the PhD programme.
Margarida Hermida for research into the metaphysics of animal identity.
Caspar Jacobs (Oxford)
Zinhle Mncube (Cambridge)
Patrick Dürr (Oxford)
Elina Vessonen (Cambridge)
Tushar Menon (Oxford) and Carina Prunkl (Oxford)
Sorana Vieru (Bristol) and Alexandru Marcoci (LSE)
2011 – Aarne Talman (LSE) for his work on confirmation and reliability of chaotic models, and Lena Zuchowski (Cambridge) for her work on theories at the edge of Laplacian determinism
2010 – Matteo Colombo (Edinburgh) for his work, “Complying with Norms: An Exploration from Computational Cognitive Neuroscience”
Milena Ivanova (Bristol) for her work on Structural Realism and Conventionalism, and Katherine Puddifoot (Sheffield), who is working on debates about rationality in the philosophy of psychology and cognitive science.
Andrew Goldfinch (LSE) for his work on the foundations of evolutionary psychology, and Elizabeth Irvine (Edinburgh) for her work on the scientific understanding of consciousness.
Stefan Dragulinescu (Lancaster) for his work in the philosophy of medicine, and Chuanfei Chin (Oxford) for his work on the philosophical foundations of pain research.
Dennis Lehmkuhl (Oxford) for his doctoral work in philosophy of physics
Elizabeth Hannon for her work in philosophy of biology and psychology, at the University of Durham.
Ulrich Stegmann (KCL) for his study of philosophy of biology