Africa International PGR Scholarships

Award details

Timeline:

About the Award

Do you have research interests that relate to Africa?

Could you take an interdisciplinary approach to your research?

Applications are invited from international students from Africa for three full scholarships to undertake a full-time PhD at King’s College London. Funding is available for up to 4 years.

The topic of the PhD must clearly be relevant to the continent of Africa.

Interdisciplinary projects are especially encouraged, and all projects must fall at the intersection of two or more of the following themes or disciplines:

• Conflict, Peace and Security: King’s is world-renowned for the study of violent conflict, peace, and security. The School of Security Studies and the School of Global Affairs provide a range of programs of relevance to Africa, with the African Leadership Centre offering a particular focus on leadership studies at the security-development nexus. Further info:
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/global-affairs
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/security-studies
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alc
• Global Health: Students in this discipline are exposed to a unique international and interdisciplinary context covering broad areas such as healthcare partnerships, global surgery, palliative care, maternal health, global health governance and policy, mental health, aging, cancer, oral health, and mucosal biology, diabetes and other conditions, conflict and health, migration and health, environment and health. Further info:
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/global-health/about-us
• Development: The study of development at King’s cuts across a range of disciplines with particular concentration in the School of Global Affairs including, development studies with reference to emerging economies in the Department of International Development; environment and development with a potential to examine disasters and adaptation in the Department of Geography; leadership and development at the African Leadership Centre. Further info:
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/global-affairs
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alc
• Digital Technology: Students in this discipline undertake research into new and emerging digital technologies, and the different ways in which digital technologies and methods are transforming society. Relevant areas may include, but are not restricted to: the Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and the Department of Digital Humanities. Further info:
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/engineering/postgraduate/research-degrees
  • https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ddh

Award value

The Scholarship covers:

• Full international tuition fees
• An annual stipend (living allowance): at the UKRI rate (for the year, this was set at £17,609)
• Research Support Grant: up to £5000/year, depending on the research project

Eligibility criteria

Candidates MUST:

• Be African nationals and be permanently resident in an African country;
• Be liable for tuition fees at the higher international/overseas rate;
• Plan to commence a full-time MPhil/PhD programme at King’s College London in the academic year (from October and by no later than June);
• Plan to conduct research that is relevant to Africa and which must fall at the intersection of two or more of the given themes or disciplines, as described in the ‘Award Details’ section;
• Have applied to King’s College London for the scholarship (as instructed in the ‘Application Process’ section below) and meet the given deadlines.

Please note:

• Existing doctoral degree students are not eligible to apply;
• The scholarship cannot be held on a part-time basis;
• Professional doctorate degrees are not eligible;
• Distance learning programmes are not eligible;
• Clinical PhDs (those with the higher clinical rate tuition fees) are not eligible;
• The scholarship cannot commence prior to October.

Award conditions

Please refer to the ‘Conditions & Regulations of Funding ‘ document for details about the terms and conditions – See attached under ‘Terms and conditions’.

Application process

Applications Open: February

Applications Close: 18 March, 23:59 GMT

Steps on How to Apply:

STEP 1. Refer to our ‘How to apply: Research courses’ page for general guidance on how to find a suitable doctoral degree and supervisor at King’s College London, and how to apply. Please ensure that you are fully aware of the entry requirements for your chosen programme before applying. Please also carefully consider how your proposed research project is relevant to Africa and aligns with at least two of our specified themes/disciplines (see above).

STEP 2. By the deadline of 18 March (23:59 GMT), you MUST:

• Submit an admissions application to King’s College London for a full-time MPhil/PhD degree programme with a start date (i.e., no earlier than 1 October and no later than June) using the King’s online admissions application system – King’s Apply*. Please upload all necessary supporting materials by this stage where possible – Refer to Step 3 for further guidance on supporting documentation.
• On the ‘Funding’ Section of your King’s Apply application, you MUST tick the box at item 5 (Award Scheme Code or Name) and enter the funding code: 2223-AFRICA (Please copy and paste the code exactly!). If you submitted your admissions application before including the funding code, simply log back into King’s Apply to update the ‘Funding’ section of your application. If you experience any problems with this, please contact the admissions office via the messaging section of your application for assistance.
• Complete a separate ‘Africa International PGR Scholarships Form’ and attach this to the ‘Funding’ Section of your application on King’s Apply using the ‘File Upload’ option at the bottom of the page; under the ‘Document Category’ dropdown menu select ‘Sponsorship Document’ or ‘Other’. If you submitted your admissions application before uploading the Africa International PGR scholarship form, simply log back into King’s Apply to update the ‘Funding’ section of your application. If you experience any problems with this, please contact the admissions office via the messaging section of your application for assistance.

STEP 3. By the deadline of 1 April (23:59 GMT), you MUST:

• Ensure that your admissions application is complete with all relevant supporting materials, as required by your chosen doctoral programme. Any outstanding supporting material/documents, such as references, transcripts, certificates, research proposal and personal statement, etc., must be provided by this deadline. For guidance on what you need to provide, please check the online prospectus page for your chosen doctoral programme. It is your responsibility to follow up on any outstanding material.

Note that proof of a valid English language proficiency test (where required) is not absolutely necessary at this point, but any outstanding English conditions (if applicable) must eventually be met in time for the start of your doctoral programme if you are successfully offered a scholarship.

*If you have already submitted an application via King’s Apply for an MPhil/PhD degree at King’s that meets the eligibility criteria, you do not have to reapply, but you must ensure that your programme start date matches the eligibility criteria and you must still add the funding code and attach a completed ‘Africa International PGR Scholarships Form’ to your admissions application by 18^th March, as instructed above. In addition, step 3 (above) must also be met in time.

Please note:

• This scholarship is offered directly by King’s College London, and we do not charge an application fee.
• Students who fail to input the funding code and upload a completed ‘Africa International PGR Scholarships Form’, exactly as instructed, will not be picked up when we extract details from King’s Apply, so it is vital that the application instructions are followed correctly!

IMPORTANT: Only those who have applied as instructed and meet the eligibility criteria can be considered for the scholarship.

Application forms

• Africa International PGR Scholarships Form (0.17 MB)

Terms and conditions

• Conditions & Regulations of Funding (0.09 MB)

Selection process

Once the application deadline has passed, the Admissions Office and the Centre for Doctoral Studies (CDS) Office will gather and record the details of all the admissions applications submitted with our 2223-AFRICA funding code and Africa International PGR Scholarships Form.

The Admissions Office and the CDS Office will check the eligibility of all applicants, and all applications that are deemed eligible will be circulated to faculties for assessment and selection.

Academic faculties will put forward their ranked shortlist of candidates to the CDS office by 20 May.

Following faculty selection, applicants who are shortlisted will be assessed by a central panel who will finalise the outcome of the competition.

The assessment of applications is based on:

• Quality of student – past achievement, readiness for doctoral study, long term aims.
• Quality of project – concept/design of proposal, fit with King’s and programme themes.
• Feasibility and benefit to Africa – scale/scope of project, feasibility of training/fieldwork/research, potential impact.

Note: Ineligible candidates will not be considered and those who do not already hold an admission offer will likely have their admissions application returned as unsuccessful via King’s Apply.

Decisions will be announced by the end of June at the latest.

Contact:

For any questions relating to this scheme, please contact the Centre for Doctoral Studies at doctoralstudies@kcl.ac.uk.