One of the exciting things about the new Religion in Political Life (RiPL) Research Program at the University of Newcastle is that it earmarks PhD funding for at least two excellent students in this growing area of international academic concern. Religion and Religious Studies at the UoN was ranked 4* in the last Australian Research Council Excellence in Research Assessment (ERA), which put it first equal with only three other institutions in the country. The research culture here is vibrant, growing, and the RiPL program provides us an opportunity to attract high quality PhD students to join us.
RiPL’s main focus areas or steams investigate the interactions between religion in: 1) democratic authority (Stanley); 2) political radicalism (Boer and Lovat); 3) gender (McPhillips); and, 4) post-colonial legacies (Carey). A series of symposiums and seminars are planned in the coming years, which will result in published outcomes. The supervisors directing each of the RiPL program’s four streams are linked below where you can find further details on their interests and qualifications:
If you are an Australian student who has achieved a first class honours degree and would like to pursue further PhD research in Religion in Political Life, then please do consider applying. The Australian Postgraduate Awards (APA) are for three years and include a $5k topup beyond the normal $22,860 p.a. award (tax free living allowance).
So too, international students with a high quality Master of Arts degree performance and demonstrations of research excellence through a thesis and, ideally, at least one peer reviewed publication, are strongly encouraged to apply. Postgraduate funding integrates two schemes, the University of Newcastle International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (UNIPRS) and the University of Newcastle Research Scholarship Central (UNRSC). The UNIPRS scholarship provides tuition fees and the UNRSC is a living allowance scholarship, which is $22,860 p.a. (tax free).
All University of Newcastle PhD students are also provided with a laptop computer as well as a $5k research expenditure budget for conference travel, essential research materials, etc.
Application process: Students should follow the normal application procedures for entry into the University of Newcastle PhD degree. Application materials for domestic as well as international students can be found at the following URL: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/students/research-higher-degree/scholarships/.
Very important! Students applying for scholarships in this RiPL research area must also do the following in their applications: 1) indicate clearly how their research aligns with the RiPL research program within their application’s research proposal; 2) choose one of the RiPL researchers as their primary supervisor; 3) coordinate their application with the RIPL Program Leader, Dr. Timothy Stanley. He will then flag the application for special review.
Closing dates:
- International applicants - 31 August 2012
- Domestic applicants - 31 October 2012
Applications will be accepted by email to researchscholarships@newcastle.edu.au or fax to 61 2 4921 6908 up until midnight of the closing date. Originals of applications, transcripts etc. submitted in this way must be also be posted to the University as soon as possible.
For further details please contact the Program Leader at timothy.stanley@newcastle.edu.au