British Council Scotland SGSAH EARTH Scholarships 2024
About
The British Council Scotland SGSAH EARTH Scholarships is a programme run by SGSAH with funding from the British Council to enable international research collaborations between PhD and Early Career Researchers and Scottish HEIs and Scotland-based academic mentors, and external organisations, thematically focused on environmental arts and humanities and their interdisciplinary connections. The overall aim of the programme is to promote the role and interventions of the environmental arts and humanities, and the arts and cultural sector, in addressing the climate emergency, and their capacity for interdisciplinary research within STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) contexts. The programme will create research opportunities and international mobility which will develop and support new approaches to address the global challenge of climate crisis, and support sustainable research and cultural interchanges within and beyond the arts and, humanities and cultural sectors.
The principles of this programme build on SGSAH’s Internationalisation ambitions and actions, align with SGSAH’s GREEN/GRADUATE Strategy and Operational Plan, and with the British Council’s Climate Connections legacy programme. The programme will be structured around two of SGSAH’s strategic themes and priority areas; the Environmental Humanities and Creative Industries/Economies, with a focus on climate emergency themes, the interventions of the arts and cultural sector, and the legacy of COP26, held in Glasgow in 2021. The programme will enrich collaborations between Scottish and international HEIs, building on SGSAH’s Global Connects programmes, and the SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher scheme.
The programme will provide scholarships for PhD and Early Career Researchers based outside the UK to come to Scotland to undertake in-person and hybrid exchanges for up to 3 months in 2024, in the area of environmental arts and humanities. The research placements will include an in-person 2-week cohort-building core leadership programme where all recipients will come together alongside Scotland-based scholars to network and collaborate in April 2024, supported by a set of thematically and geographically oriented Clusters.
The programme ran for the first time in 2023. Profiles of the 2023 EARTH Scholars are available on the SGSAH website at https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/news/earth-scholars-2023/. Recordings of the research presentations by the Scholars are available here.
Download the Guidelines:
British Council Scotland SGSAH EARTH Scholarships 2024 Guidelines V1 (Version 1 | PDF document – 471 KB)
**The application deadline is Wednesday 1st November 2023**
Eligibility
The Programme is for PhD and early career researchers (ECRs) registered at or graduated from any non-UK university who are working within the environmental arts and humanities to come to Scotland to work with an academic mentor and access networks and resources of a host HEI (Higher Education Institute) in 2024.
All applicants must be currently registered for a PhD, or graduated with a PhD, which broadly falls under Arts & Humanities subject areas. These subject areas are detailed by the AHRC. Research proposals must also fall into Arts & Humanities subject areas. For any interdisciplinary PhDs, at least 50% of the project must fall within Arts & Humanities disciplines. The programme strongly encourages research project proposals that have interdisciplinarity approaches beyond the Arts & Humanities.
For the purposes of the Programme, ECRs must be within 1 year of notification of award of their PhD (under exceptional circumstances this can be extended to 2 years – see the scheme Guidelines for full detail).
The SGSAH HEIs are:
Abertay University
Edinburgh Napier University
The Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow Caledonian University
Heriot-Watt University
Queen Margaret University
Robert Gordon University
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
University of Aberdeen
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde
University of the Highlands & Islands
University of the West of Scotland
Application Process
Read the Guidelines for the scheme (available to download above) thoroughly before applying. You should then contact your chosen institution as soon as possible to discuss their process for supporting your application.
The application is made through SGSAH’s online system which can be accessed here. The Guidelines include details of the information you will be required to complete online, as well as the assessment criteria for the scheme.
For this deadline, you must submit:
- A full research proposal; and details of how you will benefit from Cluster membership, cohort-building, training and development activities
- A budget and justification of resources
- A CV (up to 4pp)
- A letter of support from your PhD supervisor (up to 2pp)
- A letter of support from the proposed Host Institution (Head of Department or equivalent) (up to 2pp)
Late applications will only be considered where there is evidenced breakdown in SGSAH’s operational systems and where such system failures have made submission by the deadline impossible. Please note that SGSAH will not accept late applications where there has been a systems failure at the applicant’s end (e.g failure of internet connection). For this reason, we strongly advise applicants to complete the application process at least 48 hours in advance of the deadline.
**The application deadline is Wednesday 1st November 2023**
Key dates
| Programme launch and call for applications. Watch the recording | Monday 7 August 2023, 12pm BST |
| Pre-application information sessions to be held on Zoom, recorded for subsequent reference: | |
| Introduction to the Programme Online Registration link: https://tockify.com/sgsah/detail/187/1693227600000 (please note this session will be recorded) | Monday 28 August 2023 2pm BST |
| Completing your Application Online Registration link: https://tockify.com/sgsah/detail/188/1695031200000 (please note this session will be recorded) | Monday 18 September 2023, 11am BST |
| Information session for Host HEIs and Mentors Online Registration link: https://tockify.com/sgsah/detail/189/1696251600000 (please note this session will be recorded) | Monday 2 October 2023, 2pm NB this session is not for applicants |
| Application deadline | Wednesday 1 November 2023, 12pm GMT |
| Notification of application outcomes | by Friday 1 December 2023 |
| Acceptance of award deadline | Friday 8 December 2023 |
| Online induction and scholarship preparation session | TBC: January 2024 |
| Research placements (6 weeks-3 months) | April-July 2024 |
| In-person cohort development programme | 15-26 April 2024 |
| SGSAH Summer School | w/c 17 June 2024 |
| Global Connects 2024 programme | TBC: Summer 2024 |
