The Department of Political Science invites applications for four-year fully funded PhD studentships at Trinity College Dublin. Application for financial support is automatically considered as part of the normal admissions process. The Department admits about six students per year, and typically provides financial support in the form of tuition grants, stipends (currently €15,000 per year), teaching and research assistantships, and support for postgraduate conference and research travel.
The four-year doctoral programme is designed to give students the highest level of training to become scholars at the forefront of the discipline. Most of the Ph.D. graduates have gone on to careers in research and teaching at established universities, while others have gone on to careers in government and business. Recently completed dissertations and job placement of graduates can be found here.
The Department of Political Science at Trinity is one of Europe’s leading centres for political research. It is invariably ranked the number 1 Politics department in Ireland in QS and THE evaluations, and in QS in particular it is characteristically in the top 20 in Europe and often in the top 50 worldwide.
We seek outstanding and motivated graduates for entry to our doctoral programme. Applications are particularly welcome from students who wish to conduct research in areas in which the Department has particular research strengths:
- Comparative European Politics
- Political institutions
- Legislative politics
- European Union politics and policies, incl. the European Court of Justice
- The politics of international law (incl. international human rights and WTO dispute settlement)
- Irish politics
- African politics
- Russian and postcommunist politics
- Authoritarian politics
- Electoral systems and political parties
- Public opinion and political participation
- Political psychology
- Environmental politics, incl. politics of climate change
- International conflict and security
- Political theory
- Quantitative text analysis
Applications are also sought for a fully funded PhD student working on a research project on the legacies of colonial armies and/or civil-military relations. Applicants with a background in econometrics or quantitative methods are encouraged to apply. The scholarship includes fees and a stipend of €16,000 for four years. For further information please contact project PI Dr Jesse Dillon Savage (dillonsj@tcd.ie).
Applications are also sought for a fully funded PhD student working on a research project related to local and regional elections and the growing role of local politics in modern governance. Applicants with a background in econometrics or quantitative methods are encouraged to apply. The scholarship includes fees and a stipend of €16,000 for four years. For further information please contact project PI Dr Emanuel Coman (comane@tcd.ie).
Prospective students are encouraged to consult the webpages of members of staff to check if staff research interests match their proposed projects. General enquiries may be directed to the Ph.D. Director, Gizem Arikan (arikang@tcd.ie). Further details of the Ph.D. programme can be found here.
The deadline for applications to the doctoral programme for entry in September 2020 is 1 March 2020. All applications must be made via the online applications system. For details concerning the application process, please see the FAQ page.