Next Generation Law Scholarship

The scholarship covers course fees (at either the Home or EU/International rate) and will provide an annual stipend at the UK research council rate (£17,668 for 2022/23). The stipend is for 3 years, subject to satisfactory annual progress. 

The students awarded the scholarship are expected to start their PhD in September 2023. Registration must be full-time. As part of the scholarship, students will have the opportunity to develop their teaching experience and skills through teaching on an undergraduate law module, at the direction of the Head of School.

Wednesday 01 March 2023, 12noon GMT

Interviews to be held in March 2023

Kent Law School (KLS) is pleased to offer the Next Generation Doctoral Research Scholarship, part of the Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice Next Generation Scholarship fund, through which a number of scholarships will be awarded to postgraduate research applicants across the Division.

The Kent Law School (KLS) Next Generation Doctoral Scholarships will be awarded to candidates with research proposals of the highest quality. These Scholarships are designed to support research that aims to transform our understanding of law, in order to reshape its future relevance and build better legal answers to pressing questions about the theoretical, social, environmental, political, economic, or technological challenges that define our times. 

One of these challenges is to support more students from under-represented backgrounds to undertake doctoral degrees and enter legal academia. Currently, in the Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice – of which KLS is a part – UK Black and other minority ethnic postgraduate research students are particularly under-represented. Accordingly, when we have applications of equal merit, we will prioritise UK-based candidates of Black and other minority ethnic heritage (to include mixed heritage). This is a positive action measure under s. 158 of the Equality Act 2010.

Applicants will be shortlisted based on the academic and intellectual quality of their proposal, its contribution to the aims and objectives of the scholarship scheme, and its fit with the proposed academic supervisors.

Proposals in socio-legal studies, law and the humanities, critical approaches to law, law and political economy, law and health, law and intellectual property, comparative constitutional law, law and inequality, law and the environment, and law, science, and technology are particularly welcomed.

Kent Law School (KLS) is one of the UK’s leading law schools. It was the 2nd ranked UK Law School in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), with a scholarly environment judged as supporting world-leading research. Law at Kent is ranked in the Top 20 in The Guardian University Guide 2022 and in The Times Good University Guide 2022, and in the Top 10 for research intensity in The Complete University Guide 2022. Our work draws upon doctrinal and interdisciplinary methodologies, diverse critical, contextual and socio-legal approaches, and a range of theoretical perspectives from the humanities and social sciences in order to contribute to a broad range of legal sub-disciplines.

Applicants to the Law PhD programme are required to discuss their proposed doctoral project with potential supervisors before submitting a formal application. Applications must specify at least one potential supervisor who has agreed, in principle, to supervise the doctoral project. Applicants are encouraged to contact prospective supervisors by email well before the deadline for applications. The email should include their CV, a draft proposal, and an explanation of their motivations for PhD study and reasons for approaching the particular member of staff. For prospective supervisors, see the list of KLS academic staff and their areas of research, or use this search engine. 

For a list of KLS research centres and groups, see here. Click here for the Kent Law School Informal Guide to Putting Together a Research Proposal.