Interested in conducting postgraduate research into South Asian history with us? Find out more below!
What Can You Study?
The Department of History offers two postgraduate research degrees: the MA by Research, and the PhD. You will have the opportunity to conduct research at a large, vibrant and diverse community of historians whose collective and individual research represents the breadth and variety of the discipline.
Our research intersects across multiple themes, from environment, embodiment and gender to violence, ideas and beliefs. We are especially interested in understanding societies and cultures from new perspectives, and generating thoughtful enquiry about the functioning of human societies and cultures, in line with Royal Holloway’s commitment to social justice and a shared belief in research that benefits and changes society.
We aim to foster world-leading research that innovates and shapes the discipline, by cultivating new areas of research growth alongside our established practices; by collaborating with other universities, heritage, media, policy makers and creative industries to maximise the public benefits of our research; and by promoting an inclusive and vibrant research community that provides support for staff and students at all stages of their career, including PhD students and early career researchers, to carry out excellent research through a robust infrastructure for grant capture, and for national and international collaborations.
- If you’re interested in applying for one of our postgraduate programmes, please follow the link here!
- We have more information on applying through PhD in our Doctoral School website.
- It is also possible to do a PhD that is jointly supervised between History and another department.
Funding and Techne
Funding is available through the Arts and Humanities Research Council Awards. Royal Holloway is also the lead member of the Techne Doctoral Training Partnership, which offers Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentships. Techne’s vision is to produce scholars who are highly motivated and prepared for academic, public or professional life.
Around 45 awards are available per year in the open competition for students who are applying to undertake PhD study. Students already in their first year of PhD study can apply for funding for the second and third year of their programme (at least 50% of your PhD must remain by the time the studentship commences).
These studentships include maintenance and UK rate fees for 3.5 years (42 months) for a full time student, or 7 years (84 months) for a part-time student (50% of maintenance). This is pro rata if you have already started your PhD. You should note that you must submit your thesis during your funded period and by your funding end date.
- Visit this link to find out more about applying to Techne!
Meet Our Students
“I have really enjoyed my research journey so far. Having the freedom to write about the area of research that interests me most is a great privilege, and the library is great at finding texts I need access to quickly! I also love attending the varied conferences and informal seminars where fellow PGRs share their work, because I get to learn about all the different research projects across the school. Getting involved with sharing work and organising events has been a useful way to learn new skills and meet fellow researchers both online and in person.
I am very fortunate to have two supervisors for my project, from different Humanities departments (LLC and History). Interdisciplinary approaches to working are a fantastic way to gain original insight into your work, which is of course necessary at PhD level.”
Centre for Global South Asia 