Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant

The School of Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews offers a fully funded PhD research project grant to support an exceptional student undertaking doctoral research in the project titled 'Times of Polycrisis in the UK and Europe (TOP)'. The project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and led by Daniel M. Knight, running from 2025-2029. TOP interrogates the claim that we are living in unprecedented times and focuses on building qualitative research on strands of the so-called 'unprecedented polycrisis'. The successful PhD candidate will have a research focus on Greece and Turkey as part of examining energy security. Fieldwork will also take place in the United Kingdom to examine the cost-of-living crisis and in Eastern Europe to investigate humanitarianism. By examining these crises through the lenses of political rhetoric, social complexity, communication technology, and historical consciousness, the project will interrogate both 'unprecedented' and 'polycrisis' and their sociopolitical implications. The award provides full tuition fees and a stipend at UKRI rate (£19,237 for 2024-2025) for up to 3.5 years full-time study. Scholarship holders will be expected to have submitted their thesis for examination by the end of that period. The award is available for September 2025 entry only.