Justin Arbuthnott PhD Scholarship in Modern Irish History

The award provides an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (for guidance, in 2025/2026, this was £20,780) for three years, subject to satisfactory progress and tuition fees at the UK or international rate.

The award is open to all UK and international students commencing a full-time History PhD degree in the academic year 2026-2027. Those applying for a distance learning HCA PhD programme, as well as current PhD students, are not eligible to apply for the Justin Arbuthnott PhD Scholarship.

The scholarship panel will consider all high-quality proposals relating to the history of modern Ireland or British-Irish relations.

To be considered for the Justin Arbuthnott PhD Scholarship, you must:

• Hold a UK 2.1 or first class honours undergraduate degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant field

• Hold, or successfully achieve before commencing your PhD with us, a relevant masters degree with an overall mark of at least 65%, or its international equivalent.

To be considered for the Justin Arbuthnott Scholarship you must have applied for a PhD degree programme with the School by the separate deadline. 

There are two separate deadlines that applicants must be aware of: the earlier PhD deadline and the scholarship deadline.  Please check the School of History, Classics and Archaeology scholarship webpage for these application deadlines.

You may apply for the Justin Arbuthnott Scholarship before receiving a decision on your application for a PhD place, but if you do not receive a study offer, your application cannot proceed.

Further information on how to apply and the application deadlines for 2026/2027 can be found at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Scholarships Systems FAQs for Applicants (152.11 KB / PDF)

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications by May 2026.  We reserve the right not to make an award in the event that no suitable applications are received.  

If you have a question which has not been answered above, please email the HCA Postgraduate Research Office (hca-pgr@ed.ac.uk).