The III Doctoral Programme consists of an interdisciplinary seminar for students holding Leverhulme Scholarships or "Analysing and Challenging Inequality" Scholarships, alongside a small group of doctoral students from across the School with funding from other sources who are also working in the area of inequalities.
Recent research on inequality has pointed to the need for more interdisciplinary work. Cultural, economic, social and political inequalities are causally interconnected, and all are embedded in social practices and institutions. Understanding any one dimension of inequality greatly benefits from understanding these interconnections.
The seminar therefore brings together people working in disciplines such as economics, political science and political economy, sociology, anthropology, law, philosophy and psychology. A sensitivity to history and culture is encouraged. The overarching aim of the programme is to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that link the economic dimensions of inequality with their social, cultural and political dimensions at the global level.
Programme Structure
In the first year of the programme for the 2020-21 cohort there will be a fortnightly core interdisciplinary seminar. There will be 10 of these through the academic year. In Michaelmas Term (MT) the seminar will combine informal teaching and discussion. Leading III researchers will guide the students through different methodological approaches to the study of inequality, and interdisciplinary discussion will be strongly encouraged. The seminars provide a great opportunity to meet the III researchers in person and connect with like-minded peers. The 2nd to 4th year cohorts of the doctoral programme are also invited to MT seminars.
In Lent Term, the seminars will be based on first-year student presentations and discussion of their future ideas. The broad assumption throughout the seminars is that neither teaching nor presentations should be technical, in part because we want the cohort where necessary to develop competencies in explaining technical ideas in non-technical language.
These fortnightly seminars will take place virtually on Thursdays at 12.45-2pm . The first session will take place on Thursday 8th of October. In the remaining years of the programme (and in the 2020-21 academic year for the 2019, 2018 and 2017 cohorts), we will have meetings which will take the form of presentations and discussion of on-going research by the students in the cohort.
How to apply
Applications for the 2020-2021 are now open. Please submit a short statement on your area of research related to inequalities by Friday, 2nd of October to Liza Ryan at E.Ryan@lse.ac.uk
Please note that becoming part of this cohort means that you continue to be based in your home Departments - it entails that in addition to all normal Departmental expectations you have the opportunity of Cross-Departmental support and engagement, but must commit to attending the Thursday lectures in the first year.
Read about current doctoral students participating in the programme here.