Teaching

As a result of dramatic economic and social changes over recent years, the study of inequality has rapidly developed as one of the most important areas of inter-disciplinary social scientific study.

This MSc offers a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme which includes expertise from leading academics in the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Government, Law, Social Policy, Media and Communications, Gender, and Statistics and will provide students with state-of-the-art teaching in this area.

Each year, the MSc student with the best overall performance will be awarded the Atkinson Prize. The prize is named for Professor Tony Atkinson, who sadly passed away on New Year's Day 2017. Professor Atkinson played a very important role in the establishment of the III and continued to support our work, but more importantly as the economist worldwide, ensuring that inequality is given the attention that it deserves.

Programme Director: Dr Sam Friedman

See here for information on how to apply.

Read about our MSc students' experiences and graduate desinations here.

For 2021 entry, LSE is offering a minimum of three new prestigious studentships for PhD study in a Department whose research addresses 'Analysing and Challenging Inequalities'.

Students will apply to specific Departments and will also be affiliated to LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. They  will be part of a dynamic research culture exploring the links between the economic dimensions of inequalities with their social, cultural and political aspects to systematically assess whether and how inequalities might be hardening in mutually reinforcing ways.

As well as being supervised by experts in their home Departments, they be actively mentored by a group of leading scholars who all have outstanding records of research on escalating inequalities. 

Further guidance for applicants: LSE PhD Studentships on 'Analysing and Challenging Inequalities'

There are three previous cohorts of students already funded by the Leverhulme Trust and three previous cohorts of LSE-funded ‘Analysing and Challenging Inequalities’ developing research on this theme. 

Deadline for application is 14th January 2021

Due to the late advertising of the awards for 2021, applicants who have already submitted their applications to Departments and would like to be considered for these awards should contact their Department to notify them of their interest and submit a statement explaining how their research relates to inequalities as indicated in the notes for applicants.

Each academic department will stipulate their own application deadlines.

Applications must make reference to where their research will fit into the theme of 'Analysing and Challenging Inequalities'.

Selection process

The relevant academic departments are invited to select candidates who fit the research theme and nominate them to be considered.

Nomination process

Departments nominate candidates using the application for admission. When nominating students, departments will need to appraise the applicant for outstanding merit and research potential.

Nominations must be made via a nomination form and be returned to the Financial Support Office by the deadline. They will then be processed in order to be considered by the specialist Postgraduate Research Awards Panel.

Responsibility for selecting recipients for these awards will fall to specialist Postgraduate Research Awards Panel. The Panel will make the awards purely on the basis of academic merit and research potential. 

These awards are for intended for new applicants only. The Panel will not consider any continuing students.

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.