MPhil / PhD Admissions

29 May

LSE administered scholarships: 2^nd round funding

The department has now contacted all those who have been nominated for funding in the 2^nd round. If you have not been contacted by the department by now, you have not been successful in acquiring LSE administered funding starting in the academic year 2020-21.

As the department is not able to provide feedback about funding decisions in relation to individual applications, please also do not contact the department to ask why you were not offered funding.

POLISS scholarships

The department has now also completed the process for considering applicants to the POLISS scholarship scheme. If you have not already been contacted directly by a member of faculty to inform you that you application is now being considered at the level of the research network, you have not been successful.

Decisions about School-administered funding opportunities are made at the departmental level by the Department of Geography and Environment (G&E) Research Degrees Funding Panel (‘the department panel’). The department panel is composed of the department’s five programme directors, plus the G&E Director of Postgraduate Studies. Some scholarships are awarded directly by the department panel. Others are awarded by the School’s PhD Scholarships Awards Panel (‘the School panel’). Others are awarded in collaboration with other sources of funding within the School. The different processes for each of the scholarships available for 2020/21 applicants are outlined below.

Most School-administered funding opportunities will be awarded in the aftermath of the 10 January application deadline. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that you submit your application by 10 January. It is possible that some scholarships will be available after the final 27 April deadline. However, this will depend on the number of scholarships which remain un-allocated after the 10 January deadline. Accordingly, submitting after the 10 January deadline is strongly discouraged unless you have already secured non-LSE funding for your studies.

Please note that the department can only consider for funding those applications which:

(i) list a Department of Geography and Environment programme as their 1st choice, and;

(ii) are not only submitted but also released to the department by the Graduate Admissions service before the relevant application deadlines for the 1^st and 2^nd funding rounds.

For information on the process by which applications are released to department, see below under ‘What happens to my application after I press submit?’ 

FYI: You do not need to apply separately for School administered funding opportunities. All applicants who are offered a place on a G&E MPhil/PhD programme will be considered for all School-administered funding opportunities for which they are eligible, and which are available at the point at which they apply. However, as competition for places is very intense, and competition for scholarships is even more intense, G&E cannot provide School-administered funding to all offer-holders. Accordingly, applicants are required actively to explore all potential sources of funding at all stages in their application, including before and during the LSE’s funding consideration process.

There are 5 routes to acquiring funding via G&E in the 2020 academic year.

1. LSE PhD Scholarships
For those applying for September 2020 entry, the LSE PhD scholarships deadline is 10 January 2020.
For the 2020/21 intake, G&E will be able to award four guaranteed LSE PhD Scholarships, and to nominate four further reserve candidates for those scholarships. (Any declined guaranteed LSE PhD Scholarship offers will be re-offered to applicants on the G&E reserve list). These scholarships are awarded directly by the department panel.

2. ESRC PhD Scholarships
For those applying for September 2020 entry, the ESRC scholarships deadline is 10 January 2020.
For the 2020/21 intake, the department panel will be able to nominate six applicants to the School panel for an ESRC PhD scholarship. NB: The department panel nominates applicants for ESRC scholarships, but the School panel makes the final decision about who to award an ESRC PhD scholarship.

3. LSE PhD Studentships on ‘Analysing and Challenging Inequalities’
For those applying for September 2020 entry, the ‘Analysing and Challenging Inequalities’ scholarships deadline is 10 January 2020.
For the 2020/21 intake, the department will be able to nominate two applicants to the International Inequalities Institute for LSE PhD Studentships on ‘Analysing and Challenging Inequalities’ (ACI scholarships). NB: The department panel nominates applicants for ACI scholarships, but the International Inequalities Institute panel makes the final decision about who to award an AIC scholarship. If you would like to apply for this funding stream, please reference in your application how your research will fit into the theme of ‘Analysing and Challenging Inequalities’.

4. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (GRI)
For those applying for September 2020 entry, the GRI scholarships deadline is 10 January 2020.
The department has a close relationship with the GRI. Each year, the department works closely with the GRI to decide which candidates should be offered GRI funding. Decisions about GRI funding are made towards the end of February/beginning of March.

5. POLISS funding
For those applying for September 2020 entry, the POLISS scholarships deadline is 3 April 2020.
For the 2020/21 intake, the department will be able to award two Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Foundation scholarships for those applying to the MPhil/PhD Economic Geography whose research proposal is specifically tailored to the ‘Policies for Smart Specialisation’ (POLISS) funding call. NB: this scholarship is only available to those applying for the MPhil/PhD Economic Geography, and will only be available for the September 2020 entry cohort.

The LSE does not publish School-wide information on funding-application success rates. However, of the 272 applicants for doctoral study starting in the academic year 2019/20 with the Department of Geography and Environment, only 13 (4.78%) were successful in acquiring an offer of a place to study with the department as well as a School-administered scholarship. As the department strongly discourages self-funded study, applicants are encouraged to be realistic about their chances of securing funding via the School’s admissions processes, and should actively pursue all other potential sources of funding while applying.

Yes, of course!

This can be found here.

Please note: the Department of Geography and Environment is not responsible for the PhD in Cities. This programme is delivered by the LSE’s Department of Sociology. If you would like to ask questions about the PhD in Cities, please contact sociology.phd@lse.ac.uk.

Applications must be submitted via LSE’s Online Application System and are processed through the LSE’s central Graduate Admissions Office.

Questions about the mechanics of the application process should be submitted to LSE’s central Graduate Admissions Office via the online enquiries system, and not to the department.

Before contacting the admissions office, please check to see if the information you are looking for can be found on the LSE’s graduate study webpage, the School’s general admission enquiries page, or the Graduate Admissions Office’s tailored guidance pages for prospective applicants and applicants in progress. You can also track your application and find out how to carry out the most common tasks online using the “How Do I” page.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for, please first try to find the answer to your question by running a search in the online enquiries system, where you will be given the option to 'send a written enquiry' directly to Graduate Admissions.

The department operates a rolling admissions system for MPhil/PhD programmes. However, funding opportunities offered by the LSE are subject to deadlines. Information on the deadlines relevant to each programme can be found on the relevant webpage for each programme, which can be found here. 

Yes, as long as you will be able to prove your final results by the time you are required to register for the programme.

Information on this can be found at the following School webpage.

The department does not provide additional guidance on research proposals, beyond that stated below, and provided by the School. If you are uncertain about what to do, you are required to use your own best judgement, based on your existing training. Please do not ask the department for further guidance, as it will not be issued. Detailed School-level information about research proposals can be found here.

Research proposals for those applying directly to MPhil/PhD programmes

In general, your research proposal is an indication of your research interests, how you developed them, and how you intend to pursue them. We recognise that your research interests will continue to develop while you complete our taught courses. Accordingly, your proposal is not a fully binding commitment, and you will be able to refocus and redefine your proposal later on in the programme before you begin work on the first chapter of your PhD thesis.

Research proposals for those applying to the ESRC 1+3 funding stream

Your research proposal should conform to the expectations set out above, and should be the same length as those required for our MPhil/PhD programmes. (Detailed information about research proposals can be found here.) If you successfully complete your MSc and are admitted to the PhD programme, and would like to diverge from the research proposal set out in your initial application for one of our MSc programmes, you will have to negotiate this with your supervisors. However, as we will expect you to mature as a researcher during the course of your studies, we fully understand and expect that your research proposal will mature, develop and change as well. Consequently, if you are successful in acquiring ESRC 1+3 funding, you will not be bound to fulfil every aspect of your research proposal in finite detail.

No.

No.

If you would like to include the names of potential supervisors in your application, it is your own responsibility to research our faculty’s research interests.

No. 

Information on fees can be found on the page relevant to each programme, which can be found here.

No, admissions decisions are based on academic merit alone, without any reference to an applicant’s financial situation. Applicants who are able to fund themselves or succeed in securing a scholarship or sponsorship from any source will be considered for entry to the programme in exactly the same way as applicants who have no funding in place. The same procedures and standards apply to all applicants competing for entry.

Entry requirements may vary slightly between programmes. However, in general the minimum entry requirement is a merit in a relevant masters degree programme with a 65%+ average, and a 70%+ distinction. As the LSE is a world leading social sciences institution, only candidates with a strong academic social sciences background are encouraged to apply.

Please note: admission to the department’s PhD programmes is extremely competitive. Meeting the minimum entry requirement for our programmes does not guarantee acceptance.

This means that your previous qualifications are of a comparable standard and syllabus to a taught master’s degree featuring an independent research component. Determining whether your qualification/s are equivalent to this standard requirement is the function of the admissions process, and the department does not pre-screen applicants’ documents. Please do not ask members of the department to do this for you.

Yes. So long as you will be able to provide official proof of degree results before the start date for our PhD programmes (see programme prospectus pages for details) your application will be considered.

Please see here.

Please also note the following.
- Of all the offers made for applicants to start on a Department of Geography and Environment (G&E) MPhil/PhD programme in the 2019/20 session, 94% were made to those who had listed a G&E PhD programme as their 1^st choice.
- Of the G&E offer holders awarded funding by the School’s PhD Scholarships Award Panel, 100% had selected a G&E programme as their 1^st choice.

No. However, if these reflect positively on your quality as an applicant, you may wish to consider submitting these.

Information on the LSE’s English language requirements can be found here.

You are not required to secure the support of a potential supervisor before submitting your application. (In the first instance, applications are reviewed by the programme director, not prospective supervisors.) Accordingly, please do not email members of the department asking them to review your application documents. The department does not pre-screen applicants’ documents, as reviewing applicants’ documentation is the purpose of the formal admissions process.

This does not mean that you are not permitted to contact members of the department. However, our academics’ time is very limited. Please do not be discouraged if members of the department do not reply to your email. This only reflects the fact that if our academics responded to everyone, they would have no time for their research and teaching. Instead, please focus on submitting the best quality application that you can.

The only things that you must never do are the following.

(i) Do not repeatedly chase members of the department who have not responded to your messages. This will make them less likely to respond, not more.

(ii) Do not send exactly the same message to multiple members of the department. Firstly, our faculty work very closely together. They will know if you have copied and pasted the same email to most (or all) of their colleagues. Secondly, they are unlikely to be impressed by requests to support research proposals which have not been tailored to reflect the specific research specialisms which they are able to supervise.

(iii) Do not ask members of the department to circulate or recommend your documentation (research proposal, CV etc.) to other faculty members or to the department in general. As above, the department does not pre-screen applicants’ documents.’

The maximum period of full-time registration is four years.

No. All students are required to be in regular attendance at the School so that they can attend courses, supervision meetings and other seminars as required by their programme. Periods of study away from the School can be undertaken, but require departmental and central approval.

The department does not allow students to skip the taught phase of their doctoral studies.

Our programmes aim to produce world class researchers in the field. In order for students to be able to undertake research at this level, the department believes that students must have a sufficient range of 'tools' to do so. It therefore requires that its students complete, and pass to the required standard, a range of courses in order to provide them with these tools and techniques that can be applied in their research. 

Information on the department’s research interests can be found on the department’s research page.

Applications rejected without interview - in general, if an application is rejected after initial consideration, our academic staff will indicate briefly via the admissions system why it has been rejected. This information can be requested from the admissions service. The department cannot provide this to you.

Applications rejected after interview - you are free to enquire with those who interviewed you about their reasons for deciding not to offer you a place to study with the department. However, our academic staff are under no obligation to provide feedback.

The department expects all students to undertake the taught phase of their MPhil/PhD studies full time, without exceptions.

The department will only consider applications to transfer to part-time study after students have completed the taught phase of their studies (usually the end of the 1^st year) and will not make decisions in principle at the point of admission.

Our graduates tend to be very successful in pursuing academic careers. However, many of our graduates pursue careers beyond academia. For information on our graduates’ career paths, please take a look at our graduate career destination pages.

In general, it is your own responsibility to seek out funding  to support your studies. (Securing external funding for research activities is also something that most academics will be required to do throughout their careers.) Consequently, the department is not able to seek out funding from external sources on your behalf. However, if you do find a funding opportunity that you would like to apply for, your prospective supervisors will generally be willing to consider supporting your application. If you would like to ask for support in making an application, please contact your prospective supervisors directly.

Beyond the School administered scholarships mentioned at the top of this page, the following organisations have previously supported our students.

-       The Anandamahidol Foundation

-       The Arts Promotion Centre Finland

-       The Brazilian Government

-       The Centre for European Policy Studies

-       The China Scholarship Council

-       The Commonwealth (Commonwealth Scholarships scheme, funded by the UK Department for International Development)

-       CONACYT (Government of Mexico scholarships)

-       The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education

-       The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee

-       The Peruvian Ministry of Education

-       The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

You may also wish to check the following webpages for funding opportunities.

-       The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding

-       FindaPhD – funding page

NB: In general, the department will only support applications to third-party funding bodies if applicants have already been offered a place to study on one of the department’s MPhil/PhD programmes. Accordingly, if you are planning to apply to a third party-funding body, please first apply to the department. As the department’s admissions processes will usually take no less than one month from the point at which you submit your application to the School, and can take six weeks or longer during periods of peak business, please make sure that you apply for a place to study with us in plenty of time to accommodate any external funding body deadlines. 

(i) Receipt of application by the School’s admissions service.
During this phase, the School’s central admissions service conducts basic checks to ensure that you have included all of the required documents with your application. NB: the department will not receive your application until you have supplied all of the required documents and the School has received your references.

NB: programme applications are considered in series at the LSE, not in parallel. This means that 2^nd choice programme applications are not released to the relevant selectors until after the consideration process for a student’s 1^st choice programme application is complete. This has significant implications for those seeking funding, as this means that 2^nd choice departments are almost guaranteed not receive 2^nd choice applications until long after the funding consideration process for a given application has been completed. Consequently, if you would like to be considered for funding by the Department of Geography and Environment, it is strongly recommended that you list one of the department’s programmes as your first choice.

(ii) Receipt and consideration of documents by the department 
Different programmes consider applications slightly differently. However, in general, once the department receives your application, relevant academic staff who may be interested in supervising your research will consider your application. Your application will be considered in relation to the following broad criteria:

a. Do your qualifications and experience meet the expected standard?
b. Does your research proposal have the potential to produce research of a sufficiently high calibre?
c. Do your research interests broadly align with those of the department?*
d. Will the department be able to accommodate you?**

If these staff consider that your application meets all criteria set out above, they will recommend to the programme director that you be interviewed. If your application does not meet all of the above criteria, your application will be rejected.

* For example, as the department specialises in human geography, it is unlikely that we will be able to supervise physical geography research programmes.

** The School sets an upper-limit on the number of doctoral students which each member of staff can supervise, not all of our academic staff will be able to take on new research supervision every year, and the department’s resources are finite. Accordingly, the department cannot always accommodate every potential student’s needs, even if they meet the standard for admission.

(iii) Interview 

If you are invited to interview, this means that the department is strongly considering you as a potential candidate for doctoral study. All potential students are interviewed, regardless of any previous association with their potential supervisors, the department, or the LSE. Interviews will generally be conducted remotely, by telephone or VOIP. However, if you are able to come to the department your interviewers may be willing to meet you in person. Interviews will generally last 20-30 minutes, but may last longer than this.

NB: the interview process is not supposed to be intimidating – they are supposed to be challenging, but your interviewers will not be trying to catch you out or trip you up! Rather, this is an opportunity for you to discuss the following topics with your potential supervisors.

a. Your motivation for doctoral study.
b. Your academic background.
c. Your research proposal.

This will also be a chance for you to ask questions about:
d. the next stages of the application process,
e. the particular MPhil/PhD programme to which you have applied; and,
f. the demands of doctoral study more generally.

(iv) Post-interview consideration of application
After your interview has been completed, a decision will be made about whether to offer you a place to study with the department.

(v) Decline or Offer
If the department decides to offer you a study-place, the admissions service will produce and send formal offer documentation to you.

All candidates who are offered a place to study with the department are also considered for all funding opportunities offered by the School for which they are eligible.

Registration for Geography and Environment PhD programmes will take place during late September 2020.

The only exception to this rule is for students taking EC400, ‘Introductory Course in mathematics and Statistics’. EC400 is a pre-sessional course run by the Department of Economics, which is a pre-requisite for many graduate level courses run by the Department of Economics. If you opt to, or are required to take EC400, you will be required to register with the School at the end of August 2020.

EC400 is mandatory for students on the MPhil/PhD Environmental Economics, which means that offer holders will automatically be expected to register at the end of August 2020.

EC400 is optional for students on the MPhil/PhD in Economic Geography, depending on their proposed research, which means that offer holders will be expected to register:

- at the end of August 2020 if they choose to take EC400; but,

- at the end of September 2020 if they choose not to take EC400.

MPhil/PhD Economic Geography offer holders will be required to confirm by the end of June 2020 whether they intend to take EC400. Consequently, Economic Geography offer holders are encouraged to discuss with their prospective supervisors whether they will need to take EC400 as soon as they receive their offer letter from the School.

As a research unit, the department is split into three clusters. Each of our PhD programmes is associated with one of our research clusters.

Economic Geography research cluster
- MPhil/PhD Economic Geography

Environmental Economics and Policy research cluster
- MPhil/PhD Environmental Economics
- MPhil/PhD Environmental Policy and Development

Urbanisation, Policy and Development (UPD)
- MPhil/PhD Human Geography and Urban Studies
- MPhil/PhD Regional and Urban Planning Studies.

For each programme, the department appoints a doctoral programme director (DPD). Doctoral programme directors are responsible for their individual programme, and also meet together to discuss matters which affect all of the department’s PhD students. As the Department of Geography and Environment is slightly unusual in having five MPhil/PhD programmes, to ensure coherency, consistency and cohesion, the department also appoints a director of postgraduate studies, who operates in an oversight capacity in relation to the department’s doctoral research programmes as a whole.