Up to three Language-based Areas Studies PhD studentships funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are available in the North West Doctoral Training Centre (NWDTC) – this can include PhD (or MA+PhD) studentships in Japanese Studies, which must be held at the University of Manchester. UK applicants (see below for what this means) can apply for full studentships (tuition fees plus maintenance grant and fieldwork funding), while applicants from the rest of the EU can apply for a studentship covering tuition fees only (in which case, there is a good chance that the university will provide a living costs bursary). (Sorry, only applicants from within the EU are eligible for these studentships.) This is an excellent opportunity for aspiring PhDs whose projects could be supervised by one of the Japanese Studies team at Manchester – besides myself (anthropology/modern society), Sharon Kinsella (sociology/cultural studies), Mara Patessio (modern history), and (from
April 2013) Erica Baffelli (religion). Last year one applicant from Italy was successful in gaining a studentship and bursary.

The deadline to apply online for a postgraduate place is 17 January 2013 (not long!) – this must be done before applying for an ESRC studentship, the deadline for which is 4 February 2013. Information about the studentships and how to apply is here: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/graduateschool/funding/  (section headed ‘Economic and Social Research Council Competition’). (This also contains information on the President’s Doctoral Scholars awards, for which applications are also welcomed, but which is even more competitive.) More information on the studentships, with the application form (and what it means to be a ‘UK applicant’) is here: http://www.nwdtc.ac.uk/prospective.html

Prospective applicants are strongly advised to contact their preferred doctoral supervisor before applying, to discuss and hone their applications. Details of the academic staff are here:
Peter Cave: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/
Sharon Kinsella: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/sharon.kinsella/personaldetails andhttp://www.kinsellaresearch.com/ Mara Patessio: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/mara.patessio/
Erica Baffelli: http://www.otago.ac.nz/religiousstudies/staff/baffelli.php
Information on East Asian Studies at Manchester is here: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/eastasianstudies/