Faculty of Arts selection criteria for UoA doctoral scholarships

The Faculty of Arts can nominate up to 21 University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarships in 2023.

If you wish to be considered for these scholarships this is done as part of the application for admission to the doctoral programme. In selecting scholarship recipients, the Faculty of Arts will be informed by the objectives set out in Tuamata Teitei/The University of Auckland Strategic Plan, including the desire to: 

  • Nurture, recruit, and retain outstanding research talent
  • Support excellent and innovative research and the creation of high-quality research outputs
  • Grow Māori and Pacific candidates and research topics
  • Develop/strengthen relationships with Māori and Pacific communities
  • Support Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity among candidates and research topics

Students may also consider their research in relation to the following specific priorities:

  • Encourage and develop interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
  • Engage local communities
  • Grow research centred on the wider Pacific region
  • Work towards sustainability and the University’s sustainability goals  
  • Advocate for social justice

In attending to these priorities, the Faculty of Arts Selection Committee will assess all applications received against the following criteria:

  1. Excellence of the applicant. This will be assessed by considering the applicant’s success in previous academic studies, research experience, any relevant professional or other experience (e.g., volunteer work, community engagement etc.), the applicant’s skill set (relevant to the proposed project) and the potential for the applicant to contribute to knowledge in the discipline.

  2. Quality and viability of the proposed project. This will be assessed by considering the significance of the proposed research, its viability given the resources of the University of Auckland, its alignment with the research interests of the academic staff of the University of Auckland, and appropriateness of the proposed supervision team. The Faculty may consider factors that are external to the applicant, such as the supervision capacity of the proposed supervision team.

Scholarship applicants must complete an application for admission to the doctoral programme using the Faculty of Arts template for the Statement of Research Intent (SRI): 

A separate application for a scholarship is not required other than by indicating in the application that the applicant wishes to be considered for a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship.

Scholarship applicants must contact their proposed supervisor well in advance of the closing date for applications, since supervisor endorsement of the proposed project is required before an application will be considered by the Faculty of Arts for a scholarship. Applicants may approach the doctoral adviser for the disciplinary area for advice about finding appropriate supervisors. (Please note each doctoral adviser is listed at the bottom of each disciplinary adviser page).

There are four rounds per year. The closing dates are: 

  • 1 November 2022 
  • 1 March 2023 
  • 1 June 2023 
  • 1 September 2023