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Margaret Stewart Bequest Masters by Research Scholarship in Archaeology

The University of Edinburgh invites applications from candidates for the Margaret Stewart Bequest Scholarship for the degree of MSc by Research. The scholarship exists due to the generosity of Margaret Stewart who had a particular interest in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery and must be based upon one of the topics listed in the Eligibility section.

Award

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate only for full-time Archaeology MSc by Research students. Successful overseas applicants will be liable for the difference between the Home and International fee rates.

The scholarship also includes a stipend at the UKRI rate (the UKRI stipend for the academic year 24/25 has now been published on the UKRI website as £19,237).

Some travel funding will be included (and other opportunities for travel funding exist within the School).

Eligibility

The scholarship will be awarded to new applicants who have applied for admission to a Masters by Research degree programme of study at the University commencing in September 2024.

The MSc research project must be on one of the agreed topics as outlined below:

  • An aspect of Beaker pottery in Britain, Ireland, or Continental Europe. This could include, for example, a study of Maritime Beakers and/or other Beakers with an international distribution, or a detailed typochronological study of the trajectory of Beaker development, making use of the large number of radiocarbon dates now available from the Beaker People Project and other initiatives. Of particular interest are the earliest uses of Beaker pottery in Britain and Ireland, and a ‘compare and contrast’ of Beakers (and the broader ‘Beaker phenomenon’) between Britain and Ireland. A fully illustrated, up to date corpus of Irish Beaker pottery is a desideratum, as is an update of David L. Clarke’s distribution maps from his 1970 book on The Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland. There is also a need for more technical analyses of the Beaker ceramic tradition, akin to those undertaken in France and Switzerland.
  • Funerary practices associated with Beaker pottery and with other contemporary funerary traditions not associated with Beakers.
  • The contexts of Beaker use, and their significance.
  • The relationship between the Beaker ceramic tradition and others whose currency overlaps with it.
  • An aspect of the study of human remains associated with Beakers, building on the osteological and isotopic work undertaken by the Beaker People Project and on the results of a DNA analysis of numerous Beaker-associated individuals across Europe.
  • Beaker domestic sites and settlement patterns in Britain and Ireland, updating and building on Alex Gibson’s 1982 study.
  • Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age agriculture and society, and its variation across Britain and Ireland.
  • Specific types of material culture associated with the use of Beaker pottery (e.g. metalwork).
  • Testing Needham’s 2005 model for the appearance and subsequent development of Beaker pottery in Britain

This list is not exhaustive, and candidates are advised to read the voluminous literature about the Beaker phenomenon before proposing a topic, to avoid duplication of work already done.

Criteria

Applicants must have, or expect to obtain, the equivalent of a UK first class or 2:1 Honours degree at undergraduate level in a subject related to the programme.

Applying

To be considered for the Margaret Stewart Bequest Scholarship, you must have applied for a MSc by Research degree programme with the School by the separate deadline.

There are two separate deadlines that applicants must be aware of: the earlier MScR deadline and the scholarship deadline.  Please check the School of History, Classics and Archaeology scholarship webpage linked below for these application deadlines.

You may apply for the Margaret Stewart Bequest Scholarship award before receiving a decision on your application for a MScR place, but if you do not receive a study offer, your application cannot proceed.

 

Eligible applicants should complete an online scholarship application.

The scholarship deadline is 23:59 BST 30th April 2024.

In order to gain access to the scholarship application system, applicants must have applied for admission to the University of Edinburgh.  Please note that, following the submission of an application for admission, it can take up to five working days for all system checks to be completed and for access to be granted.

The online scholarship application form is located in EUCLID and can be accessed via MyEd our web based information portal at https://www.myed.ed.ac.uk

When logging in to MyEd, you will need your University User Name and password.  If you require assistance, please go to http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-systems/support-guidance If you have not applied for admission, please go ahead and do this and you will receive your University User Name and password.

Notification

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications by May 2024.  We reserve the right not to make an award in the event that no suitable applications are received. 

Inquiries

If you have a question which has not been answered above, please email the HCA Postgraduate Research Office

 

 

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