Hello, I’m Amirah! I’m halfway through my first year of a part-time PhD in English and Related Literature at the University of York. My working research title is ‘Contemporary Black British Speculative Fiction, the Afterlives of Empire and Black Futures’ – which means I spend a lot of time thinking about aliens, time travel and how everything’s really a simulation. I explore how Black British speculative fiction represents Black British experiences in conversation with legacies of the British empire, as well as considering what this non-realist genre might reveal about the future of Blackness in Britain and the world.
Before coming to York, I did my undergraduate and master’s degrees at Goldsmiths, University of London, specialising in American literature. I also worked and volunteered with education charities, which established my passion for making access to and success at university more equal. I’m able to take this passion forward as a YCEDE Scholars Board member.
My PhD is funded by the York Graduate Research School (YGRS) Scholarship. It was the second scholarship I applied to – and I had prepared myself to apply for many more – so I want to share some top tips for a successful arts/humanities scholarship application.
Get Your Supervisor To Help You
It might sound obvious (or daunting), but your supervisor is a font of knowledge for your PhD – and the same is true for scholarship applications, especially because they’re likely to have completed a similar application at some point in their career. From finding pots of potential funding to commiserating after an unsuccessful application (both of which happened to me), your supervisor is well-placed to walk you through the entire experience.
It’s a good idea to let your supervisor know you’re applying for scholarships early on in the process. They can provide feedback on your application, including how to articulate your ideas clearly and thinking about how your project might sound to people outside your field. It’s also a small window into the ways they work and a taster of what’s to come in your supervisory relationship.
If you need any more convincing, your supervisor is likely to have to provide some words of support for your application, so it’s worth getting them involved from the beginning!
Think About the Impact of Your Project
It can be hard to prove the impact of arts/humanities projects because our outcomes are often a lot less tangible than in the sciences. But it isn’t impossible!
Your project will have an impact, it will make a difference – you just need to think about the best way to articulate that. For example, even if I do spend a lot of time (probably too much time) thinking about alternate universes and robots, my project is very much about contemporary Black British experiences, as well as the future of these experiences in the UK and a global context. When I think about the people and scholarly approaches that will be impacted my research, it is guided by these concerns.
Bring Yourself to the Application
Your unique voice and experiences can help your application to stand out. Showing enthusiasm for your project will help whoever is reading your application to also be excited about your research, cementing that you’re the right person to do it.
On top of this, the path to a PhD is never linear – embracing that is a strength of any scholarship application. In the YGRS application process, I really appreciated the opportunity to showcase the skills that I gained from other parts of my life and the ways they would be relevant to succeeding in my PhD.
Practical Considerations
Read the instructions! After all the hard work you put in, the last thing you want is for your application to not meet the requirements. Pay attention to what good examples have in common and use that as inspiration for your own application. Prepare to apply for multiple scholarships, but don’t get discouraged – get a planner to stay on track.
And when you inevitably succeed, make sure you have a set of lovely people to celebrate with. Good luck!