From 72178fab7dd3aa931732bcd7b9f4dffb9e5a3102 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jeremy Kidwell Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:09:24 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Update phd_app_advice.md added new section on supervision topics --- phd_app_advice.md | 21 ++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/phd_app_advice.md b/phd_app_advice.md index 697f1a8..5d5048f 100644 --- a/phd_app_advice.md +++ b/phd_app_advice.md @@ -4,6 +4,25 @@ I enthusiastically welcome applications to undertake PhD study in our department The process of application varies from country to country, in some cases dramatically, so I have written this brief guide so that anyone wanting to apply will have a fair sense of the criteria and expectations for application. +## What I supervise! + +Let's start with a bit of a list of topics that I supervise. It's worth noting that I will not usually take on supervision outside these areas: + +- research into religion and ecology: specifically studies of Christian or Pagan environmental activism, policy or environmental NGO engagement around matters of religion. I'm also open to supervising post-secular studies relating to extinction, deep time (including theological critiques of the concept), multispecies reflections, animal religion, phenomenology, attunement and work around embodied theologies +- theological ethics or historical theology projects around themes related to ecology, technology, design, justice, pacificism, and/or economics work on economic ethics or Christian political philosophy: specifically work on patristic Christian ethics +- political theology, specifically intersectional projects that explore matters of political sovereignty, citizenship or agency from queer, Black, indigenous or feminist perspectives, also constructive or empirical projects on post/anti-capitalist Christian ethics and Christian socialism or Christian anarchism +- theological engagements with disability, psychology and psychotherapy, particularly projects that understand the social model of disability, and seek to work with radical / justice traditions in thinking about disability or neurodivergence theologically +- empirical studies of post/ex-vangelical experience and journeying, especially in relation to the moral life +- contextual theology projects drawing on contemporary traditions in Black theology, feminism, mad/crip/disability studies, or queer theology +- digital theology and engagements with technology and religion +- theology of culture and theological studies of arts, literature, and everyday culture +- practical theology or ethnographic investigations into matters of popular culture, activism, social movements +- spirituality studies into popular religious movements, new religious movements, or Christian mysticism +- spirituality studies, particularly those that focus on Christian mysticism, fusers / hybrid religion, political action, and forms of ecologically oriented spirituality or contemplative ecology +- Data science and sociology of religion projects on hybrid / ecological / post-secular religion. For more about my approach, see my open access textbook here: https://kidwellj.github.io/hacking_religion_textbook/) + +Please note, I'm generally not interested in supervising projects that touch on reformation-era theology, or figures like Wesley, Calvin, or Luther. I will not supervise ethics projects on abortion, eugenics, or euthanasia. I'm not massively enthusiastic about systematic theology / doctrine-led projects. I'm very enthusiastic about comparative religious ethics and have been a champion for many projects in Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism, but I don't have sufficient expertise in those traditions to act as a competent lead supervisor, so if you hope to focus on Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, or Buddhism, etc. I'd recommend you find another primary supervisor with sufficient expertise in those traditions and circle back around to me with that supervisor to be a very enthusiastic second supervisor. + ## Features of the UK PhD First a few salient details about our context here (in the UK at large research-intensive Universities): @@ -29,7 +48,7 @@ If you stil think you want to apply, read on! ### Step 1. Do reconaissance - Whilst your formal application is to the University and is processed by administrative staff, you should identify one or two specific full-time permanent members of academic staff (i.e. "scholars") you want to do PhD study with. You can find out information about us on our [department websites](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/tr/kidwell-jeremy.aspx) or [personal web pages](https://jeremykidwell.info). -- Once you have identified individuals who have conducted research in the specicic area you want to work in (e.g. Christian eco-theology, activist ethnography, phenomenology of time, theology & economics, to list a few of mine), you should **begin preparation** so that you can make contact with that person and open up a conversation about whether they would be well suited to supervise your research. This person will expect you to have done a bit of homework before reaching out to them, in the very least enough to know about their specialisations and perhaps having read a few things they've written on the subject. You don't need to cite our work back to us, but please don't make an approach until you're confident about that person being at least interested in your subject and experienced in supervising work on it on the basis of a few hours invested in reading their work. This is a person you will spend at least three years with, working quite closely together, so this is a reasonable expectation. +- Once you have identified individuals who have conducted research in the specicic area you want to work in (see above for a few of mine), you should **begin preparation** so that you can make contact with that person and open up a conversation about whether they would be well suited to supervise your research. This person will expect you to have done a bit of homework before reaching out to them, in the very least enough to know about their specialisations and perhaps having read a few things they've written on the subject. You don't need to cite our work back to us, but please don't make an approach until you're confident about that person being at least interested in your subject and experienced in supervising work on it on the basis of a few hours invested in reading their work. This is a person you will spend at least three years with, working quite closely together, so this is a reasonable expectation. - It is generally considered impolite to send an inquiry concurrently to several different members of staff in the same department without letting them know you are doing so. Do your homework first, identify that specific person, and have a conversation with them (or 2-3 of them at different universities). - In some cases, I am happy to make suggestions as to whom else it might be relevant to approach as a prospective supervisor, especially if you have not had the benefit of the forms of privilege which make these social networks perspicuous. However, it is generally considered ungracious to ask us to do reconaissance for you, especially if you have already asked us to consider a research proposal which isn't relevant to our various forms of expertise. If in any doubt, don't hesitate to ask.