Graduate Student Opportunities with me

If you are interesting in doing a PhD with me you need a relevant Masters degree, the background to do one of my projects, and the ability to write a coherent proposal that demonstrates your own knowledge and ability to synthesise material.

I am not looking for students so do not approach me unless you have a very strong case that you should work with me.

Your first step

Study the departmental web page for details on how to apply.

Your next step

In addition to the departmental requirements, should you attract my interest, I will ask you to write a short proposal showing you know how to frame a research question and cite literature.

If you submit an proposal that’s a copy and paste job, I will not consider you for PhD study. Please make sure you understand what plagiarism is. In particular, it is terrible note-taking practice to copy text verbatim from your sources because that creates the risk that you reuse text inadvertently. Any significant amount of reuse of words of others is not acceptable; a small amount of reuse of words specifically placed in quote marks and citing the original is acceptable. There are some useful hints on note-taking here.

If you have previously-published work that is a plus. However, be aware that there is a cottage industry in substandard journals and conferences. If your work was accepted with little or extremely quick review, be suspicious. It is not meant to be easy to publish in a good journal or conference.

Masters entry requirements are highly variable; the main requirement is an Honours or equivalent 4 years of study. Your options are:


Funding

I sometimes have funding from the National Research Foundation for some students. The NRF generally only funds South African students. If you have a strong track record it is possible they will make an exception, and there are other funds that may be possible to access. I strongly encourage you to apply for your own funding as NRF grantholder student support is inadequate.

Please check the Rhodes financial aid pages for more options. Apply early – many options have closing dates long before the February start of academic year.


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