Erasmus Mundus (DCGC) Scholarships

Overview

Erasmus Mundus Doctoral Programme in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC) is a three-year interdisciplinary, collaborative PhD-programme which combines the expertise and strengths of four universities with established reputations in the field.

Internationally prestigious Excellence Programme

Funded by the European Union as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate and recognised as delivering training of outstanding quality, the DCGC brings together the expertise of four leading universities:

The University of Kent, UK
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Hungary
The University of Hamburg, Germany
Utrecht University, Netherlands.

Working in the newly emerging fields of cultural criminology, global criminology, the criminology of security, human rights and social exclusion, the programme supervises critical, leading-edge doctoral research and provides a broad training that combines international mobility, an integrated structure and individually tailored flexibility.

Mobility

You conduct research in one of four thematic areas and are supervised by an international team based in your two chosen universities, spending at least one year in each.

Associate partners

The DCGC has established partnerships with associate members outside the university sector, drawn from fields directly relevant to its research themes. These associates are also involved in the programme and provide candidates with valuable research internship opportunities. Associates include a wide range of organisations involved in civil society action (mainly NGOs), policymaking, crime control and criminal justice. In addition we have university associate partners in countries outside Europe, which may act as bases for fieldwork in particular projects.

Research excellence

The DCGC is staffed with academics who have conducted high-quality, world-renowned research. All four partners in the consortium are nationally and internationally recognised centres of research excellence, providing a complementary and interdisciplinary combination of both social science and law-based dimensions of criminology. The DCGC partner universities provide a rich and diverse research environment, promoting the development and exchange of ideas. Each institution organises frequent research seminars, workshops, academic events and international conferences which facilitate regular contact with world-leading researchers, visiting scholars and peers from a wide range of disciplines to help develop global career and social networks. Global, transnational and cultural themes run across all four centres: in crime, control and social exclusion (ELTE and Kent); in the drug trade and its cultures (Kent, Utrecht, Hamburg); in the links between the local and the global in youth crime, culture and control (Kent, Hamburg, Utrecht); in the trade-offs between security measures and human rights (Hamburg, ELTE); in environmental damage and the associated blurred boundaries between crime and social harm (Utrecht); and in the relationship between migration, social and legal exclusion.

Research themes

As a doctoral researcher, you conduct critical research with identified impact in one of four main research themes:

Crime, Media and Culture

Critical studies of crime and control at two levels, as experienced in local cultures, and as felt and understood in different forms of globalised media and communications; the interaction between these two levels; the relationships between crime and the mainstream cultural values, including those of consumerism and popular fiction; emotions such as fear and hatred; cultural approaches to the study of illicit drugs, young people’s transgression; violence; terrorism; as well as corporate/white-collar, organised and ‘green’ crime.

Criminal Justice Policy, Social Change and Exclusion

Critical studies of the effects of social change on such problems as criminality, social and legal exclusion, and responses in crime policy, criminal justice, human rights policy and crime control. This may include the problems of young people and the relationship between exclusion and transgression. The issue of ‘transitional justice’, where democratic regimes deal with the human rights violations of their predecessors, has a significance in many parts of the world.

Globalisation, Transnational Crime and Control

Critical studies of the effects of globalisation on crime, social harm, criminal justice, and crime control. Key areas include: the links between local cultures and global circuits in, for example, illegal drugs and human trafficking, and the networks that sustain them; environmental harm, as well as the effects of these problems on national and international policy; the transnational dimensions of corporate, state, political and organised crime.

Human Rights and International Security

Critical studies of the impacts of terrorism and migration on security policy; the effects of a changing security landscape on human rights and traditional criminal justice concepts, as well as on criminology as a discipline; the effects of the internationalisation of crime, and criminal and security policy on human rights; the implications for the study of European and international human rights conventions and their relationship to wider concepts of ‘rights’ in the economic, social and cultural spheres.

Enhanced career prospects

Every aspect of the DCGC training is oriented to enhance the employment prospects of successful doctoral graduates. The programme allows you to develop a politically engaged, international understanding of crime, social harm and crime control, and prepares you to work in a broad range of employment areas concerned with understanding, preventing and responding to crime in a way that takes account of global, cultural and political contexts. Our doctoral trainees are recognised as early career researchers who develop the knowledge and skills necessary to work in both academic and non- academic research and policy environments, including universities, research institutes, policy bodies, civil society organisations and criminal justice agencies. We expect successful DCGC graduates to publish research in academic (peer-reviewed journal article and monograph forms) and in other media aimed at policy audiences and the general public. The international mobility and cultural perspectives of the programme ensure that graduates also bring considerable added value to any organisation through their qualities, skills and competence as well as their innovative, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural perspectives.

Employment opportunities

Employment opportunities will include a wide range of high-level research, teaching, training, policy and consultancy positions in:

■ national and international NGOs and similar third-sector organisations;
■ department/schools of criminology, social science and law in universities;
■ criminological research institutes;
■ EU or other regional level organisations dealing with justice, crime, security and rights;
■ national government - in ministries of justice, home affairs and related departments;
■ local government - in ministries of justice and crime prevention/community safety departments;
■ criminal justice and security agencies - local, national and international;
■ inter-agency crime prevention and control partnerships between public, voluntary and private sectors;
■ specialist positions in the publishing and media industries;
■ specialist positions in libraries or archives.

Application principles

Candidates will normally be expected to have a bachelors (‘first cycle’) and masters (‘second cycle’) qualifications of high standard. However, because the programme is committed to a life-long learning culture and a diversity of access, candidates who can demonstrate appropriate formal/non-formal/informal learning and experience of an equivalent level will be considered on the basis of a detailed portfolio.

All candidates will submit (in addition to other documentation, see ‘Application Process’)
- a letter of motivation or purpose (500 words), including a justification for the mobility (i.e. the choice of the two co-supervisory universities);
- a 1500 word research proposal (excluding bibliography);
- a detailed curriculum vitae;
- the names of two referees (who can attest to academic standing and potential);
- a recognised qualification showing proficiency in English.

The consortium wishes to encourage a balance of male and female applicants, candidates with disabilities and from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Because of the nature of the programme and its emphasis on global and cultural approaches, the fact that the candidates themselves are a teaching and learning resource, gender balance and a diversity of cultural and social backgrounds are seen to be an important element in the overall success of the programme.

The consortium has agreed the detailed criteria and a marking grid for the assessment of applications and all members of the selection panel will work to this grid which will involve an assessment of:

- the quality of the letter of motivation or purpose (500 words), including a justification for the mobility (i.e. the choice of the two co-supervisory universities);
- the quality of the research proposal
- the overall curriculum vitae and
- the quality of the references
- the quality of the written expression

Erasmus Mundus Fellowships

Two different Erasmus Mundus Fellowships can be awarded to DCGC doctoral candidates:

Category A Fellowships can be awarded to non-European (i.e. not from the 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) doctoral candidates selected by the DCGC who are not residents nor have carried out their main activity (studies, work, etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of these countries (from 1st March 2007 onward, in this round of applications to the DCGC). This excludes shorter stays for holidays, etc. The only exception to this rule applies to third-country doctoral candidates who have previously received an Erasmus Mundus masters scholarship in order to follow an Erasmus Mundus Masters Course.
Category B Fellowships can be awarded to European (i.e. from the 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) doctoral candidates selected by the DCGC as well as to any doctoral candidates selected by EMJD consortia who do not fulfil the Category A criteria defined above.

Erasmus Mundus Fellowship regulations

Fellowship candidates fulfilling the eligibility criteria for both Category A and B – e.g. students with double nationality – must select the Category of their choice. As a result, they are entitled to apply only to one of the two categories of fellowship at a time.
Individuals who have already benefited from an EMJD fellowship are not eligible for a second grant.
Doctoral candidates benefiting from an EMJD fellowship cannot benefit from other EU grants while carrying out their Erasmus Mundus doctoral activities.
Doctoral candidates can apply for an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship to the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral programme of their choice but the number of applications must be limited to maximum three different joint programmes.
Candidates must spend at least two thirds of their doctoral programme in Europe for the period covered by the Fellowship.
Without prejudice to high academic standards, in order to ensure geographical diversity among DCGC candidates, no more than two candidates with the same nationality will be awarded an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship in the same year of entry to the programme. In special cases the DCGC may wish to diverge from this criterion with the permission of the EACEA.
Doctoral candidates holding an Erasmus Mundus fellowship must:
– Commit to participate in the doctoral programme in accordance with the terms defined by the consortium in the Doctoral candidate agreement . Failure to do so could lead to the cancellation of the fellowship;
– Perform their training/research periods in at least two of the universities represented in the DCGC; for Category B fellowship holders, two of the universities visited during DCGC activities must be different from the country in which the doctoral candidate has obtained his/her last university degree;
– Spend most of the doctoral training period in the European countries represented in the DCGC or among the associated partners. However, if the EMJD consortium includes third-country full and/or associated partners:
▪ Category A fellowship holders can spend a training/research/ fieldwork period of a maximum duration of one semester (or 6 months, cumulative or consecutive) in these countries; periods in excess of this duration may not be covered by the EMJD fellowship;
▪ Category B fellowship holders can spend up to one year (cumulative or consecutive) of their doctorate activities in these countries; periods in excess of this duration may not be covered by the EMJD fellowship.

Please note that the Erasmus Mundus Fellowship restrictions do NOT apply to Externally-Funded DCGC candidates

The Erasmus Mundus Fellowship provides

living costs €2,800 (gross) per month

an amount will be deducted for social insurance and related costs
living costs include all subsistence, travel and accommodation in all parts of the DCGC programme (except in the special travel grants associated with Category A and Category B Fellowships – see below)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Note
The monthly allowance amount may be increased in order to help cover the additional costs of doctoral candidates with special needs. The DCGC will inform the Agency accordingly during the application process. Applicants with special needs should contact us prior to submitting their application.

Travel grants
Category A Fellowships          €7,500             total over the three years

For relocation costs, etc. From this grant Category A Fellows may spend a training/research/fieldwork period of a maximum duration of one semester (or 6 months, cumulative or consecutive) at one of our non-European university associates

Category B Fellowships €3,000 total over the three years

Specified for mobility to one of our non-European university associates for up to one year/two semesters

Application process

Selection for entry to the DCGC programme is based on high academic achievement, the quality of the research proposal and an assessment of your potential and commitment to complete high-quality research.

Candidates will normally be expected to hold both a good bachelors degree (awarded the best or second best grade available in their national system) and a good masters degree (awarded the best or second best grade available in their national system).
However, because the programme is committed to a life-long learning culture and a diversity of access, candidates who can demonstrate appropriate learning and experience of an equivalent level will be considered on the basis of a detailed portfolio.

Applicants are encouraged to make contact with us in order to check that their proposed research fits in with the programme themes, as well as to check supervisory arrangements and the mobility pathway.
Applicants will submit a dossier comprising the following:

DCGC Application Cover Sheet (see below)
detailed transcripts with grades and degree classification*
a copy of your degree certificates*
a certificate of recognised qualification showing proficiency in English (see DCGC language policy )
a current curriculum vitae (European format);
a statement of why you wish to be considered for admission (maximum 500 words);
a research proposal (maximum 1500 words, excluding bibliography)
the names of two referees who will attest to your academic standing and potential;

Important Dates
The deadline for all applications in the Fellowship round is 16th January, 23.59pm GMT. No applications for Fellowships will be accepted after that date.

How to apply
The application is web-based and managed by the University of Kent admissions system. The following 6 STEPS will take you through the required stages of the process.
Please note that your application will be in the first instance for a place on the programme. You will have the opportunity to indicate on the Application Cover Sheet whether you are also applying for an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship. If you are, please note that offers of Fellowships cannot be made by the consortium until the list of candidates has been fully approved by the EACEA. Since the number of Fellowships is limited (see Fellowships and Funding) we may not be able to offer a Fellowship to all successful candidates. Wherever possible, we will in such cases assist candidates with applications to other sources of funding, or advise on issues related to self-funding.
Please note that the personal data of all applicants will be sent to the Agency (EACEA) and may be used by other bodies involved in the management of Erasmus Mundus (i.e. European Commission, Erasmus Mundus National Structures, EU Delegations, Erasmus Mundus Student and Alumni Association) for facilitating the student/doctoral candidate access to the joint programme.

STEP 1
Please read carefully through the Application guidelines (see tab [link] on this page). Make sure that your application documents contain all the information required by the selection panel. If vital documentation is missing, the consortium will make every effort to contact you and give you a chance to amend your application, but we can only do so prior to the deadline of 16th January, 2012. So the earlier you apply the better your chances are of having the application completed on time.

STEP 2
Please complete the DCGC Application Cover Sheet. You will need to complete this sheet electronically, print it off, sign it, get it scanned, and then have the scanned version ready to be uploaded on to the electronic application form under section 8 (where you will be prompted to do so).

STEP 3
In addition to the Application Cover Sheet, you need to have the following documents ready on your computer to be uploaded onto the web. Under each heading you will only be allowed to upload one single file, so in case you have to include more than one document (for example, original plus translation) you will have to put all these documents into a single file first. Please ensure that each file is no bigger than 5MB and that you use only the following formats: .txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf.

Research Proposal (maximum 1500 words, excluding bibliography);
Statement of why you wish to be considered for admission (maximum 500 words);
Your most recent curriculum vitae (European CV format);
Your degree certificates* – plus certified translations into English
Your transcripts (interim or final)* with grades and degree classification – plus certified translations into English if not in one of the four languages of the consortium (English, Hungarian, German, Dutch)
A copy of your passport or identity card

(*Candidates who can demonstrate appropriate learning and experience of an equivalent level will be considered on the basis of a detailed portfolio. Please contact us for further guidance.)

STEP 4
Log on to the University of Kent online admissions system. This link will take you directly to the DCGC programme:

DCGC online application form
You will be asked first for your name, your date of birth, and your email address. Once you’ve submitted this information, an email will be sent to you with another link that takes you to the application form proper. (Note that as a security measure you will have to submit your date of birth a second time before you have full access.) Once your name and date of birth are on the system, you can interrupt the process of completing the online application form at any point by pressing the ‘Save for later’ button at the bottom of the form. The data you have already entered will be automatically saved.

STEP 5
The online application form has 8 sections.
Section 1: Personal Details. Please provide the information requested. Note that in cases of dual or multiple nationality, you must decide under which single nationality you are applying to this programme.
Section 2: Contact Details. The form asks you for both a current address and a correspondence address (these may of course be identical). Your correspondence address should be valid for the period between the submission date of your application and the start date of the programme (September 2012).
Section 3: Kent Study Details. If you have accessed the application form through the link provided above, this section will be prepopulated with DCGC data. You will be asked ‘how you are intending to fund your studies’. If you are not applying for an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship please tick ‘Private Finance’ here or select another source of funding from the options available.
Section 4: Professional and Academic Qualifications. Here we first of all need information on your language abilities. Indicate your native language, and then upload your language certificates that show how you meet the requirements of the DCGC language policy Under the info sign on the left there is a further reminder of the details of this policy and the required certificates. We then need information on your previous academic qualifications. In the table provided, please enter the name of the institution, the duration of your studies, etc.
If you have transcripts and final degree certificates of your results from any of these institutions, you should have them ready to be uploaded under section 8 below. If you do not have any transcripts and certificates available, you must get the institutions where you obtained them to send copies directly to Kent, using the address provided.
Candidates who can demonstrate appropriate learning and experience of an equivalent level will be considered on the basis of a detailed portfolio. You should attach this here.
Section 5: Work Experience. Please provide details in case you have any prior work experience.
Section 6: Information Source. Please tell us where you first found out about this programme.
Section 7: References. We require the names of two referees who will attest to your academic standing and potential. Referees will be sent an automatic reference request using the contact details you have provided. It is your responsibility as an applicant to ensure that your referees respond promptly to requests for a reference.
Section 8: Further Documents. Your application will not be complete without the further documents specified in STEP 3 which have to be uploaded to the web under the headings provided in this section. Only one file can be uploaded under each heading. Please ensure that each file is no bigger than 5MB and that you use only the following formats: .txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf.

STEP 6
Check through the application form again and make sure that you have provided all the required information. If you’re certain that the form is complete, press ‘Submit the application form’ and you’re finished. Congratulations!

Contact

For further information please contact

Dr. Phil Carney, SSPSSR, University of Kent

email: P.Carney@kent.ac.uk

http://www.dcgc.eu/

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Thursday, January 12, 2012