Visitor Scheme to Oxford for Sciences Po doctoral students

Doctoral students at the Ecole de la Recherche are invited to apply to OxPo up to six months in Oxford. Please check visa requirements (see the OxPo exchange webpage for further links and information).

Under this OxPo scheme, visiting doctoral students:

• are expected to be in Oxford for a maximum of two academic terms (please see dates of Oxford terms). 
• are affiliated as Academic Visitors to one of the four partner Departments: Oxford Centre for European History, Politics and International Relations, Social Policy and Intervention, and Sociology
• have access to the Bodleian Library and a shared working space in one of the departments
• are invited to join other academic seminars in their host department and at the University
• are encouraged to present their research in one of the many University seminars
• can propose Working Papers, which will be posted online
• submit a short report of activities including a list of publications and forthcoming publications, seminar contributions, etc. Reports are examined by the Scientific Management Committee and edited versions of the reports can be posted to help future candidates plan their visit.

There is no specific funding for this scheme. Students are advised to apply for a bourse de mobilité at the Ecole de la Recherche and/or with other possible funders. Please mention your funding on the application form.

In Oxford, OxPo doctoral students are affiliated to a Department and have the status of Visiting Scholars. OxPo does not provide a College affiliation. Doctoral students are encouraged to contact the Maison Française d’Oxford to enquire about accommodation since the programme does not include a college affiliation. It offers social and academic activities with an extensive scientific and cultural programme.

Criteria

OxPo Scientific Management Committee’s priorities:

1. Excellence of the candidate.

2. Fit between the project and the ability of the scholar to fulfil his/her project in either Oxford or Paris and to benefit from the academic environment to be joined. For instance stay in Oxford because of the resources and the prospect of working with other, identified if possible, scholars rather than a need to spend time exploring resources located in a different city.

3. Benefit for the OxPo network in building further institutional connections and new collaborations as well as benefit for the individual scholar's research/career.

4. People who have not taken part in the exchange before have priority, unless there are special circumstances such as the best opportunity to complete a project or the development of a new collaboration or programme.

Applications from PhD students and postdoctoral candidates

All applications for an exchange in the academic year 2024-25 must be written in English, submitted by 11 March 2024 and sent as one single Word document to oxpo@politics.ox.ac.uk.

Applications must include:

• one short CV (maximum length: two A4 pages)

• one letter of motivation (maximum length: two A4 pages), highlighting:

  • the research project or purpose of the application to the exchange scheme, i.e. how the exchange will further their research plans and, in the case of academics, future collaborations

  • the academics you intend to work with in Oxford or in Sciences Po

  • the Sciences Po Research Centre or the Oxford Department (DPIR, Sociology, SPI, OCEH) you feel you would best fit in

  • the planned dates of your stay (if you are applying from Oxford to Sciences Po or if you are a Sciences Po academic applying to Nuffield).

Applications from PhD students and postdoctoral candidates must also include:

• an application form

• a letter of recommendation from your PhD supervisor

• if you are applying for the postdoctoral fellowship and grant, please indicate the date of your PhD defence (as requested in the form). The PhD must be defended prior to going to Oxford.