CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships 2026: Advancing Anthropological Research in Mental Health at SOAS University of London
The Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA), housed inside the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS University of London, proudly declares the second and remaining 12 months of its prestigious Doctoral Scholarship Programme. This initiative represents a cornerstone of SOAS’s persevering with dedication to selling modern, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged analysis at the intersection of anthropology and psychological well being.
Designed to nurture the subsequent era of researchers and practitioners, the CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships present a completely funded alternative for excellent candidates to pursue a three-year PhD beneath the steerage of globally acknowledged consultants. Intending to generate transformative insights into psychological well being and well-being throughout numerous cultural contexts, CAMHRA provides an unparalleled educational surroundings combining rigorous scholarship, methodological innovation, and significant engagement with communities and establishments worldwide.
About CAMHRA
The Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) is a globally oriented but domestically grounded analysis hub that stands at the forefront of anthropological inquiry into psychological well being. It is devoted to exploring the methods societies perceive, expertise, and reply to psychological misery, in addition to how care methods evolve in response to cultural, social, and environmental challenges.
As part of SOAS’s mission to advertise social justice and cross-cultural understanding, CAMHRA fosters collaborative analysis that bridges educational disciplines, coverage environments, and scientific observe. The Centre works intently with companions throughout universities, healthcare establishments, NGOs, and group organizations to deal with urgent questions on wellbeing, therapeutic, and care.
CAMHRA’s partnership with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust gives entry to wealthy alternatives for collaboration, significantly in the domains of psychological well being service supply, organizational tradition, and practitioner improvement. Together, these partnerships be sure that CAMHRA students are deeply linked to real-world observe and coverage innovation.
The Scholarship Programme
The CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships present 5 totally funded positions for PhD candidates starting their research in September 2026. Each profitable applicant will obtain:
- Full tuition price protection at both Home or Overseas charge
- Annual upkeep stipend of £22,780 (aligned with UK Research and Innovation [UKRI] requirements and inclusive of London weighting)
- Three years of full-time PhD funding with specialist analysis coaching and mentorship
These awards are designed to help students who search to make use of anthropological idea and ethnographic analysis to look at psychological well being in methods which can be culturally grounded, ethically reflective, and globally related. Successful candidates will turn into integral members of SOAS’s vibrant mental group, contributing to a broader educational dialogue that reshapes how societies interact with psychological well being challenges.
Research Focus and Themes
CAMHRA encourages analysis that explores psychological well being by a holistic, relational, and significant lens. Applicants are invited to develop proposals that align with the Centre’s present areas of curiosity or that broaden its mental and methodological horizons.
Current areas of analysis inside CAMHRA embrace:
-
Relational approaches to therapeutic and wellbeing
Exploring how interpersonal relationships, social buildings, and cultural values affect restoration, care, and emotional resilience. -
Environmental and ecological misery
Examining the psychological and communal impacts of local weather change, environmental degradation, and displacement. -
Care work and carers
Investigating the social, emotional, and financial dimensions of caregiving, together with unpaid {and professional} care labor. -
Lived expertise analysis practices
Centering the voices and views of these with direct expertise of psychological misery and restoration, and difficult conventional hierarchies of experience. -
Race and inequality
Unpacking how structural racism, colonial histories, and social injustice form psychological well being outcomes and entry to care. -
Social isolation, loneliness, and intentional group
Studying how individuals reply to fashionable challenges of disconnection by forming various communities and networks of belonging. -
Religion and spirituality
Investigating how religion, ritual, and religious practices present frameworks for understanding and addressing psychological struggling. -
Institutions, organizational tradition, and psychological healthcare
Analyzing the dynamics of energy, ethics, and paperwork inside healthcare organizations and psychological well being methods. -
Models and metrics of misery and therapeutic
Critically evaluating how psychological well being and well-being are measured, categorized, and institutionalized throughout totally different contexts.
While these areas replicate CAMHRA’s core strengths, the Centre equally welcomes proposals that introduce new theoretical, methodological, or thematic instructions. Candidates are inspired to design initiatives that improve CAMHRA’s world community and foster modern cross-disciplinary connections.
Why Choose SOAS and CAMHRA
Studying at SOAS provides college students entry to at least one of the world’s main facilities for the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, with an unparalleled status for anthropological analysis grounded in world engagement and social impression. The Department of Anthropology and Sociology has a long-standing custom of pioneering ethnographic analysis that challenges Eurocentric paradigms and promotes mental range.
As part of this dynamic surroundings, CAMHRA students profit from:
- Expert supervision from famend anthropologists and psychological well being researchers
- Integration inside a vibrant PhD group of over 80 doctoral college students
- Specialized coaching workshops targeted on fieldwork strategies, self-care in ethnographic analysis, and moral engagement
- Regular seminars and public occasions that includes worldwide audio system and practitioners
- Collaborative alternatives with NHS professionals, policymakers, and advocacy teams
In addition to educational enrichment, CAMHRA emphasizes researcher wellbeing, providing coaching on self-care for fieldwork and reflective practices designed to maintain students engaged in emotionally demanding analysis contexts.
Candidate Criteria
The CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarship Programme seeks candidates with a robust educational basis in anthropology and a deep dedication to exploring psychological well being from a cross-cultural and ethnographic perspective.
Essential Criteria
- A bachelor’s and/or grasp’s diploma in anthropology
- A minimal benefit or equal grade at the grasp’s stage
- A grasp’s dissertation grade of 65% (UK) or larger
- A analysis proposal clearly located inside anthropological approaches to psychological well being
Desirable Criteria
- Relevant skilled or analysis expertise in psychological well being, social care, or associated fields
- Evidence of educational publication, convention shows, or analysis collaboration
- Experience conducting qualitative or ethnographic fieldwork
- Demonstrated curiosity in interdisciplinary collaboration
Eligibility
- Open to UK and worldwide candidates
- Applicants should meet SOAS English language proficiency necessities if relevant
- Applications from people with lived expertise of psychological well being service use and from underrepresented teams are strongly inspired
In distinctive instances, candidates who don’t meet the grade necessities should be thought of in the event that they reveal excellent analysis potential and related skilled expertise.
Application Process
The choice course of for the CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships follows two primary levels.
Stage 1: PhD Application (Deadline: 5 January 2026, 12:00 PM UK Time)
Applicants should first apply to the MPhil/PhD programme in Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS by the college’s on-line portal, which opens in early November 2025. The application ought to embrace the next supplies:
- Completed PhD application kind
- A private assertion that explicitly mentions the candidate’s want to be thought of for the CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarship
- An up-to-date educational CV detailing educational background, analysis expertise, and achievements
- A 2,000-word analysis proposal specializing in an anthropological method to psychological well being
- Official educational transcripts from all earlier larger training establishments
- Degree certificates (the place relevant)
- English language proficiency proof (for worldwide candidates)
- One educational reference from a referee conversant in the applicant’s educational and analysis skills
Applicants will likely be notified by mid-February 2026 concerning the result of their PhD programme application.
Stage 2: Internal Shortlisting and Interview
Once the PhD admission course of is full, all candidates accepted into the MPhil/PhD programme will routinely be thought of for the CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships. An inner committee will evaluation eligible functions and shortlist candidates based mostly on educational excellence, analysis high quality, and thematic match with CAMHRA’s mission.
Shortlisted candidates will likely be invited to interview by early March 2026. The interview provides candidates the chance to debate their proposed analysis, methodological method, and motivation for becoming a member of CAMHRA. Final scholarship choices will likely be made shortly thereafter.
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| PhD Application Portal Opens | Early November 2025 |
| Application Deadline | 5 January 2026, 12:00 PM (UK Time) |
| Notification of PhD Admission | Mid-February 2026 |
| Shortlisting and Interview Invitations | Early March 2026 |
| Programme Start Date | September 2026 |
Applicant Support and Guidance
To assist potential candidates put together robust proposals, CAMHRA will host a Doctoral Scholarship Webinar titled “How to Develop a Strong Application” on Wednesday, 3 December 2025, at 2:00 PM GMT. The session will function members of the CAMHRA management crew and a present SOAS PhD scholar, providing insights into the application course of, proposal writing, and interview preparation.
Applicants are additionally inspired to discover the Department of Anthropology and Sociology’s webpage for info on present analysis clusters, college pursuits, and potential supervisors. While reaching out to potential supervisors is welcome, it’s not obligatory and won’t have an effect on application outcomes.
Contact Information
For additional inquiries, candidates are inspired to succeed in out to the next contacts:
About the Department of Anthropology and Sociology
The Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS University of London is internationally famend for its essential, world method to the study of social and cultural life. Its analysis and instructing deal with understanding how individuals internationally create that means, set up relationships, and interact with methods of energy, inequality, and care.
Through applications such because the MA Medical Anthropology and Mental Health and MA Anthropology of Global Futures and Sustainability, the division continues to broaden its engagement with up to date challenges—starting from environmental crises and world well being to technological transformation and concrete change. The CAMHRA initiative additional strengthens SOAS’s management in medical anthropology and utilized psychological well being analysis.
Conclusion
The CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships signify a singular alternative for aspiring students to hitch a cutting-edge analysis surroundings that bridges idea and observe, scholarship and repair. By supporting analysis that illuminates the complicated cultural and social dimensions of psychological well being, CAMHRA and SOAS affirm their shared mission: to foster understanding, compassion, and systemic transformation in how societies reply to psychological misery.
Applications at the moment are being invited from candidates worldwide who’re able to contribute to this important and evolving subject of study. Through mental rigor, cross-cultural engagement, and dedication to social impression, the subsequent era of CAMHRA students will play a pivotal function in shaping the long run of psychological well being analysis worldwide.
For extra alternatives, go to: opportunitiesforyouth.org
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CAMHRA Doctoral Scholarships 2026: Advancing Anthropological Research in Mental Health at SOAS University of London
