Thematic Scholarships

In addition to the applicants admitted with the regular Full Doctoral Scholarship, the Doctoral School also accepts applicants with thematic scholarships. Such scholarships are designed for students who wish to conduct research in specific subfields of political science.

Financially the thematic scholarships offer the same conditions to applicants as the regular Full Doctoral Scholarship: the same doctoral stipend, tuition waiver and health insurance policy. Their advantage is that they offer an additional opportunity (additional funded place) for applicants with specific research topics to get accepted to the Doctoral Program.

Thematic scholarships might require applicants to complete additional program requirements after being admitted to the doctoral program. These additional requirements might include, among others, pursuing a specific research topic, completing additional course requirements / minors, etc. You can find more information on this at the description of the thematic scholarships below.

How to apply?

To apply for the thematic scholarships, applicants need to submit a research proposal which lies within the academic subfield of the scholarship (higher education policy). Students who believe that their research topic is eligible for a thematic scholarship can indicate their interest in their application form, at the beginning of their Statement of Purpose. To be considered for such a thematic scholarship, please begin your Statement Purpose with the following sentence: “Please consider this application for the [scholarship name] Scholarship.”

During the admission process, applicants who apply for the thematic scholarship will be considered for both the regular Full Doctoral Scholarship positions and the thematic scholarship positions. This means that they will still be considered for admission to the regular places even if the thematic scholarship position is given away to another applicant.

Yehuda Elkana Scholarship

Research topic: higher education policy
The Yehuda Elkana Scholarship was established to provide support for outstanding young scholars pursuing a doctoral degree with a specialization in higher education policy to apply for the Yehuda Elkana Fellowship. The fellowship is offered to those candidates who are successfully admitted to the School’s doctoral program to pursue advanced education and research in higher education policy and is awarded for a period of 48 months in total. The Fellowship covers the full cost of tuition, and it includes a monthly stipend to assist with housing and living costs. More information can be found under CEU Doctoral Scholarships.

The Scholarship is named after Yehuda Elkana, the third President and Rector of Central European University (1999-2009), who was a renown international scholar, public intellectual, and educator with a deep commitment to open society.

Number of scholarships offered in 2024-25:
One

Additional application requirement:
Research proposal related to the topic of higher education policy

Additional program requirement:
Submitted dissertation in the subfield of higher education policy

Call for applications is open: submit by February 1st.