[Social-Sciences-List] Questions about PHD-opportunities and disability hate crimes

[Jonathan Godfrey]

Hello Finn,

I am not a likely main supervisor for your research interest, but it is an area of societal interest to me as a blind person who has tried to get recognition of disability discrimination into the hate speech legislation discussions here in New Zealand.

I make the following observations to help you put your attempts to find a placement in context.

My experience: I receive dozens of email messages from people who say they want to undertake a PhD, sometimes mentioning my esteem etc. in quite general terms. The vast majority of them are untailored to me or my research interests. Some come from people who are more interested in changing their life circumstances than actually undertaking a research programme.

My suggestion: be very tailored in who you approach and choose a subject line for your messages carefully. For example, I hit the delete key if a sender has not taken the time to prove to me that they have chosen me specifically and for the right reasons. Look for a prospective supervisor’s publications that relate to your topic; read them and mention your reason for believing that person is a good match. Messages starting, “Dear Professor,” might be polite but demonstrate a lack of care and attention required of a decent PhD candidate. (FWIW, I want to see my name, and correct title.)

My experience: almost every applicant wants to find a funded position. If people have funding, they are looking for a student and will use the right search websites.

My suggestions: Do not send messages asking if a person has any funded positions. Make use of the search sites such as findaphd.com and the like. I just typed in “find a PhD” into Google and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few decent starting points, including a NZ Government site which links to our universities.


Good luck with the searching.

Jonathan




From: Social-Sciences-List <social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Finn Hellman via Social-Sciences-List
Sent: Tuesday, 31 December 2024 11:38 am
To: 'Blind Social Scientists List' <social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Finn Hellman <finn.hellman at gmail.com>
Subject: [Social-Sciences-List] Questions about PHD-oppertunities and disability hate crimes

Hello everybody, could you please give me some advice.

I am blind and I live in Sweden. I finished my master degree in sociology  last year and my master thesis got the title: Impeded: on the negative treatment of assistance and guide dog users in Sweden.

Since then I have tried to find Swedish universities that would let me do a PHD on disability hate crimes in Sweden. Disability is not included in the Swedish hate crime definition, and I believe that will not change until there is some research in this area. I have applied to about five universities but so far nobody seems interested.

I have found a site where I can search for PHD opportunities in THE UK, and another Site with PHD-opportunities in other European countries. Do you know if there are similar sites for PHD-opportunities in English speaking countries such as The US, Canada, Australia and so on? Do you know if there is anybody specialized in disability hate crimes I should contact?

Thanks a lot for your help and I wish you all a happy new year.

/Finn
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