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Deadline date: 15 June 2025
Amount: Tuition Fees and Maintenance Stipend

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The ERC Advanced Grant/UKRI Frontier Research Grant ‘Addressing the Multi-scalar Dimensions of Sectoral Water Conflicts Through the Lens of Water Security: Lessons from South Asia (WATCON)’ offers one fully funded MPhil/PhD studentship beginning in 2025/26.

Principle Supervisor: Professor Philippe Cullet
Co-Supervisor:  To be determined depending on the specific focus of the thesis

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and talented candidate who wants to create and pursue their own socio-legal research project on sectoral water conflicts in South Asia as part of a major new research project - WATCON.

The premise of the larger project is that the number and significance of water conflicts occurring at different levels has been increasing rapidly. This is due in part to water scarcity caused, among other things, by growing and changing water use, and climate change, which threatens water security from individuals and communities to the global level. Addressing these conflicts is crucial to the realisation of the human right to water and more broadly to achieving sustainable social and economic development while protecting water sources.

From a legal perspective, conflicts arising from water allocation between different uses, such as drinking water, irrigation, and industrial use, are one of the least-studied categories of conflicts. WATCON focuses on conflicts linked to allocation of water within one category of use (intra-sectoral) and allocation from one use of water to other uses (inter-sectoral). WATCON’s hypothesis is that water use conflicts are protracted and lack effective solutions because they are often addressed only at specific scales and without considering their inter-sectoral and multi-scalar dimensions.

WATCON focuses on the legal aspects of water allocation to prevent sectoral water conflicts and to foster their resolution. This is framed around the concept of water security, through which the broader environmental and human dimensions of water conflicts can be examined. WATCON uses a multi-scalar approach that links detailed considerations related to the realisation of the human right to water at the local level and threats posed by climate change from the local to the global level.

The project will contribute to pressing debates around water security and the human right to water. Its scientific contribution will emerge from close engagement with the legal aspects of water conflicts by examining them in their local to global dimensions, with a focus on South Asia and India in particular.

In the broader context of the project, the PhD project supported by this studentship will develop a multi-scalar conceptual framework to examine sectoral water conflicts through the lens of water security. It will start with a critical analysis of the concept of water security from a multi-scalar perspective, followed by situating water conflicts, the human right to water and ecological integrity as three pillars of its conceptual architecture.

This three-pillared approach effectively captures water security’s state-centric (international), individual/community centric (local) and ecological dimensions. The three pillars are important determinants of water security. At the same time, they maintain relationships of contingency and consequences thus demonstrating complex vertical and horizontal relationships in this conceptual architecture.

The studentship will provide funding for tuition fees and living costs for up to three years of full-time study. Tuition fees will be covered in full and a stipend of £21,237 will be provided each year. This studentship is open to new students beginning their studies in September 2025 only. Students who are already enrolled on a research degree programme at SOAS are not eligible to apply.

Key references

Allouche, Jeremy, Alan Nicol & Lyla Mehta (2011). ‘Water Security: Towards the Human Securitization of Water’, 12/1 Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 153-72.
Chokkakula, Srinivas (2014). ‘Interstate Water Disputes: Perils and Prospects of Democratisation’, 49/9 Economic & Political Weekly 75-81.
Cullet, Philippe, Lovleen Bhullar & Sujith Koonan (2015). ‘Inter-Sectoral Water Allocation and Conflicts – Perspectives from Rajasthan’, 50/34 Economic & Political Weekly 61-9.
Cullet, Philippe, Lovleen Bhullar & Sujith Koonan (2021). ‘Water Security and International Law’, 17 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 261-76.
Dutta, Venkatesh (2022). ‘Shared Water: Contest, Conflicts and Cooperation’, in Venkatesh Dutta ed, Water Conflicts and Resistance – Issues and Challenges in South Asia 1-22 (London: Routledge).
Luisa Cortesi & K.J. Joy eds (2021), Split Waters: The Idea of Water Conflicts 234-46 (London: Routledge).
Magsig, Bjorn-Oliver (2020). ‘Water Security: A Litmus Test for International Law’, 29/1 Review of European Comparative & International Environmental Law 44-55.
Sangameswaran, Priya (2014). Neoliberalism and Water: Complicating the Story of ‘Reforms’ in Maharashtra (New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan).
Wouters, Patricia, Sergei Vinogradov & Bjorn-Oliver Magsig (2009). ‘Water Security, Hydrosolidarity, and International Law: A River Runs Through It…’, 19/1 Yearbook of International Environmental Law 2008 97-134.
Zeitoun, Mark, Naho Mirumachi & Jeroen Warner (2020). Water Conflicts – Analysis for Transformation (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Candidate criteria

WATCON aims to be a multi-disciplinary project, drawing on theory and methodology from law, socio-legal studies, sociology, anthropology and development studies. We welcome applicants from these disciplines or from any other relevant area of study. 

Applicants will have a strong academic record with bachelor's and master's degrees in a relevant discipline, including a focus on environmental/natural resources/water law, policy or governance, and with knowledge of South Asia relevant to WATCON.

Applicants will have a demonstrable commitment to research in South Asia, excellent writing and presentation skills, willingness to carry out independent fieldwork in India and be able to demonstrate flexibility, creativity and team work skills. Indian language skills would be an advantage. 

New MPhil/PhD admissions (beginning in September 2025) only.
This scholarship is open to Home and Overseas fee status applicants.
Scholarship applicants must have applied to SOAS but are not required to have received an offer of admission by the scholarship deadline. An unconditional offer will need to have been received by the time the relevant panel meets to discuss scholarship applications.

Candidate assessment

In their online application form, candidates will submit a 2500-word description of how they plan to conduct the research including proposed field sites, methodology, main research questions and main theoretical frameworks. Candidates may also include their past research/professional experience that could facilitate or contribute to this project. Candidates should also submit a selected bibliography (which will not be included in the word count) via the online application.
Candidates who are shortlisted and invited to online interviews will put together a short 10-minute presentation about their proposed research to members of the research team followed by a brief Q&A session. Further details will be sent with the interview invite.

Scholarship application deadline

Scholarship applications must be received no later than 12:00 PM (midday) UK local time on 15 June 2025.
Applicants must first submit a complete MPhil/PhD application and then submit an application for this scholarship in order to be considered. Please note that complete applications for admissions can take up to 4 weeks to be considered by the relevant department, although this duration can vary depending on the time of the year. You should be prepared to wait up to 6 weeks in busy periods. 
Applicants will need to have received a firm offer for their programme by the time the Scholarship Panel meet.
Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Scholarship application procedure

To apply for this scholarship, applicants should follow the following steps:

Step 1: Apply for your programme

To apply for an MPhil/PhD programme, please visit our Doctoral school.
Guidance for applying to a Research Programme and information on makes a complete application can be found on the How to Apply webpage.

Your research proposal should take account of the project title and outline above, and indicate how you would aim to carry out the research. In your personal statement, please indicate why this project interests you and in what ways you are qualified to undertake it

Step 2: Apply for the Scholarship

You must apply for this scholarship via the Online Application Form by 12:00pm (midday) UK local time on 15 June 2025.

Notification 

The scholarship shortlisting and awarding period is expected to be completed by the end of July 2025, at the earliest. Successful candidates will be contacted first and once the award has been allocated, the unsuccessful candidates will be notified.

Enquiries

To discuss potential projects before you apply, please contact Prof. Philippe Cullet. Email: pc38@soas.ac.uk
For enquiries regarding your programme application procedure, please email dsadmissions@soas.ac.uk 
For any enquiries regarding the studentship application procedure, please email scholarships@soas.ac.uk