Scholarship at Tema Genus is interdisciplinary and international, with high societal relevance. It includes work on feminist posthumanities, postcolonial and decolonial feminisms, feminist technoscience, and sexuality studies. Doctoral students participate in this environment through an exciting Higher Seminar Series where visitors share their latest scholarship, extensive networks and a range of ongoing research projects.
The PhD programme in Gender Studies is a 4-year-programme of full-time study (240 ECTS credits) leading to a PhD degree in Gender Studies. Financially justifiable teaching and research fellowships may enable an extension of the time to complete the degree with up to 1 year. The PhD programme at the Tema Institute (including the programme in Gender Studies) is interdisciplinary, entails full-time work, and requires regular on-campus attendance.
Doctoral education in Tema Genus is organised into three parts providing a substantial grounding in cutting-edge gender studies scholarship, more practical skills to support production of a doctoral thesis, and the opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge in their chosen area of specialisation.
Currently our students take 90 credits of courses distributed as follows:
- 40 credits introductory, obligatory Tema Genus courses, typically followed during the first 1-2 years of education. These are courses taught in-house by Tema Genus staff designed to introduce students to the unique blend of gender studies expertise available in the division. These courses immerse students in cutting-edge scholarship that not only provides a strong foundation in gender studies to support doctoral research, but also gives students the wide-ranging knowledge necessary for engaging in other ways, from teaching to activism to industry.
- 20 credits additional, in-house obligatory courses that provide more skills to support production of a doctoral thesis, including:
- Thesis as Genre
- Communications/Speaking Gender Studies
- Ontologies, Epistemologies and Methodologies of Interdisciplinary Studies
- Feminist Methodologies
- 30 credits for specialist courses which may be selected by students to suit their topic.
The goal of our course programme is to prepare students to engage in many and varied ways through exposure to diverse theories and methods. To deliver on this we employ our expertise to equip students with openness to a wide range of critical perspectives as well as international awareness.
Embedded in a thriving research culture
Students at Tema Genus benefit from activities organised within the Department of Thematic Studies more widely, including the popular P6: Body, Knowledge, Subjectivity seminar group and courses hosted by other TEMAs on writing skills and fieldwork techniques.
TEMA also has a lively doctoral community, with an active PhD Council that organises regular meetings, writing retreats and social activities.
A broad professional future
PhDs who have completed the Tema Genus doctoral programme have many opportunities for a future both inside the academy as well as at various research agencies and government bodies. Among others, Tema Genus PhD students have gone on to become researchers, teachers, research managers, poets and diversity consultants.
