Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities

What Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities does

The Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) is a national doctoral training consortium hosted at the University of Glasgow and founded in 2014. It coordinates arts and humanities PhD training across 17 Scottish Higher Education Institutions, including the four oldest universities, four art schools, and the national conservatoire, spanning the Highlands and Islands to the Scottish Borders. SGSAH functions as the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award Hub for Scotland, the country's designated channel for Arts and Humanities Research Council (UKRI/AHRC) funded doctoral studentships, and incorporates the AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) which has awarded over 200 doctoral studentships since 2015.

Its core offerings sit in three categories: doctoral funding and studentships (AHRC DLA, AHRC DTP, Collaborative Doctoral Awards, EARTH Scholarships, SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme, Stuart Hall Fellowships), training programmes (11 Discipline+ Catalysts, three Knowledge Exchange Networks, annual Summer School, Research Showcase, Spring into Methods), and an internship programme placing doctoral researchers with cultural, heritage, and third-sector partners including BBC Scotland, V&A, National Museums Scotland, Creative Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, and others. The technology footprint is limited to digital platforms: the SGSAH PhD Blog and the SGSAH Research Site, alongside a monthly newsletter and Bluesky presence.

SGSAH does not operate as a commercial enterprise. Its revenue derives from AHRC Doctoral Partnership Funding, the Scottish Funding Council, and contributions from its 17 member HEIs. Doctoral researchers receive all training and placement services free of charge. The central team is small (approximately eight named staff including Director, Deputy Director, Head of Operations and Strategy, Partnerships and Placements Manager, PGR Programme and Operations Manager, EDI Associate Director, Communications Officer, and Administrative Assistant), with governance and supervisory expertise distributed across the member institutions.

Name

Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities

Legal name

Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities

Website

https://sgsah.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SGSAH is a national doctoral training consortium hosted at the University of Glasgow that coordinates arts and humanities PhD funding, training, and internships across 17 Scottish Higher Education Institutions, funded by AHRC, the Scottish Funding Council, and member HEIs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Doctoral Training

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI), Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Research Grants, Fellowships & Stipends (International) (EDAIAOAJ)

Keywords

• Doctoral training programmes
• Arts humanities research
• Postgraduate funding awards
• Knowledge exchange networks
• Academic consortium services

Headquarters

HQ city

Glasgow

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Funding: Funded by AHRC through Doctoral Partnership Funding, Scottish Funding Council, and contributions from member HEIs

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

SGSAH is a national graduate school consortium that coordinates funded doctoral training, studentships, internships, and knowledge exchange for arts and humanities researchers across 17 Scottish Higher Education Institutions. It acts as the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award Hub for Scotland, awarding doctoral studentships and delivering subject-specific training through Discipline+ Catalysts, Knowledge Exchange Networks, and flagship events such as the annual Summer School and Research Showcase.

Product overview

SGSAH is the world's first national graduate school for Arts and Humanities, operating as a platform providing doctoral training and development across 17 Scottish Higher Education Institutions. The core offerings include the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award Hub and AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership, which coordinate doctoral studentships and national training programmes. Training is delivered through Discipline+ Catalysts (eleven subject-specific training groups), three Knowledge Exchange Networks (Citizenship Culture & Ethics, Heritage, Creative Economies), and flagship events including Summer School and Spring into Methods. SGSAH also offers scholarship programmes including the EARTH Scholarships (environmental arts & humanities) and SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme, plus an internship programme with partner organisations. Digital platforms include the SGSAH PhD Blog and SGSAH Research Site. The organization operates the GREEN/GRADUATE environmental strategy and maintains doctoral researcher governance representation through the DRC structure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EARTH Scholarships: Environmental Arts & Humanities Scholarships programme run in partnership with British Council Scotland to enable international research collaborations between PhD/Early Career Researchers and Scottish HEIs.
• Discipline+ Catalysts
• Knowledge Exchange Networks
• Spring into Methods

Products and services

• AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) Hub SGSAH's role as the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award Hub for Scotland, coordinating a national approach to collaborative doctoral researcher development across its 17 member Higher Education Institutions and administering AHRC-funded doctoral studentship allocations.
• AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) SGSAH incorporates the AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership for Scotland, offering funded doctoral studentships to applicants in arts and humanities disciplines across the consortium's member universities, with over 200 studentships awarded since 2015.
• Summer School Annual flagship hybrid Summer School bringing together SGSAH doctoral researchers and external partners, featuring over 40 sessions across four days covering training, talks and the Research Showcase.
• Discipline+ Catalysts Eleven subject-specific Catalyst groups delivering methodological and thematic training events for doctoral researchers in arts and humanities disciplines including Archaeology, Cultural & Museum Studies, Creative Arts & Design, History, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Media/Communications/Film/TV, Modern Languages, Philosophy and Theology/Divinity/Religions.
• Knowledge Exchange Networks Three sector-focused networks — Citizenship Culture & Ethics, Heritage, and Creative Economies — building connections between SGSAH doctoral researchers and industry partners and delivering industry-focused training with partner organisations.
• EARTH Scholarships Programme Programme run in partnership with British Council Scotland enabling international research collaborations focused on environmental arts and humanities between PhD/early career researchers and Scottish Higher Education Institutions.
• SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme Scottish Funding Council-funded scheme enabling research collaborations between Scotland and Europe through research exchanges for emerging doctoral researchers.
• Internship Programme Doctoral internship programme placing SGSAH researchers with partner host organisations across the cultural, heritage, creative and third sectors, with projects available full-time, part-time or flexibly to enhance researcher skills.
• SGSAH Research Site Online research platform for dissemination and showcasing of arts and humanities doctoral research across Scotland, with Digital Curator-curated content and a Meet Our Researchers section.
• Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA) Collaborative PhD opportunities co-developed with partner organisations that provide work-based learning for SGSAH doctoral researchers within UK and international contexts.
• Spring into Methods Interdisciplinary online research methods training programme for postgraduate researchers, delivered jointly by SGSAH and the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (SGSSS).

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 600 researchers funded since 2014
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• British Council ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 August 2022Co-funding partner for EARTH Scholarships programme enabling international research collaborations between PhD/ECRs and Scottish HEIs focused on environmental arts and humanities.
• European Partner UniversitiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 January 2022SFC Saltire programme partners including Stockholm University, University of Amsterdam, University of Glasgow, University of Münster, University of Bergen, University of Oslo enabling research exchanges between Scotland and Europe.
• Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance (SAHA)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Joint initiative with Royal Society of Edinburgh and 10 Scottish Higher Education institutions established to give a public and collective voice to the Arts and Humanities in the context of Higher Education and promote SHAPE (social sciences, humanities and the arts for people, the economy and the environment).
• BBC ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing internship placements, industry expertise, and collaboration on doctoral training in broadcast and screen industries.
• V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner supporting collections-based research and providing academic partnership opportunities for doctoral researchers.
• Creative ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner supporting creative industries training and doctoral opportunities in Scotland's creative sector.
• National Museums ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing internship and research opportunities for doctoral researchers in museum and collections contexts.
• National Trust for ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing heritage sector training and research placement opportunities.
• Historic Environment ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner for heritage network providing training and research opportunities in historic environment sector.
• Scottish ParliamentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing policy-focused training and internship opportunities for doctoral researchers.
• Scottish Centre for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing third sector training and research placement opportunities.
• Built Environment Forum ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore partner providing built environment and planning sector research opportunities.
• Royal Society of EdinburghcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in SAHA alliance providing strategic guidance and collaboration on arts and humanities policy.
• 17 Scottish Higher Education InstitutionsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember universities including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Dundee, Stirling, Strathclyde, and others providing doctoral training infrastructure and supervisor expertise.
• Stuart Hall FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership offering up to six Stuart Hall Fellowships starting in October 2024 for students from non-traditional and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities: AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership serving Yorkshire's universities (Leeds, Sheffield, York). Directly comparable UK arts & humanities DTP consortium model with shared studentship allocation, training programmes and partner network structure.
• CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East): AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership covering Essex, Kent, Sussex, Birkbeck, Brighton and other south-east HEIs. Same consortium-of-universities structure delivering doctoral studentships, training events and partnership programming in arts and humanities.
• Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS): ESRC-funded doctoral training partnership covering Scotland's universities. SGSAH already collaborates with SGSSS on the Spring into Methods programme; structurally the closest in-country peer as a parallel Scotland-wide graduate school consortium.
• London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP): AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership across King's College London, QMUL, Royal Holloway, UCL and others. Same AHRC DLA Hub-style remit as SGSAH for arts and humanities doctoral training, with comparable studentship allocation and Knowledge Exchange programming.
• South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP): AHRC-funded arts and humanities doctoral training partnership covering Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and other south-west England and Wales HEIs. Same consortium model and AHRC funding lineage as SGSAH.
• British Council Scotland: Co-funding partner on SGSAH's EARTH Scholarships programme enabling international PhD research collaboration. Operates adjacent international-education programming and is structurally aligned with SGSAH on international doctoral mobility.
• Northern Bridge Consortium: AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership serving Newcastle, Durham, Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster, Leeds, Sheffield and Queen's Belfast. Same national-UK DTP model as SGSAH, focused on arts and humanities doctoral training and student mobility.

Broad incumbents

• British Academy: UK national academy for the humanities and social sciences, with comparable postdoctoral fellowship and research grantmaking activity. Relevant as a UK-wide funder and policy voice in arts and humanities that influences the same funding landscape as SGSAH.
• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC): UK Research and Innovation council that funds SGSAH's doctoral studentships and the wider DTP network. Relevant as the funding body that both supports SGSAH and shapes the national doctoral training policy environment.

Others

• Royal Society of Edinburgh: Scotland's national academy and SGSAH partner within the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance (SAHA). Comparable as a Scottish-wide convening body for arts, humanities and social sciences with grantmaking, fellowships and convening functions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/scottish-graduate-school-for-arts-and-humanities

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities