University of California, Irvine offers funding to MA or especially promising BA students who wish to pursue a PhD in the art, archaeology and history of the ancient and medieval Persian/Iranian world (broadly conceived, including Achaemenid and Hellenistic Asia Minor and Levant, Hellenistic Central and South Asia, and medieval and early modern Persianate Afghanistan and India).

Students apply to the PhD Program in Visual Studies or PhD Program in History and, once enrolled, simultaneously pursue the Graduate Specialization in Ancient Iran and the Premodern Persian World, which provides interdisciplinary training needed to conduct advanced research in Persian/Iranian studies.

All accepted students are guaranteed five years of funding, with opportunities for a sixth year if needed, as well as heavily subsidized graduate housing. In this regard, through the newly endowed Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Fellowship program, each year we award two, five-year PhD fellowships, one of which is reserved for archaeology of the ancient world, the other open-period: the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Fellowship in Ancient Iranian Art and Archaeology and the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Fellowship in the Study of the Persian/Iranian World. These currently provide a base stipend of $34,000 the first year, which is free from teaching duties; ca. $30,000 subsequent years with additional funding opportunities for the summer through fellowships, summer research stipends, teaching assistantships and, for VS students, paid museum internships). The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2021.

For more information please contact: Matthew P. Canepa, Director, PhD Program in Visual Studies and Graduate Specialization in Ancient Iran and the Premodern Persian World: matthew.canepa@uci.edu

Faculty resources and current students in Persian/Iranian Studies can be found here:https://www.humanities.uci.edu/persianstudies/program/grad_program.phpInformation about UCI’s programming resources can be found here:
https://www.humanities.uci.edu/persianstudies/