We are delighted to offer a full-time, fully funded PhD studentship (including a Research Training Support Grant) within the group of Dr Isobelle Clarke in the Economic and Social Research Council Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science in Linguistics and English Language.
The successful applicant will join a team of researchers based at Lancaster University working on the project ‘A Multi-Dimensional Understanding of the Digital Far Right’.
Application deadline: 15 May 2026
Expected interview date: 15 June 2026
Start date: TBC (latest start date 01/09/2026)
Informal enquiries: Dr Isobelle Clarke (i.clarke@lancaster.ac.uk)
About the project
The project has three core aims:
- To systematically identify how far right groups vary (what linguistic features and repertoires they share and how the most high risk content compares).
- To develop an innovative methodology to allow for (1).
- To provide training of (1) and (2) to law enforcement.
The PhD candidate will play an important role in the project working collaboratively with the PI and postdoctoral researcher. The successful PhD candidate will conduct foundational research by exploring the boundaries of far right extremism. They will use Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis to compare the linguistic and cyber activity of convicted far right extremists (under terrorism offences in the UK) with those who were arrested under similar offences but were not convicted. The findings of the PhD research will be used to develop features that will assist in the prioritisation of offenders and will be used to train law enforcement.
The applicant should hold a Master’s degree in a relevant field, have experience in corpus-assisted discourse analysis, expertise in how to scrape data from the (dark) web and working with cyber data, and a critical academic interest in the far right. We are looking for a highly motivated, outstanding individual with excellent communication skills, the capacity to work collaboratively as part of a team and the ability to solve problems creatively.
The successful candidate will be expected to relocate to Lancaster and work regularly on campus as part of the CASS team.
Supervision and training
The project will be supervised by Dr Isobelle Clarke. The studentship offers advanced training in corpus linguistics, forensic linguistics and cybersecurity.
Funding and eligibility
The studentship covers full tuition fees and includes a tax-free maintenance stipend (currently £20,780 per year) and a Research Training Support Grant. It is open to UK and international applicants.
How to apply
1. Submit an application for a PhD at Lancaster University
Fill in the application form and indicate Dr Isobelle Clarke as your proposed supervisor.
Instead of a full PhD project proposal, applicants should:
- Describe their experience with corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, forensic linguistics, webscraping, and working with metadata.
- Provide concrete examples of the above skills.
- Clearly state in the proposal that the application is for the project ‘A Multi-Dimensional Understanding of the Digital Far Right’ and that it will be funded by Lancaster University.
2. Complete the motivation form
All applicants must complete the motivation form as part of the funding application process.