The Scuola Superiore Meridionale (SSM) in Naples, in partnership with the Università di Napoli Federico II, invites applications for five fully funded scholarships in the PhD program in Global History and Governance for the academic year 2026-2027. The PhD Programme offers an advanced interdisciplinary course of study and research culminating in an original doctoral dissertation. The Ph.D. program in Global History and Governance is aimed at highly motivated students with a solid personal background and multiple language skills. The program focuses on the comparisons, connections, and processes of globalization that have characterized different areas of the planet between the 16th and 20th centuries.

The Program

The PhD in Global History and Governance consists of an advanced course of study and research at the end of which the student defends a dissertation based on original and independent scientific work. The course offers an educational program based on a multidisciplinary approach centered on history and law, but it is open to contributions from other disciplines.

The Ph.D. program in Global History and Governance is aimed at highly motivated students with a solid personal background and multiple language skills.

The program focuses on the comparisons, connections, and processes of globalization that have characterized different areas of the planet between the 16th and 20th centuries. It does so by concentrating on the relational dimension of historical processes, legal regimes, and the organization of power; on the interconnections between economic, political, legal, cultural, and social factors; and on the circulation, exchange, and interconnection of ideas, persons, institutions, legal cultures, political models, concepts, rights, and goods on a global scale.

The selection will reward projects of the highest quality and feasibility, with preference given to those that focus on areas in which members of the college can offer world-class training and research preparation. These include, in particular: Ideas and practices of citizenship; the History of the Welfare State; History of rights; History of minorities and history of minority rights; History of migration; History of empires; States, wars, and violence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; History of slavery and forced labor; History of historiography; The idea of Europe and its history; Europe's legal heritage and its integration; International organizations; Administrative and private law in the global sphere; Global legal pluralism; Rule of law and democracy; Public and private powers as actors in global governance; General principles and methods of dispute resolution in the global arena; Comparative federalism.

Program coordinator

Prof. Daniela Luigia Caglioti

Funding amount

Annual stipend of € 19,000.00; 50% increase of the scholarship for research abroad for up to 12 months; up to 20% of the scholarship in research funds per year; no tuition fees. 

Starting date

November 2, 2026

Admission requirements

Candidates must possess an MA/MS degree, an excellent command of English, and possibly of a second language other than their mother tongue. They must present a personal statement, a research proposal on a subject relevant to the PhD program, and a review/discussion of a text that particularly inspired applicants in the choice to pursue their studies and in the conception and writing of the proposal itself. For more details, see the GHG Annex.

Application guidelines

Application deadline: August 27, 2026, 2:00 pm (CET), only via the online system.

Deadline for the submission of recommendation letters: August 31, 2027, 5:00 pm (CET)

Please visit the SSM website for full details of the funding of the award, eligibility, and how to apply

For administrative information, please write to ssm@ssmeridionale.it

For non-administrative information, please write to ghg@ssmeridionale.it