ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership

Funding:

PhD, Integrated PhD/PG Cert or Masters & PhD

Duration:

3.5 years, 3.75 years or 4.5 years

Application deadline:

Currently closed

Apply now

About this project

We are looking for talented postgraduate researchers to join us for a world-class start to their careers by undertaking a social science research degree at Hull, as part of the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP).

We want you to help us address some of society’s most pressing global challenges by devising your own Social Sciences research project. It needs to fit within one of the White Rose DTP’s seven Interdisciplinary Themed Pathways.

Each student will receive a tuition fee waiver and an annual stipend based on the ESRC’s current studentship rates. In 2023/24, the annual stipend was £18,622. Updated rates will be published in early 2024. This will be paid for the duration of the funded research period. Full tuition fees will be paid for the duration of the funded research period. Further details can be found on the White Rose DTP website.

Once you have a research question in mind and know which Pathway(s) it aligns to, you need to find a suitable supervisor here at Hull. They need to come from one of the White Rose disciplines: Hull University Business School; History in the School of Humanities; Human Geography in the School of Environmental Sciences; Criminology in the School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing; Education in the School of Education; and the School of Psychology and Social Work. We can help you do this – just contact whiterosedtp@hull.ac.uk.

About the Doctoral Training Partnership

The University of Hull is a member of the prestigious White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP), which is funded and accredited by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of the national research funding body UKRI.

This innovative Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) is a collaboration between the leading social science departments in the Universities of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York. The partnership distributes funded PhD places to train and nurture the next generation of world-class social science researchers with outstanding skills and potential.

About the awards

The White Rose DTP through its partner institutions is offering a number of PhD studentships to equip the next generation of social science researchers with the skills and knowledge necessary to address the most pressing challenges facing the world today:

White Rose Pathway awards offer applicants the opportunity to develop proposals for impactful social science research that engages with the key themes and challenges identified in our thematic interdisciplinary pathways.
White Rose Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) awards are aimed at applicants who will use cutting edge quantitative research methods to facilitate impactful research that is aligned with our thematic interdisciplinary pathways. These projects will use either primary or secondary quantitative data to answer research questions about society.
Similarly, White Rose Advanced Data Analytics (ADA) awards are aimed at applicants who will use cutting edge data analysis techniques (which can be quantitative and/or qualitative), or will deploy large scale or ‘big’ data, to facilitate impactful research that is aligned with our thematic interdisciplinary pathways. These projects are likely to use forms of secondary data that are not commonly used in social science research, and that require particular techniques to understand and interpret those data.

Reflecting White Rose DTP's commitment to addressing historic structural inequalities in education, White Rose also offers two Stuart Hall Foundation Awards for Black British students. Applicants to this scheme will have research interests that align with Professor Stuart Hall’s research legacy in the areas of securing wider access to education, race, ethnicity, cultural studies and structural inequalities. Further details can be found here.

Scholarship programme routes

There are three scholarship routes. We will help you determine which one is best for you, depending on your qualifications and previous social science research training.

Before you apply, you will need to discuss the scholarship routes with your proposed supervisor and indicate in your application which route you would like to be considered for. However, the final decision will be made by the White Rose DTP panel, so you may end up on a different route to the one you selected in your application.

Route 1: PhD

A PhD programme, incorporating a mandatory 3-month Research in Practice placement.

Funded research period: 3.5 years (full time), 7 years (part time).
Unfunded thesis finalisation period: 6 months (full time), 12 months (part time).
Research in Practice placement module: 3 months (full time), 6 months (part time) - can be taken pro-rata.
Additional mandatory training: Postgraduate Training Scheme.
Eligibility: Candidates with sufficient Social Science research – usually through a previous Social Sciences Masters qualification.

Route 2: Integrated PhD/PG Certificate

An integrated PhD/PG Certificate route, which also incorporates a mandatory 3-month Research in Practice placement. You also need to take and pass 60 Masters level credits taken from the Masters in Social Research DTP programme at Hull.

Funded research period: 3.75 years (full time), 7.5 years (part time).
Unfunded thesis finalisation period: 3 months (full time), 6 months (part time).
Research in Practice placement module: 3 months (full time), 6 months (part time) - can be taken pro-rata.
Additional mandatory training: 60 credits from Masters in Social Research modules passed within 12 months (full time) or 24 months (part time). Certain core PGTS training, with no assessment.
Eligibility: Candidates with a Masters but without experience or qualifications in Social Science research.

Route 3: Masters followed by PhD

This route is slightly different to the above in that you will study a taught programme first – the Masters in Social Research (DTP). You can get an idea of the types of modules you will study on your Masters programme by looking at the Masters in Social Research webpage, but please note it will differ for White Rose students. You must pass the Masters in Social Research DTP stage to progress to the PhD.

Masters

Masters period: 1 year (full time), 2 years (part time).
Eligibility: Candidates without a Masters qualification.

PhD

Funded PhD period: 3.5 years (full time), 7 years (part time).
Unfunded PhD thesis finalisation period: 6 months (full time), 12 months (part time).
Research in Practice placement module: 3 months (full time), 6 months (part time) - can be taken pro-rata.
Additional mandatory training: Postgraduate Training Scheme.
Eligibility: You will progress to the PhD element upon passing the MSc Social Research (DTP) programme.

How to apply

This scholarship is currently closed. Applications will be accepted from October 2024.

Postgraduate student reading in the Brynmor Jones Library

Postgraduate Rebecca Humphries & Georgia Sykes walking by HUBS Wharfe Building

Watch: find out more about postgraduate study at the University of Hull

Watch the video

As a postgraduate researcher at Hull, you will be part of our ambition to be at the forefront of new developments in Social Sciences research. This is a hugely important area of research for us, so you will receive all the support you need to develop your talent, your research skills and your career.

You will be part of the ESRC White Rose community – a vibrant and growing collective of social science researchers. There will be opportunities to network with colleagues at the other WRDTP universities, as well as attending a range of training, conference and development activities run by the White Rose Consortium.

Funding

If you are successful in securing funding from the White Rose, you will receive a stipend, paid monthly into your account and you will receive a full tuition fee waiver, for the research period of your programme only. If you are authorised to enter the thesis finalisation / writing-up period in order to complete your thesis, you will not receive any funding and you will be required to pay a continuation fee.

You will also have access to Research Training Support Grant funds to support conference and other expenses and you may apply for additional funding to support overseas fieldwork, language training and overseas institutional visits, but you must include these plans and their costs in your application.

This scholarship does not cover the cost of flights, visas, NHS health surcharges or any other additional costs incurred either before or during the programme of study.

Funded research period

This is the phase of your study during which you are actively researching and writing up your thesis. It is also the period for which you will receive a tuition fee waiver and a stipend.

White Rose PhD programmes are funded for 3.5 years (full-time) with an unfunded thesis finalisation/writing-up period of 6 months. Part-time students are funded for 7 years with an unfunded thesis finalisation/writing-up period of 12 months.

White Rose Integrated PhD/ PG Certificate programmes are funded for 3.75 years (full-time) with an unfunded thesis finalisation/writing-up period of 3 months. Part-time students are funded for 7.5 years and have an unfunded thesis finalisation period of 6 months.

Masters in Social Research is funded for 1 year (full-time) and 2 years (part-time).

Unfunded thesis finalisation/writing-up period

This period is to be used only to finalise the last elements of your thesis if there are good reasons why you could not submit within your funded period. Candidates are permitted to enter the thesis finalisation period only in exceptional circumstances and if they are allowed to do so, the thesis must be submitted at the end of this period.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements vary by subject and can be found towards the end of these corresponding course pages:

International applicants

EU candidates who have settled, pre-settled (meeting residency requirements) or Indefinite Leave to Remain will need to provide evidence of their status when applying.

If you are an international student and wish to study part-time, you can apply for a part-time Student visa, but there are a number of restrictions associated with this, which include:

Part-time students cannot bring dependants to the UK.
Part-time students must pay the Immigration Health Surcharge for the full duration of the programme.
Part-time students cannot undertake any work in the UK. This includes unpaid work placements and internships.

This list is not exhaustive: it is your responsibility to find out about the type of visa you need and any associated restrictions. You can contact us for advice in advance of your application by emailing iect@hull.ac.uk.

International students studying the Masters + PhD route

You will require two visas for this route: one for the Masters and one for the PhD. The scholarship does not provide funding to cover the costs of visas for this or any other scholarship route.

Further information

Applicants who are interested in applying for a WRDTP studentship are invited to attend an information session for guidance on the application process.

These will be held on a virtual basis, using Zoom, on the following dates:

Pathway, AQM and ADA Awards:

Wednesday 15 November 2023: 17:30 – 18:30

Stuart Hall Foundation Awards (open to Black British applicants only):

Tuesday 21 November 2023: 17:30 – 18:30

Sessions will include a slideshow presentation and time for questions, which can be submitted via the Zoom text-based chat function. A reminder email including a link to the session and instructions on how to use Zoom will be sent to participants nearer the time of the workshops.

Applicants can register for the above sessions here. If you are unable to attend your preferred session(s) but would like to receive further information, you can indicate this via the form.

Slides/recordings from the event will be posted on our website in due course, and you will be emailed once they are available.