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White Rose Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership launched

White Rose Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership launched

Posted on 11 October 2016

A consortium of northern universities is launching a new £16.8 million Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, which aims to support postgraduate students in accessing the highest quality research training throughout their time at university.

The scheme, which brings together the Universities of Hull, Bradford, Sheffield Hallam, and Manchester Metropolitan, is part of the White Rose Doctoral Training Centre, led by the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield.

The new partnership, which was announced at the White Rose University Consortium conference in Brussels, is one of 14 new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) accredited partnerships across the UK and will offer training in seven interdisciplinary themed training pathways, providing 38 fully-funded studentships a year for six years.

Matthew Festenstein, Director of the Research Centre for Social Sciences at the University of York, said: “This new partnership recognises the quality of our Social Sciences postgraduate research and will enable interdisciplinary research training to address the major global social challenges that we face. It provides an exciting opportunity to work with new partners and we look forward to welcoming students next year.”

Impactful research

The training focuses on providing skills such as working alongside international partners; handling different forms of data; and collaborating with others to develop impactful research. The scheme also includes opportunities to work with non-academic partners and build research links with different city regions to conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects.

Professor Deborah Smith, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of York, said: “"We are delighted to be hosting postgraduate students engaged in this prestigious training programme, which builds on the excellence in social science research across our northern universities.

“There has never been a more important time to be pursuing research that addresses social questions, often in an interdisciplinary context, that are of relevance to the critical global issues of our time.”

Highly commended

The scheme was highly commended by the Research Council UK’s peer reviewers for building an innovative and dynamic postgraduate training environment through cross-university events, cutting-edge online learning platforms, and providing unique links between social sciences, humanities and STEM subjects.

The first cohort of students will commence their studies in October 2017.