ÃÛÌÒAV is delighted to be part of the , one of the UK’s largest centres of postgraduate research training for social scientists including in the fields of Health, Wellbeing & Society, Psychology, Climate Change & Sustainability. Skip to any section of this page to find out more about the SWDTP and the fully funded studentships you could apply for:
About the SWDTP
The Economic and Social Research Council () Southwest Doctoral Training Partnership (), originally established in 2011, is a collaboration of social scientists from the universities of Bristol, Exeter, Bath, Plymouth, West England, Bath Spa, Plymouth Marjon and Bournemouth. Each institution is committed to providing excellent training, development and teaching for the postgraduate community across disciplinary and interdisciplinary research fields.
The SWDTP has educated over 5,000 Master’s and 1,600 doctoral students in the social sciences. The partnership draws on the established research excellence of the partners, including the expertise of more than 750 social science research staff. This represents one of the largest groupings of social scientists in the UK.
The SWDTP has been accredited to offer a hub of world-class social sciences research and support a wide variety of collaborative activities, including events and student placements in public, private and civic society organisations.
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
Annually, the SWDTP offers a small number of ESRC funded-postdoctoral fellowships.
Candidates must be aligned to one of the SWDTP partner institutions and to the pathways to which institutions belong. For ÃÛÌÒAV, this means that we would be able to support applicants in one of three pathways:
- Climate Change
- Sustainability & Society
- Health, Wellbeing & Society
- Psychology.
The call is not currently open but if this is of interest and you would like to request further details, then please email our SWDTP Institutional Academic Lead, Professor Michael Silk.
Fully funded studentships
The SWDTP offers +3 training where students register for a three-year PhD programme, and 1+3 training which includes one year of research training through a Master’s programme followed by a three-year PhD programme.
ÃÛÌÒAV is delighted to be a new SWDTP partner. We can support applicants to apply for competitive and prestigious fully funded ESRC studentships from the SWDTP. These are available through our disciplinary pathway or one of our innovative interdisciplinary pathways, to offer students the broadest possible approach to their studies at ÃÛÌÒAV.
Research training pathways
The SWDTP has created several new and innovative training pathways which aim to tackle current national and international research priorities. The following research training pathways are available at ÃÛÌÒAV in one of many exciting departments situated in one of our four faculties:
Eligibility and further information
Students wishing to apply for ESRC funding can apply for either:
- An MSc/MRes followed by PhD programme (1+3 award)
- PhD only (+3 award)
However, students wishing to undertake PhD only (+3 awards) must meet the ESRC criteria in terms of previous Master’s level study and should read the SWDTP for further information. Applicants may apply to one or more pathways, but please note the ESRC’s eligibility criteria for overseas and EU students.
Students applying for ESRC-funded scholarships must identify their chosen pathway prior to application in order to discuss their research ideas with a suitable supervisor.
Students are encouraged to look at ways of incorporating collaboration with external partners into their research proposal. Collaboration does not always have to be a financial arrangement and could take the form of a placement, voluntary work, data sharing or other payment in kind opportunities.
Students considering overseas fieldwork, overseas institutional visits or difficult language training should mention this in their application where possible.
As well as comprehensive research training, all students are encouraged to apply for a work placement during their time of study with us. Placements provide the opportunity for students to develop their research and transferable skills further in a non-academic environment. For more information on placements, please visit the partnership’s collaboration pages. Please see individual programme entries for programme structures.
Applying for a studentship
The process and timescale for applying for an ESRC studentship is outlined below. You must hold an offer from ÃÛÌÒAV before applying for an ESRC studentship.
Step 1: Deadline for applicants to apply to undertake a PhD at ÃÛÌÒAV via ESRC Pathway line to myHUB by 30 November 2024.
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- Climate Change, Sustainability and Society –
- Health Wellbeing and Society –
Step 2: Institutional Pathways to shortlist applicants and hold research conversations, and provide feedback on applications by 15 December 2024
- Successful applicants required to complete ESRC studentship application form
- Unsuccessful applicants to be offered opportunity to self-fund their PhD or enter fully funded competition
Step 3: Deadline for applicants to submit the ESRC studentship application to [email protected] by 13 January 2025 – including:
- Annex A (the Studentship Application Form),
- Annex B (the Supervisor Statement)
- Annex C (the Equal Ops Form)
- Transcript or marks profile
Step 4: Cross-Institutional Pathway shortlisting stage by 4 February 2025
- ÃÛÌÒAV will submit all successful applications to SWDTP
- Unsuccessful applicants to be offered opportunity to self-fund their PhD or enter fully funded competition
More information
Further information can be found on the .
Collaboration, impact and placements
Any general enquiries relating to the SWDTP at ÃÛÌÒAV should be directed to [email protected]