The Grand Union: Excellence and innovation in social science research training

Unit :  Various units
Salary :  £18,622
Location :  Milton Keynes
Please quote reference :  PHD/STEM/TheGrandUnion
Closing Date :  11 January, 2024 - 12:00

The Open University invites applications for full and part-time studentships in our suite of pathways within The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership.

Funding information

These studentships are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Grand Union Doctoral Partnership. The studentships are fully funded for 3/4 years full-time or 6/8 years part-time (depending on whether you are on a +3 or +4 route), covering tuition fees (at UK level) and providing a stipend.

Requirements of candidate

You will have an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject. A Masters or equivalent experience is desirable. Eligibility criteria can be found here:

http://www.granduniondtp.ac.uk/eligibility

How to apply

If you would like to apply, follow the relevant link in the pathway descriptions below for further details about the pathway and also on how to apply. Applications must be submitted by 12:00 on 11 January 2023.

There will be a three-stage process:

The first step is to apply to the OU PhD programme in which you are interested, ensuring you provide all OU PhD programme application documents plus a Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership application form at this stage, by the above deadline.

The second stage is a pathway-specific selection process for nomination to the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership.

The third stage is an open competition for funding. The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership is committed to funding the very best applicants; this will be decided at the third stage.

Interviews for the first stage (acceptance on to the relevant OU PhD programme) will be conducted from 30 January to 12 February 2024

Selection for the second stage will be in week commencing 12 February 2024

Decisions at the third stage are likely to be finalised in June 2024

An application form and studentship-related information are available via the links located below. 

 

Further details and information can be found here:

https://www.granduniondtp.ac.uk/how-apply

Equal Opportunity is University policy

The Grand Union DTP and its pathways

The Grand Union DTP is an ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership uniting The Open University, the University of Oxford and Brunel University in London.  The partnership builds on the recognised research and doctoral training strengths of all three institutions.  The DTP covers 23 subject areas (‘pathways’), themed into five broad clusters. Different pathways offer students opportunities to:

• undertake a research Masters’ course followed by a PhD (known as ‘1+3’, ‘2+2’ or ‘2+3’ routes)
• enter directly onto a PhD having already completed appropriate Masters-level training (‘+3’)
• undertake doctoral study over a longer period (‘+4’) in order to gain Master-level training and skills in a flexible and personalised way, meeting individual students’ needs.

All OU pathways are available for students studying part-time as well as those studying full-time. Further details are included on the relevant pathway pages (see relevant links below).

OU Training Pathways

Development Policy and Practice Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

DPP at the OU challenges 'top-down' and aid-driven development policy models and promotes research into more participatory and inclusive approaches. In particular, its approach to 'inclusive innovation' focuses attention on how technological, economic and social innovations in food, health, and education systems can bring benefits to marginalised groups. Underpinning this pathway is a history of research in DPP on sustainable energy infrastructures, migration, security, heritage, sustainability, climate change, and the political dimensions of development, all with a strong orientation to policy and practice.

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Development policy and practice

Geography and Environmental Studies Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University (Lead University: Oxford)

The Geography & Environmental Studies Department at The Open University has a record of producing innovative research and teaching in both human and environmental geography. Research is conducted through the OpenSpace Research Centre , which encourages a vibrant research environment, drawing on research expertise both within and beyond The Open University and academia.

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Geography

Innovation in Learning Pathway - Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University

Innovation in learning embodies a wide diversity in research, including creative learning and teaching in formal, nonformal and informal contexts, understanding children and young people’s worlds, intercultural communicative competence, academic and digital literacies, language learning, mobile and ubiquitous learning, citizen engagement, open education practices, issues of inclusion, social justice and well-being, and research into addressing real-world problems of learning in contexts of disadvantage and ill-health. It also includes new disciplines such as learning analytics and new fields of inquiry such as learning futures and performance augmentation.

The pathway offers opportunities for collaborative, participatory and interdisciplinary research, alongside research in technology-enhanced learning. Educational research relevant to this pathway sits within the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS), which is home to the UK’s only Regius Professor in Open Education, the Institute of Educational Technology, the Centre for Literacy and Social Justice, the Children’s Research Centre and the new Centre for the Study of Global Development. WELS is also home to the OU's largest group of postgraduate research students and offers an inclusive and cohesive research community.

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Innovation in Learning

Health and Wellbeing Pathway - Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University (Lead University: Brunel)

Achieving good health and supporting wellbeing for all is essential to achieving social justice, and this lies at the heart of the Open University’s mission. We have expertise in and place value on participatory and inclusive research, with a particular focus on groups that are marginalised, ‘hard to reach’ or have complex needs. We welcome proposals for research that locates the experiences of service users, ‘patients’, carers, family members and practitioners at the fore of inquiry. The pathway will equip students to address health and wellbeing as complex, dynamic and fluid phenomena across the life course, and to use established and innovative social research methodologies to address these challenges.

Applications are invited on one or more of the following themes:

• ageing and later life
• children, young people, parenting and families
• death, dying and bereavement
• disability and long-term conditions
• reproductive and sexual health
• care and caring
• mental health

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Health and Wellbeing

Psychology Pathway – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

Psychology is a key component in all aspects of social life. Questions about how individuals think, feel, and act, and how these relate to wider social, cultural, economic and societal issues, lie at the heart of studying Psychology. It explores principles of human behaviour that link the social sciences. For example, investigations of the role of learning and memory in education, individual and group decisions in financial and political systems, perception and decision-making in legal contexts, or inter-group conflict arising from public policy or migration. At the same time, as an empirical science, Psychology forms a critical bridge from economic and social research to the natural and medical sciences, both in methodology and academic scope.

The School of Psychology and Counselling at The Open University has a vibrant research culture that is noted to be an international leader in transdisciplinary and applied research. Our School houses three research streams: i) Culture and Social Psychology (CuSP); ii) Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (PHeW) and iii) the Forensic Cognition Research Group (FCRG) which form part of the Open Psychology Research Centre (OPRC). Psychology at The Open University produces psychological research that seeks to understand, transform and enrich the lives of individuals and communities by foregrounding methodological and theoretical pluralism with a commitment to social justice. Students will be equipped to examine complex psychological phenomenon as they unfold as part of social practices in real settings. Using established, innovative and creative social science research methodologies, students will develop research to address wider societal challenges. Postgraduate students play a central role in developing new ideas with a contemporary focus, examining the impact of exceptional and everyday situations through a psychological lens. The School of Psychology and Counselling provides students with first-class training and resources which will enable them to be future research leaders in distinctive and emergent social practices constituting and transforming everyday lives.

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Psychology

Organisation, Leadership and Governance Pathway - Faculty of Business and Law, The Open University

The Organisation, Leadership and Governance pathway draws on the OU’s wide-ranging expertise in the fields of organisational studies, ethical leadership, governance, and sustainability. Sitting within the Business School (OUBS) and supported by our Law School, this expertise and knowledge informs and is informed by the OU’s Open Societal Challenges programme, because organisational practices are simultaneously the problem and potential solution to contemporary global crises.

Faculty academics publish in internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals. Expertise including supervisory and mentoring experience is available in many pathway-related topics such as gender, leadership, precarious work, the refugee experience, post-COVID working arrangements, as well as human trafficking, digital vulnerability in the financial sector, gamification, economic citizenship and governance, and renewable energy entrepreneurship.  

The pathway draws upon four main research centres that enhance its research environment: the Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL), the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL), Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures (REEF) and the Law School’s Open Justice Centre (OJC). In addition, smaller Research Clusters provide PhD students and postdoctoral fellows with opportunities to share specific theoretical knowledge within supportive internal and external networked alliances.  For example, Gendered Organisational Practice (GOP) have hosted a series of ‘how to write about gender’ workshops facilitated by a world-renowned gender expert, which PhD students and academics attended.   

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Leadership and Organisational Governance

Social Justice and Inequalities Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

The Social Justice and Inequalities pathway provides a rigorous interdisciplinary framework for exploring the complexities of inequality and injustice at both national and international levels. Based in the School of Social Sciences and Global Studies (SSGS), this pathway is closely aligned with the new Global Challenges and Social Justice (GCSJ) Research Centre, which has particular strengths in applied research and the co-production of knowledge with relevant community and policy stakeholders.

Students enrolled on this pathway will be immersed in a vibrant research culture, backed by two leading research units specialising in Politics and International Studies, and Social Work and Social Policy. These units have been lauded for their research quality and have secured significant research funding, attesting to their academic vitality. Together, they encompass approximately 75 academic staff members and potential supervisors in the School.

For more information on this pathway and how to apply for a studentship, please follow this link: Social Justice & Inequalities

 

Send your OU and Grand Union application form, associated documentation and research proposal or supporting statement to:

OU research degree area	Email address for MPhil/PhD applications
Art History, Classical Studies, English, History, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Economics, Geography, Politics and International Studies, Psychology, Social Policy and Criminology, Sociology, Development Studies	[email protected]
Business and Management, Law	[email protected]
Education and Educational Technology, Languages and Applied Linguistics	[email protected]
Health, Social Work and Social Care	[email protected]
Earth, Environment and Ecosystems, Life, Health and Chemical Sciences,, Physical Sciences, KMi, Acoustics, Computing, Design, Materials Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics	[email protected]

 

Job related information : 

Attachment	Size

Attachment	Size
application-form-international.docx	92.32 KB
application-form-uk.docx	86.69 KB
grand-union-dtp-esrc-application-form-2024.docx	53.86 KB

Posting Date :  7 November, 2023 - 14:45