Grand Union DTP

The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership (GUDTP) provides a huge range of studentship opportunities for Doctoral students at Oxford University, The Open University and Brunel University London. The studentship awards individual students with funding to achieve their Doctorate, and provides support for those students to affect those not involved with the pathway through, for example setting up research groups for all students, going on internships and initiatives such as helping children get into higher education. 

Our Grand Union scholars are at the heart of our community of students and early career social science researchers. We are proud of the support we give this next generation of social scientists, and we work hard to give them every opportunity to develop as future researchers and professionals. Social scientists at Brunel have a tradition of innovatory, high-impact research that drives forward academic knowledge and informs policy and practice. 

Each year the GUDTP hosts a conference at Oxford University which allows students to exhibit their research, learn from the work of others, participate in workshops and listen to stimulating key note presentations. The 2019 conference was themed “Not Surviving, Thriving” exploring how to navigate and manage the changing nature of academia. Anne Butterworth (Open University) and Lucy Wray (Brunel University London) were invited to lead a Health and Wellbeing Workshop for students to contemplate their own health and wellbeing and discuss how they can manage this on their academic journey and beyond. 

• Studentships supported by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation are open to Home, EU and International students.

• Students must reside in the UK during their studies to receive United Kingdom Research and Innovation funding

• The studentships are highly competitive with two stages of selection: first selection at Brunel and then the second stage at the Doctoral Training Partnership level

• Applicants are normally expected to hold a Masters degree and a minimum IELTS 7 for international students

Overview

For the Education Pathway, follow the "How to Apply" below for initial enquiries . Applicants are reminded  to contact Professor Emma Wainwright emma.wainwright@brunel.ac.uk to discuss their applications and indicate the member(s) of staff they consider suitable to potentially support their application before proceeding.

Before applying to ESRC, please note that all ESRC awards are subject to the ESRC and UKRI Terms and Conditions. Please ensure that you are familiar with them. They are set out on the ESRC website.

If you already know the name of a potential supervisor in Health & Wellbeing areas, you may contact them directly. Alternatively, you can email the following subject contacts, giving them a brief idea of what your PhD proposal is on. They will forward your details to appropriate members of staff within the subject teams and someone will get back to you discuss further. 

 For any further enquiries contact: emma.smith@brunel.ac.uk

How to Apply

Complete the  Grand Union DTP ESRC Application Form 2025 first. Please do not complete the course PhD application via the online portal just yet. This will be done once a decision on the studentship has been made. View an overview of the recruitment process.

1. 2000 word research proposal including references.

2. Two written references, they should have a good knowledge of your academic record to date and your plans for the research project. They should be in a position to judge your suitability and preparedness for doctoral study. Only one of your two referees can be a member of your proposed (or actual) supervisory team. You may ask the supervisor of your Masters dissertation to be one of your referees. It is however not necessary for either of your referees to be a member of your supervisory team unless you have already started your PhD, in which case we would expect one of your references to be from your supervisor. References must include:

The referee’s name and their relationship to you and Comment on your previous performance/achievements

3. Your up-to-date CV;

4. Your single A4 page, single-spaced personal statement setting out why you are interested in undertaking this project;

5. Your degree certificate(s) and transcript(s);

6. Evidence of your English language capability to IELTS 7.0 or equivalent, if appropriate;

7.Completed Equal Opportunities form Grand Union DTP Equal Opportunities 2024-25

Data protection

Your information will be treated as strictly confidential and handled in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR. For more information please see the UKRI privacy notice.

Please email all completed documents to emma.smith@brunel.ac.uk with the subject header – Education/wellbeing ESRC Studentship application. 

Please note that Interviews for studentships will be required. Applicants are advised to be available should they be called for interview.

For advice of an academic nature, please contact Associate Director & pathway Lead Prof Louise Mansfield louise.mansfield@brunel.ac.uk for Health & wellbeing and emma.wainwright@brunel.ac.uk for Education 

 For all other enquiries, please contact emma.smith@brunel.ac.uk. 

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) also offers  applications to its Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) scheme aimed at providing a career development opportunity for those in the immediately postdoctoral stage of their career, to provide the opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, their networks, and their research and professional skills. 

The PDF call forms part of ESRC’s strategy to support early career researchers and will be delivered through our national network of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) which encompasses 73 research organisations across the UK. 

The fellows must be located on an accredited DTP pathway. Through being embedded within a high-quality environment for research and training, the fellows will have the opportunity to undertake a varied programme of activities supporting their continued development for careers both within and outside of academia. 

DTPs will have their own procedures in place to peer review the proposals and make funding decisions on behalf of ESRC. 

ESRC PostDocs Call is now open ! 

• Expression of Interest stage:
• Deadline midday 20^th January 2025
• Applicants are asked complete the Expression of Interest Application Form (and an Equal Opportunities Monitoring form eom-form-2025v2) and to submit their CV (2x sides of A4, font size 11) and case for support (6 sides of A4 maximum, font size 11) to the relevant Department.
• Departments may request additional documents to be submitted if they wish as part of expression of interest process.
• Departments hold internal selection process and confirm with the DTP which candidates are invited to complete the full application (maximum 1) by 21^st February 2025.

Queries and Applications must be sent to emma.smith@brunel.ac.uk .

The objective of these calls is to provide support to those who are within 12 months of completing their PhD, to support them in consolidating their PhD, and preparing them for the next stage of their research careers. For the majority this is likely to be a research career in academia; however, those with a clearly articulated programme of activities to support their transition to a research career outside of academia (eg a researcher in public, private, or civil society organisations) will also be considered. 

Fellows’ actual programmes or proposed programme of activities should reflect their prior knowledge and experience and be designed to support their longer term research career aspirations. Activities could include but are not limited to: 

• Produce publications in order to help establish track record

• Engage with a range of different audiences to communicate research findings

• Build networks to develop impact opportunities and inform and support further development

• Collaborate with users through an internship or placement to help develop professional and transferrable skills and understanding of users’ organisations, provided they are an integral part of the fellowship

• Further training to improve research and related skills

• Developing funding proposals

• Carry out further limited research (up to 25% of the programme of work) related to their PhD

• Teaching, if this is aligned with the wider purposes of the fellowship (up to a maximum of six hours per week);

• Research visits to internationally leading research organisations – either in the UK or abroad – for the purposes of research collaboration, training, and/or access to data or other resources not available at the applicant’s host organisation.