WRDTP ESRC PhD STUDENTSHIPS 2025/26

The White Rose Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP), accredited by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), is a collaboration across the social sciences at the Universities of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York.

The WRDTP delivers excellent supervision, first class discipline and cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and transferable skills training, and a world-class intellectual environment for postgraduate research students. It enables PhD students to participate in local, national and international networks of non-academic partners, opinion formers, policy makers, as well as leading academics. The WRDTP aims to produce doctoral graduates with outstanding skills and flexibility, with the imagination to tackle the thorniest challenges confronting the social sciences.

Research training is delivered through seven thematic interdisciplinary training pathways:

1. Civil Society, Development and Democracy (CDD)
2. Digital Technologies, Communication and Artificial Intelligence (DCA)
3. Education, Childhood, And Youth (ECY)
4. Security, Conflict and Justice (SCJ)
5. Space, Place, Environment and Liveability (SPEL)
6. Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)
7. Wellbeing, Health, And Communities (WHC)

The WRDTP has been accredited by the ESRC to offer PhD scholarships across a range of schemes, starting in October 2025. Further information can be found here.

The awards on offer are either/or:

• +3.5 programme: funding for a 3.5-year PhD (typically for applicants with a social science Masters degree, and with 60 or more credits (or equivalent) of M-level social science research methods training)
• +3.75 programme: funding for an integrated PGCert/PhD (typically for applicants who already have a social science Masters degree but have fewer than 60 credits (or equivalent) of M-level social science research training)
• 1+3.5 programme: funding for a 1-year Masters programme, followed by the 3.5-year PhD (typically for applicants without a social science Masters degree – the Masters programme will deliver the core social sciences research methods training requirements)

All awards are available for study on a full or part-time basis.

The deadline for candidates to apply for the following awards is 17:00, 22 January 2025:

• WRDTP Pathway Awards, incorporating WRDTP/Stuart Hall Foundation Pathway Awards for Black British Students
• WRDTP Advanced Quantitative Methods Awards
• WRDTP Advanced Data Analytics Awards

HOW TO APPLY

Applicants do not apply directly to the WRDTP for an award but are instead nominated by their university. You should therefore allow sufficient time to liaise with potential supervisors. You should also ensure that you observe any processes or deadlines that the individual department, school or university has in place for assessing applications – we recommend speaking to the person responsible for PGR admissions in your chosen academic department at your preferred university for more details.

Please refer to the WRDTP website for full details.

For general enquiries, contact enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk.