The University of Hull is a member of the prestigious Economic and Social Research Council White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. We are looking for talented students to join us for a world-class start to your research career by doing a funded social science research degree at Hull.
This innovative Doctoral Training Partnership is a collaboration between the leading social science departments in the Universities of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York.
The partnership distributes funded PhD places to excellent students to train and nurture the next generation of world-class social science researchers with outstanding skills and potential. It is funded and accredited by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of the national research funding body UKRI.
What we offer
At Hull, we have funded opportunities across five interdisciplinary social science pathways. There are three pathways for PhD Human Geography:
Cities, Environment & Liveability
This pathway brings together colleagues and PGRs from a range of disciplines, including geography, urban planning, architecture, sociology, politics, environment, education and health to offer cutting edge training to equip the next generation of inter-disciplinary social scientists with the tools to respond to the grand social challenges of poverty, social exclusion, climate change and environmental degradation in urban and rural areas at local, national and international scales.
Contact: Professor Andy Jonas
Sustainable Growth, Management and Economic Productivity
The Sustainable Growth, Management, and Economic Productivity Pathway engages with several major areas of research that cut across many levels of society. These areas of interest include productivity and sustainable economic growth at multi-level scales. Debates about the future of work and the role of consumption in society are central to the Pathway’s interrogation of how we live now and sustainability acts as a fundamental link across the broad Pathway themes.
Contact: Professor Andy Jonas or Professor Lewis Holloway
Civil Society, Development and Democracy (Human Geography)
This pathway seeks to comprehend the ways in which our systems and institutions of governance – in both the richer and poorer parts of the world – are evolving in a period marked by pronounced forms of contestation and crisis. We seek to locate and better understand the nature of contemporary civil society: i.e. how individuals, families, communities and societies as a whole shape and are shaped by broad processes of power and global political change.
Contact: Dr Divine Asafo
Further details on the five research pathways at Hull can be found here.
Scholarship routes
There are two types of scholarship available for both full or part-time study:
4-year programme (referred to as a 1+3 programme).
Your first year on this programme will be the Taught Masters (MSc) in Social Sciences. This will introduce you to social science research design, to quantitative and qualitative methods, and ways to develop your professional skills. The second year onwards is the PhD degree, which involves developing, undertaking and completing a PhD on your own research design, alongside ongoing research training.
3-year programme (referred to as +3).
This programme is a three-year PhD only. To qualify for this route you will need to have a Masters degree already that meets the requirements regarding social science methods training, or to be able to demonstrate significant social sciences research training skills and experience equivalent to a Masters degree.
How to apply
Apply now via the University of Hull website.
Before you apply, you must contact the pathway lead(s) for the pathway(s) that best suits your research interests. The pathway lead will be able to advise you if we are able to support your research area at the University of Hull, and suggest a suitable supervisor.
Deadline for applications
You must apply online via the University of Hull website by 17.00 on 25 January 2023. We cannot accept any applications received after this time.