Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership: Applications Open

Applications – by 20 January – are invited for full- and part-time studentships at the OU. Fully funded by the ESRC’s Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership, which unites the OU, the University of Oxford and Brunel University, the studentships will build on the research and doctoral training strengths of all three institutions.

The following six pathways are available at the OU:

1. Citizenship
The varied dimensions of citizenship (and non-citizenship), the multiple actors involved in struggles over citizenship – and the numerous sites at which these struggles take place – translates to a conceptually, empirically and methodologically rich field of study and research.

2. Development Policy and Practice (DPP)
DPP challenges top-down and aid-driven development models and promotes research into more participatory and inclusive approaches. In particular, it focuses on inclusive innovation to explore how technological, economic and social innovations in food, health, education and sustainable energy can benefit marginalised groups.

3. Geography
The Open Space Research Centre fosters interdisciplinary research on geography and the environment. As a result, the Geography pathway is uniquely placed to provide comprehensive social sciences research training to address societal and environmental problems.

4. Security
Topics include security and international law, human rights and human trafficking, surveillance, information security and privacy, big data, cyber-currencies, policing, policy and practice of social work, social aspects of privacy management and social aspects of digital forensics.

5. Innovation in Learning
This interdisciplinary pathway supports research into innovative approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. Research proposals addressing openness, inclusion and wellbeing in the digital age, or those which explore the boundaries between formal and informal learning, are particularly welcome.

6. Health and Wellbeing
The persistence of health and wellbeing inequalities requires a robust evidence base to improve policy and service responses and understandings of the social processes underpinning health. Students will have the opportunity to address health issues in the UK, or to conduct their research in international settings in development contexts.

Find out more or apply to any of the above pathways.