The Centre for Policing Research and Learning is seeking applications from officers and staff from the Centre's 22 partner police forces and agencies for Centre funded part-time PhD studentships starting in October 2021. Currently, the Centre is funding 9 police part-time students on a variety of research areas which have a direct impact on policing.
Each Centre-funded studentship covers half the costs of the registration fees, for up to 8 years (the time limit for part-time PhDs, approximately 18.5 hours of study per week). The remainder (approx. £1,101 annually) is generally either self-funded or from police forces and agencies. Studentships are limited to officers and staff of the Centre’s 22 partner police forces and agencies only.
How to apply for a PhD and CPRL studentship:
The Centre itself does not appoint PhD students – it provides funding & extra support for policing PhD students. Candidates need to apply to any one of the Open University’s faculties and obtain an offer of a place at the OU to study to be considered for the studentship. Further details on how to apply for the PhD can be found here.
As a simple guide, the specialist topic areas divide as follows:
Faculty of Business and Law (FBL)
They specialise in law, leadership & management and also host the Centre for Policing and the Policing degrees team. PhD applications in any aspect of law or leadership and management are welcome. Policing topics, such as evidence-based practice in policing will also be considered in FBL.
Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FASS)
PhD supervised in FASS would include areas of psychology, including forensic psychology, social policy and criminology.
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
Apply to this faculty for topics in Computing and Communications, Technology and Innovation and Mathematics and Statistics and Systems Thinking.
Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS)
The Faculty may supervise in areas such as health and wellbeing, social care, literacy and educational technology.
Application Deadlines
Each Faculty has its own application deadline (stated on the relevant Faculty pages) and we cannot consider later applications due to the time it takes for PhD interviews and awards to be completed.
PhD Proposals
For the application you will need to produce your own PhD proposal which details:
The proposal enables the academic staff responsible for selecting applicants to assess:
Studentship application
When you apply to a Faculty for a PhD place you will send the application form, including the proposal, to the relevant Faculty’s PhD admissions email address. To apply for the studentship just copy us in to that email at oupc@open.ac.uk and we will automatically consider you for the studentship. Note the studentships are limited to all current employees of Police Forces and Agencies that are paying members of the Centre.
Further advice
If you are unsure about the proposal or need additional support before you apply you are welcome to contact us at the oupc@open.ac.uk email address.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - 11:00 to 12:00
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 13:00 to 14:30