Keele University partnership group to benefit from £18m postgraduate research funding
The North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) has secured more than £18m in funding from the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC).
The funding will ensure that a minimum of 41 postgraduate studentships will be on offer each year for six years between 2017 and 2022.
Keele University became an accredited partner of the NWSSDTP consortium earlier this year. Along with Keele, the group includes Lancaster University, Liverpool University and the University of Manchester. The NWSSDTP consortium will continue to build on the progress made by the original North West Doctoral Training Centre, which supported advanced training provision and module exchange between each university.
The addition of Keele University to the new group brings policy-relevant interdisciplinary areas and increases the NWSSDTP’s reach to a wider range of social science students.
Professor David Amigoni, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at Keele University said:
“Our research strengths in social science and health at Keele will allow us to develop future research leaders, and contribute toward social science building capacity in the UK. As part of the NWSSDTP, we’re a key national provider of doctoral research training.
NWSSDTP Director, Professor Gabe Mythen said: “The four partners worked together very closely in assembling the bid and we are delighted with the outcome.
“The funding of the NWSSDTP by the ESRC represents a significant investment in training in the North West region and we are very much looking forward to a new phase which will further cement the strong relationship between the partner institutions.
“Our ambition over the next six years is to work more intensively with external agencies to boost our knowledge transfer activities and increase opportunities for postgraduate research students.“We will be seeking to further develop collaborative initiatives and training opportunities with other investments and centres including the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) NWCDTP, the N8 partnership and other newly accredited ESRC Doctoral Training Partnerships.”
Competitions for studentships will go live at the end of this month. The first competition, which closes in November, invites proposals for collaborative PhD studentships with organisations outside higher education. The second competition is open to all prospective students wishing to apply for funding towards their postgraduate studies, and will close in February 2017.
More information will be available on the new website www.nwssdtp.ac.uk launching next week.