ESRC Research Studentships at the UCL, Bloomsbury and East

UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership ESRC Studentships: Application Guide for 2024 Entry Page | 1

ESRC Research Studentships at the UCL, Bloomsbury and

East London Doctoral Training Partnership (UBEL DTP)

Application Guide for 2024 Entry – Full Application

Deadline for 2024 Entry

Full application

Due via Survey Monkey Apply by Tuesday 5 March 2024 23:59 (GMT)

This deadline applies to ESRC studentship applications in any of the DTP pathways at any of

the six DTP institutions, which are:

Birkbeck, University of London

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

SOAS, University of London

University College London

University of East London

University of Greenwich

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Contents

Applying for doctoral study at a DTP Institution .......................................................................................... 3

Your application for doctoral study ............................................................................................................ 3

Your Proposed Research .......................................................................................................................... 4

Related Data and Feasibility of the Study ................................................................................................... 4

Confirmation of Supervisors ..................................................................................................................... 4

References (Recommenders) .................................................................................................................... 5

Declaration and Submission ...................................................................................................................... 5

The outcome of your application ............................................................................................................... 6

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Applying for doctoral study at a DTP Institution

Your application for doctoral study

Doctoral study at the UCL, Bloomsbury and East London DTP is arranged in 30 pathways

organised into seven groupings across the six DTP institutions. Each pathway is led by one of

the six institutions but many of them have shared arrangements with the other DTP partner

institutions.

As well as applying for an ESRC studentship, you will also need to apply for the relevant

doctoral programme of study at your chosen DTP institution, unless you are a current

doctoral student. In some cases, the application deadlines for these programmes may be earlier

than for the DTP studentship deadlines, so you will need to check with the relevant pathway

contact for your chosen programme (see https://ubel-dtp.ac.uk/eligibility/pathways/) or with the

relevant member of administrative staff, whose details are listed under Institutional Contacts

below. For 1+3 and 2+3 applications, you will usually need to make an application for both your

Masters and doctoral programmes, in accordance with the institution’s requirements.

For a very small number of 1+3 candidates, you might undertake your Master’s programme at

one of the DTP institutions and your MPhil/PhD at another – this is due to shared pathway

arrangements across institutions in these cases. Administrative colleagues will be able to advise

if this is the case when you make your Master’s application.

Institutional Contacts (Administrative staff)

Birkbeck, University of London

Ben Raphael, Registry Officer - graduateresearchschool@bbk.ac.uk

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

LSHTM Scholarships Team - scholarshi[email protected]

SOAS, University of London

SOAS studentships - scholarships@soas.ac.uk

University College London

UBEL DTP Team - ubel[email protected]

University of East London

Richard Bottoms, Postgraduate Research Student Manager - r.bottoms@uel.ac.uk

University of Greenwich

Julie Webber, Executive Assistant - J.L.Webber@greenwich.ac.uk

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Full application for ESRC funding

Candidates who have been successful at the Preliminary stage will need to complete and

submit the Full application on the Survey Monkey Apply portal by Tuesday 5 March 2024 23:59

(GMT).

The Full application asks for your full research proposal, a detailed training plan and references.

There is also the opportunity to apply for Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) support at this

stage. If you will be using AQM in your research you must complete and submit the separate

AQM form, which is on the task list on the portal.

Your Proposed Research

You must upload your research proposal.

Your research proposal can be up to four A4 pages in length (single spaced text), irrespective

of the route you are undertaking. This is to give candidates plenty of room in which to describe

your research. Please ensure you include information about ethical issues that may arise during

your research and the steps that will be undertaken. If there are no ethical issues, please briefly

explain why. Footnotes and bibliographic material must be included within this four-page limit.

Please use Arial or Times New Roman font (minimum 10 point) with a minimum 1.5cm margin

on all sides.

Training Plan

You must provide details of the training you will undertake during your award if successful. The

academic panels will expect to see that your training needs are being met via courses and

programmes within your department and institution. In consultation with your supervisor(s) you

may also need to undertake training courses in other institutions.

ESRC is now funding an extra three months of time and funding for your development. Please

outline your proposed activities in addition to the standard training.

Please note: ESRC expects students to submit their thesis by the end of their funded period.

With this in mind, we strongly encourage students to consider the feasibility of their study within

the studentship timeframe. It is particularly important for applicants to provide information on

how you will mitigate any disruptions to your study.

You can identify training provision from your own institution’s provision, the Bloomsbury

Postgraduate Skills Network (BPSN), ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) or

any other suitable provider.

Related Data and Feasibility of the Study

This question will not apply to a great number of candidates, but if your research relies on data

which has been generated by another project, the academic panels will need to know that this

has received ethical approval. This ensures that there are no delays to the student’s research

while such approval is received.

Confirmation of Supervisors

Please use this section of the form to confirm your supervisory arrangements. The form is

optional so does not need to be completed if the supervisors have remained the same since

your preliminary application. However, if your supervisory arrangements have changed or been

confirmed (for instance, if you did not have a subsidiary supervisor on applying at the

preliminary stage) please complete the details here.

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References (Recommenders)

Please note: the Survey Monkey Apply portal refers to referees as “recommenders”.

Applicants should invite two referees to provide references (for example, undergraduate tutor or

previous supervisor). It is preferable that at least one referee provides an academic reference.

Referees must be invited to make a reference before applicants can submit their full application

but referees will have one week following the deadline, to submit their reference (12

March

2024).

If your chosen referee/recommender was previously added to your preliminary application form

as a “Collaborator”, you may need to remove them as a “Collaborator” before they can submit a

reference.

Further guidance from Survey Monkey Apply outlined below and via the link here.

Applicants should fill in the details of the Recommender including the First Name, Last Name,

Email, and a brief message (optional) to send the recommender. The Recommender receives

an email with an invite to complete the recommendation. This will allow the recommender to

panel.

When they click Start they will be asked if they wish to Accept or Decline the recommendation

request from the applicant. Upon Accepting, the recommender will be able to complete and

submit the recommendation for the applicant within the site.

Once the recommender has completed their recommendation, it will be marked as complete to

the recommender. However, on the applicant's side, within their application, the task will remain

In Progress, until the applicant confirms that they have received the recommendation and clicks

Submit.

Declaration and Submission

You will need to sign the Declaration and confirm that you abide by the regulations of the ESRC

Postgraduate Funding Guide if your application is successful.

Please ensure that you press Submit once your application is complete. When all mandatory

tasks have been completed, you will be able to submit.

Note that the AQM form is an optional task; if you have selected YES for the AQM question in

section one of the preliminary application form, you will also need to submit an AQM application.

If you selected YES for the AQM question in the preliminary form but will no longer apply for this

enhancement at this stage, please email UBEL to let us know.

You will receive an automated email confirmation a short while after submitting your application.

If you do not receive an email within a few hours of submission, please contact ubel-

[email protected] and we will check your application status for you.

Selection process at the Full Application stage

When you submit your Full Application it will be routed to a Group Panel consisting of academic

colleagues in the DTP, depending on your choice of principal pathway. Your proposal will be

looked at by DTP staff outside of your specific field of study due to the collaborative nature of

the Group Panel review stage at UBEL. Important areas of consideration by the Group Panels

will be the quality of the research proposal and the supervisory team and expertise.

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Applications are then reviewed by the DTP Board, which makes the final decision on awards.

The outcome of your application

UBEL DTP endeavour to inform candidates (successful or unsuccessful) of the outcome of their

studentship application as soon as possible after the DTP Board meeting in May 2024.

All candidates will receive information as to whether their Full application has been successful

or unsuccessful. The notification will be made via email from the Survey Monkey Apply system

– please ensure you check any junk email folders in case the message goes there. Successful

candidates will be sent an offer letter shortly after the confirmation of their award and will need

to confirm acceptance of their award via email.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications received, we are not able to provide feedback

about unsuccessful applications.