Guidance for Students applying for an ESRC Studentship through theScottish Graduate School of Social Science 2017

1. INTRODUCTION

You should be reading this because you wish to apply for an ESRC studentship through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership. It is important for you to understand briefly how we work with Universities across Scotland before reading the guidance on the process itself. For clarity, throughout the rest of this document the Scottish Graduate School will be referred to as the SGSSS-DTP.

The first thing to understand is that the SGSSS-DTP is not a University. We work with 12 Universities in Scotland who are accredited to receive ESRC funding across 15 pathways. A pathway is analogous to a subject area. Not all 12 Universities are accredited for all 15 pathways. A comprehensive list of the Universities and the pathways in which they are accredited can be found on the SGSSS-DTP website .

Each pathway has a designated representative at each University within the pathway. The first step on the road to becoming an ESRC-funded PhD student is thus to make contact with that representative, as well as with your potential PhD supervisor/s. You should discuss your research proposal with them and inform them that you wish to apply for an ESRC studentship. Please note that you must have the support of the pathway representative at the University to which you are applying before accessing the SGSSS-DTP registration system. The relevant pathway representative should inform you, no later than 10 February 2017 that you are being put forward for consideration for a 2017 ESRC studentship. Only once you have been informed of this should you begin the application process outlined below.

Please note that you may apply for an ESRC studentship through only one of the 12 SGSSS Universities but that you may apply to multiple pathways within that one University . For example, you may apply to the Economics pathway at Aberdeen and the H u m a n G e o g r a p h y , Environment Climate Change & Energy, Urban Planning pathway at Aberdeen; but not the Economics pathway at Aberdeen and the Human Geography, Environment Climate Change & Energy, Urban Planning pathway at Dundee.

If you are informed by more than one pathway that you are being put forward for consideration for an ESRC studentship you must complete one application per pathway (though it is possible for you to upload the same supporting materials if appropriate).Remember: you must also gain admittance to the relevant University. The SGSSS-DTP has no role in that process . The admission application to the University is a separate process to the application for an ESRC award at the SGSSS-DTP. You do not need to have been formally admitted in order to be considered for an ESRC studentship. However, should you be successful in securing an ESRC award, your funding is, of course, subject to you obtaining an unconditional offer for entry to your chosen University.

1

2. 2a.ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE METHODS – WILL YOU BE USING THEM IN YOUR POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH?

If the proposed research involves the use of Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) then you should discuss this with the Pathway Representative. The SGSSS-DTP has a small number of studentships with enhanced stipends reserved for projects that employ AQM. AQM studentships are not open to students applying to the Economics pathway.

If you feel that your research involves the use of AQM please discuss this with your Pathway Representative and indicate to them that you would like to be considered for an AQM Award. Please also fill out the required additional form which you will find on the SGSSS-DTP website.

2b.ESRC Data Sets – WILL YOU BE USING THEM IN YOUR POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH?

If the proposed research involves the use of ESRC funded data resources or infrastructure (such as the Scottish Longitudinal Study, Urban Big Data Centre and the Administrative Data Research Centre Scotland- see specific guidance on these awards) then you should discuss this with the Pathway Representative. The SGSSS-DTP has a small number of studentships reserved for projects that employ ESRC Data Sets.

If you feel that your research involves the use of ESRC Data Sets please discuss this with your Pathway Representative and indicate to them that you would like to be considered for an ESRC Data Set Award. Please also fill out the required additional form which you will find on the SGSSS-DTP website.

2c. Interdiciplinary Research – DOES YOUR PROPOSAL DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU WILL BE OPERATING ACROSS RESEARCH COUNCIL BOUNDARIES?

The ESRC welcomes interdisciplinary studentships since many of the most pressing research challenges are interdisciplinary in nature, both within the social sciences, and between the social sciences and other areas of research. The proposed research should include substantive interaction between the relevant scientific areas and the studentship should provide training that is not constrained to one scientific approach and supervision should straddle the different approaches. Please discuss this with your supervisor and pathway representative and if appropriate, indicate your proposal’s potential applicability to be considered as interdisciplinary research on the application form. When you do so you will be required to specify which other research council Doctoral Training Partnership your work aligns with and within which training might be sought. For further details please see the ESRC Guidance on Steers and Targets.

3. PhD SUPERVISION ACROSS INSTITUTIONS

The SGSSS-DTP wishes to encourage pathways, supervisors and applicants to consider supervisory arrangements across the 16 institutions of the SGSSS if appropriate to the particular student project, and with the support of both proposed supervisors. This will usually be within pathways but across institutions though we do not wish to rule out cross- pathway supervision if this is clearly in the interests of the student’s project. All SGSSS-DTP applications for studentships must have the main proposed supervisor based at a

2

recognised SGSSS-DTP pathway institution. However, a second supervisor may be attached to the project

from a second institution either with or without pathway recognition. If you are interested in proposing such an arrangement please discuss this with your Pathway Representative as soon as possible. If proposing a jointly supervised project between two institutions, applicants must gain a letter of support from both supervisors who should refer to the explicit benefit of the proposed cross-institutional arrangements.

We are aware that some research proposals will be situated on the edge of social science and other disciplines and are thus planning to liaise with other Doctoral Training Units. While we welcome such applications they should be appropriately tailored for each Graduate School with the linkages between disciplines made clear. Students should indicate if they are applying to other Doctoral Training Units when registering their application.

4. BEFORE APPLYING

Before applying, even if you have the support and approval of a pathway representative, we would ask you to consult the eligibility criteria in order to ensure that you are eligible to receive funding from the ESRC. The criteria are outlined in Annex 1 of the ESRC’s Postgraduate Funding Guidelines.

PLEASE NOTE: You must liaise with potential supervisors at this stage to ensure they are prepared to supervise the study and provide a letter of support. Students must be the lead authors of submitted proposals with guidance provided by the proposed supervisor. Proposals should not be submitted that have been led or authored by a research supervisor.

5. APPLYING FOR AN ESRC STUDENTSHIP

The process of applying for an ESRC studentship has two stages:a. Registrationb. Application

We would encourage you to read the guidance below in full before beginning your application. There are two deadlines that you need to be aware of:

23:59 Monday 13 February 2017: this is the final date by which you must have completed registration (the first stage of the process).

23:59 Friday 17 February 2017: this is the final date by which you must have uploaded and submitted all of your application materials to the SGSSS-DTP Portal (the second stage of the process).

Please note once the registration and application is completed, you will not have an option to go back to it and make changes.

The SGSSS-DTP cannot consider students who have not registered by 23:59 Monday 13 February. Similarly, the SGSSS-DTP cannot guarantee that materials received after the 23:59 Friday 17 February deadline will be considered.

A. First stage: Registration (MUST BE COMPLETED BY Monday 13 FEBRUARY 2016)

3

Please note that the registration process must be completed in a single sitting. You will not be able to save parts of the registration process and return to it later.

Also note that you need to register only once, even if you plan to apply to more than one pathway. The Studentship Application Portal permits a single user to submit multiple applications.

Therefore before you start to complete the registration form please ensure that you have the following information at hand – (i) Applicant details; (ii) Information regarding nationality, residency and visas; (iii) University and pathway to which you are applying; and(iv) contact details of 2 academic references (name, organisation and email address).

1. Go to the SGSSS Portal and click ‘Register’. Your pathway representative will send you the SGSSS portal link no later than 10 February 2017, once they have decided to nominate you for an award.

2. You will first be asked to tick a box confirm that you have spoken to your pathway representative and that you have been instructed to apply for an ESRC studentship.

3. You will then be asked to enter your personal details, nationality, residency details, and the details of the supervisor, pathway, and University that is supporting your application.

4. Enter the names and contact details of two referees. The SGSSS-DTP will contact your referees to obtain your references so please make sure that the referees you submit are aware that you have listed them in your application . Please refer to our guidance note on References for details about the information that should be included. Your application will be strengthened through adherence to this guidance and we recommend that you make your referees aware of this guidance. Please also flag up to your referees that they will be asked to submit their references to the SGSSS-DTP before Friday 17 February.

5. Complete the Equal Opportunities Monitoring form.6. You can then submit your registration to the SGSSS-DTP.

Once you have done this, the SGSSS-DTP will cross reference your registration with our list of students nominated by the pathways. Should you have registered for a pathway that did not nominate you, your registration for that pathway will not go forward.

Please note that we do not distinguish between those eligible for a fees-only studentship and those eligible for a full studentship. If in doubt after reading the criteria, please discuss this with your pathway representative.

Once your registration has been approved by the SGSSS-DTP you can use the username and password to access the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal through which your application must be submitted.

Please note that with respect to references: It is your responsibility to secure the referee's permission to list him/her in this

capacity. It is your responsibility to provide us with the correct contact information for your

referees.

4

The SGSSS-DTP will contact your referees directly once you have named them in your registration form.

Once the SGSSS-DTP has received your letters of reference, they will be uploaded into your portal application. You will be able to check on the status of your reference letters in your online application. If it is nearing the deadline and no references have been uploaded into the portal, please check in with your referees to ensure they are aware of the deadline.This marks the end of the first stage of the process.

B. Second stage: Application (MUST BE COMPLETED BY 23:59 Friday 17thFebruary 2016)

Please note that incomplete applications cannot be submitted. However, you can save your application once you have begun and return to it later. Do not press the SUBMIT button until you are ready to send your application to SGSSS-DTP.

1. Go to the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal link that was given to you by your pathway representative.

2. Log in using the username and password you generated during registration.3. Once you have logged in you must upload the following supporting documents.

These documents must be uploaded in PDF or Word format, the SGSSS-DTP Portal will not allow you to submit documents in any other format.

Curriculum Vitae; ESRC Studentship Research Proposal Form (you must download the Word

template from the SGSSS-DTP website and complete your proposal within that form. Applications which fail to use the template will not be considered);

Degree transcripts (and translation, if not originally in English) – a provisional transcript is sufficient if you have yet to complete your degree. Your most recent transcript will suffice but if you believe it is critical to your application to include more than one you may bind 2 or more documents into a PDF and upload this;

Supporting statement from your prospective supervisor(s) – please note that it is possible for your proposed supervisor to also be one of your referees. However the supervisor statement must be a separate document from the reference letter. Please refer your supervisor to the SGSSS-DTP guidance note on Supervisor’s Statements for details about the information that should be included. Your application will be strengthened through adherence to this guidance.

PLEASE NOTE: You will be required to upload one full set of documents for each pathway application you are submitting.

4. If you wish to be considered for an AQM or ESRC-DS Awards you should contact your pathway representative to confirm this. You must also upload to the portal a completed AQM o r E S R C - D S Studentship Form (you must download the Word Doc template from the SGSSS-DTP website and complete your proposal within that form). This must be completed, along with all other application materials, by 23:59 Friday 17 February 2016. DO NOT upload any other additional documents into this slot: they will be deleted. Only upload these forms if you wish to be considered for these competitions.

5. As a reminder, the SGSSS-DTP will contact your referees separately and obtain your letters of reference. Once the SGSSS-DTP has received your letters of reference, they will be uploaded into your portal application. You will be able to check on the status of your reference letters in your online application. If it is nearing the deadline

5

and no references have been uploaded into the portal, please check in with your referees to ensure they are aware of the deadline.

6. AFTER SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

After the 17th February deadline, Universities and the SGSSS-DTP will work together to select the best students who have applied to study within each pathway. The Universities and the SGSSS-DTP will be allocating AQM, ESRC-DS and Open Competition awards.

You should hear from the SGSSS-DTP after 10 March 2017 to let you know your ranking amongst the candidates for the studentships within your pathway and to let you know if you have been put forward for the Open Competition. This will give you an indication of whether it is likely that you will receive a studentship but do bear in mind that even candidates ranked lower by the pathways may be successful in the open competition.

We expect decisions on who has been selected to receive studentships (and who is being held on a reserve list) to be made and communicated by no later than 15 May 2017. The SGSSS-DTP office is unable to provide any information about the status of your application before 15 May 2017. We appreciate that this period can be an anxious one and the Universities and the SGSSS-DTP work as quickly as possible to allocate studentships in a rigorous way that rewards the highest quality applicants.

Please note that throughout this process your first point of contact should be your pathway representative. Applicants should be kept informed by the SGSSS-DTP regarding the status of their applications. However, if you are unsuccessful in your application the DTP is not able to offer you feedback, but your pathway representative will be able to discuss the process with you.

Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) Guidance Note

1. INTRODUCTIONThe SGSSS-DTP awards a small number of studentships annually for research that uses and/or develops Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM). This guidance note is intended for use both by applicants to the SGSSS-DTP and their potential supervisors to guide them on whether their applications might be suitable for an AQM award.

Please note that you can be considered for an AQM award in parallel to being considered for an Open Studentship award. An AQM award offers an enhanced stipend of £3,000 per annum.

2. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATIONThere are several criteria that should be used by applicants to assess whether they feel they are suitable for an AQM award and by pathway representatives as they decide who to nominate for AQM awards.

A. Methodological ContributionIt is expected that research proposals being submitted for AQM awards will have the potential of producing a contribution to quantitative methodology. Proposals that apply standard quantitative methods would thus fall short of this requirement. Please note

6

that the entire contribution of the proposed research need not be methodological, indeed the main contribution does not necessarily have to be. However, it is expected that some form of methodological contribution will be made by the proposed research.

B. SupervisionIt is to be expected that one member of the supervision team for the proposed research is a specialist/expert in advanced quantitative methods.

C. Publication PotentialThe proposed research should be of the nature that its output could potentially be published in journals that specialise in advanced quantitative methods (e.g. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, B or C; Survey Methodology; Demography; Biometrika; Geographical Analysis; Journal of Regional Science; Journal of Quantitative Criminology – note that this is not in any way an exhaustive list, merely a set of illustrative examples).

D. Relative Standards across DisciplinesThe SGSSS-DTP recognises that what constitutes advanced in some disciplines might not be deemed advanced in other disciplines. We do not wish to discourage any pathway from nominating applicants for AQM awards (although students applying to the Economics pathway are excluded from this competition). The AQM panel that will be convened to assess and rank the applications will be flexible in their assessment of applications. However, irrespective of discipline, any proposal that simply applies quantitative methods that are part of the basic training expectations set out by the ESRC should not be put forward for these awards.

3. HOW TO APPLY FOR AN AQM AWARDIf you feel that your research involves the use of AQM in the way set out above then you and your prospective supervisor should discuss this with your Pathway Representative and indicate to them that you would like to be considered.

After you have received access to the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal, you will receive an email informing you that if you wish to be considered for an AQM award, you need to upload the additional AQM application form to the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal. This must be completed along with all other application materials by 17 February 2017.

Pathways will then decide which applications are to be put forward for the AQM competition. An expert panel will be convened to assess and rank all shortlisted applications. The panel will report to the SGSSS-DTP in early May 2017. Outcomes will be communicated following ratification of the awards by the Supervisory Board. Should an AQM application be shortlisted by a pathway for an Open Studentship award, it will also be entered in the Open Competition and undergo between-pathway review process and will be considered by the Open Studentship Committee. Should an application for an AQM studentship be successful, it will be withdrawn from the Open Studentship process.

7

ESRC Data Sets (ESRC –DS) Guidance Note

1. INTRODUCTIONThe SGSSS-DTP awards a small number of studentships annually for research that involves the use of ESRC Data Resources or Investments (see appendix to this document for further information on relevant resources and for examples of the type of proposal that might be appropriate).This guidance note is intended for use both by applicants to the SGSSS-DTP and their potential supervisors to guide them on whether their applications might be suitable for an ESRC Data Set award.

Please note that you can be considered for a Data Set award in parallel to being considered for an Open Studentship award.

2. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATIONIn addition to the standard criteria for assessing applications, ESRC DS applications need to justify access to, use of and analysis of Data Sets in line with their research question. In addition, it is expected that one member of the supervisory team has experience in the use of the selected (or similar) Data-Set(s).

(as defined in Appendix 1). These can be used in conjunction with other datasets, including international ones. A central part of the studentship should develop capacity in the analysis of secondary data. This does not exclude the undertaking of new research.

4. EXAMPLES OF TYPES OF STUDENTSHIPSThe following are examples of the types of studentships which would be viewed as meeting the steer:

The use of ESRC-funded longitudinal datasets to examine the longitudinal associations between social capital, health and wellbeing across the life course.

Taking a mixed-methods approach that includes the use of ESRC datasets to investigate caregiving practices and nutritional health. This might include the quantitative analysis of relevant datasets and the qualitative analysis of interviews or diaries.

The analysis of ESRC datasets to improve our understanding of the interplays between social context, biological processes and functional capacity.

Explore the relationships between housing, labour markets and welfare by developing new models to integrate linked government data, and analyse key policy developments.

Explore whether investments in health and wellbeing can lead to better educational outcomes using a mixed methods approach. It will include the creation and analysis of a retrospective cohort through the linking of survey and administrative data.

Projects seeking to use the ADRN should receive support from the ADRN prior to starting their studentship. Projects must meet the criteria of an ADRN project as outlined here: https://adrn.ac.uk/getting-data/application-process/. Students, with the support of their supervisors, are strongly encouraged to develop project proposals in parallel with the ADRN.

3. HOW TO APPLY FOR AN ESRC Data Set AWARDIf you feel that your research involves the use of ESRC Data Sets in the way set out above then you and your prospective supervisor should discuss this with your Pathway Representative and indicate to them that you would like to be considered.

8

After you have received access to the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal, you will receive an email informing you that if you wish to be considered for an ESRC Data Set award, you need to upload the additional ESRC Data Set application form to the SGSSS-DTP Studentship Application Portal. This must be completed along with all other application materials by 17 February 2017.

Pathways will then decide which applications are to be put forward for the ESRC – DS competition. An expert panel will be convened to assess and rank all shortlisted applications. The panel will report to the SGSSS-DTP in early May 2017. Outcomes will be communicated following ratification of the awards by the Supervisory Board. Should an ESRC Data Set application be shortlisted by a pathway for an Open Studentship award, it will also be entered in the Open Competition and undergo between-pathway review process and will be considered by the Open Studentship Committee. Should an application for an ESRC Data Set studentship be successful, it will be withdrawn from the Open Studentship process.

9

Appendix 1 – Eligible ESRC-funded data resources and infrastructure Please note all resources are accessible via the UK Data Service (www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/) unless stated otherwise. Longitudinal resources:

British Household Panel Survey Understanding Society 1958 National Child Development Survey British Cohort Study 1970 Next Steps (Longitudinal Study of Young Persons in England) Millennium Cohort Study UK Census Longitudinal Studies (http://calls.ac.uk/guides-resources/applying-to-use-

thelss/) English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Biosocial resources:

Understanding Society Biosocial Sweep 1958 National Child Development Study Biosocial Sweep English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Genome-Wide Association Study Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

(www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/data-access/) Big Data resources:

Administrative Data Research Network (www.adrn.ac.uk) Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (www.blgdataresearch.org) Consumer Data Research Centre (www.cdrc.ac.uk) Urban Big Data Centre (www.ubdc.ac.uk)

Election resources:

British Election Study British election study ethnic minority surveys Scottish Election Studies Welsh Election Studies Northern Ireland Election Study Scottish Referendum Study Local Election Studies Database

Employment resources:

Skills and Employment Survey Series Workplace Employment Relations Surveys

International comparative resources:

European Social Survey 7 Harmonised European Time Use Study 2000 (The data from the Harmonised European

Time Use Study 2015 will be available from March 2016 and will offer comparative opportunities through a harmonised dataset)

International Social Survey Programme (www.gesis.org/en/issp/home/) Multinational Time Use Study (http://www.timeuse.org/mtus.html)

10

Linguistics resources: British National Corpus British Sign Language Corpus

Qualitative resources:

Timescapes (http://timescapes.researchdata.leeds.ac.uk/) Poverty and Social Exclusion Qualitative Surveys Ritual, Community and Conflict Ethnographic Dataset on Ritual

(www.icea.ox.ac.uk/fundedprojects/ritual00/data/ethnographic-resources/) Access Research Knowledge Qualitative Archives on Ageism and Conflict

(www.ark.ac.uk/qual/ageism/) Other resources:

Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK: Research Surveys 2012 Northern Ireland Life and Times Kids' Life and Times Young Life and Times Survey

11