Postgraduate research and training across the UK’s South Coast has received a major boost with the announcement of a new Doctoral Training Partnership by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The new South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP), commencing September 2017, will build upon the success of the University’s ESRC Doctoral Training Centre (DTC). The DTP draws together Southampton’s excellent research training infrastructure with the REF2014-recognised social science expertise of its neighbouring universities in Brighton and Portsmouth.
Together, it is anticipated this partnership will significantly enhance postgraduate training across the region through a combination of broad expertise in the social sciences, community engagement and research impact, and a strong track record of widening participation.
The Partnership will welcome six new cohorts of PhD students from 2017 – 2022 across a wide range of disciplines. Students will be members of innovative interdisciplinary training pathways, gaining expertise in their subject area while ensuring their analytical, research and communication skills can be applied within interdisciplinary teams to tackle future global challenges.
The DTP replaces Southampton’s current ESRC DTC, which has successfully supported PhD students since 2011.
“The Partnership builds upon the track record of our ESRC Doctoral Training Centre and draws upon our ESRC-recognised leading status as a centre for excellence in quantitative methods and the secondary analysis of large data sets as the new DTP will involve all of the ESRC disciplines at Southampton,” said Professor Graham Moon, Associate Dean Research for Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences.