Welcome to the WRDTP Awards information session for applicants

We will begin the session with a presentation from the WRDTP Director, during which we will mute all participant cameras and microphones. We will also disable the chat function until the end of the presentation.

There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation. You will be able to ask questions using the raise your hand function (you will need to enable your microphone for this, and you can choose to share your webcam if you wish) or the chat function.

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Collaborative Awards �2026-2027

White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership

Professor Ryan Powell, WRDTP Director

Charlotte Massarella, WRDTP Manager

Beth Crowston, WRDTP Placements Manager

Charlotte Littlewood, WRDTP Scholarships and Funding Officer

The WRDTP

• One of 15 DTPs recommissioned by the ESRC for 5 years from 2024.
• An established partnership of the universities of Leeds, Sheffield, York, Bradford, Hull, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield Hallam. 63 accredited departments.
• This year we will offer up to:
• 35 Pathway awards, including 2 x Stuart Hall Foundation Awards and 2 x Interdisciplinary Research Awards.
• 2 Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) Awards
• 2 Advanced Data Analytics (ADA) Awards
• 8 Collaborative Awards

Important details for the 2026/27 competition

Headline ESRC stipulations

• The standard length of a PhD studentship is 3.5 years.
• This includes a 3-month ‘Research in Practice’ experience, intended to give students the opportunity to use their research skills in a non-academic setting.
• Funding for masters degrees will not normally be available for students who already have a social sciences masters degree.
• The ESRC requires DTPs to ‘make entry requirements more inclusive with greater focus on assessing potential’.
• Emphasis on submission within funded-period across all ESRC studentships.

Programme routes

• Applicants without a social science masters degree will normally be funded for a 1 year MA Social Research followed by 3.5 year PhD.
• Applicants with a social science masters degree but without 60 credits of M-level research training will normally be funded for a 3.75 year integrated PGCert/PhD.
• Applicants with 60 or more credits of social science M-level research training will normally be funded for a 3.5 year PhD.

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• On all routes, Research in Practice will be compulsory, and will be integrated into the new programmes as a non-credit-bearing module.

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Research in Practice (RinP)

• All our awards include a 3-month ‘Research in Practice’ placement, which is compulsory for all funded students and fully integrated into our programmes.

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• We anticipate that students with a Collaborative Award will do their placement with the collaborative organisation, and in many cases it will make sense to do so.

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• However, we also recognise that for some organisations, it may be challenging to host a placement for the full three months. In such instances, students on a Collaborative Award will undertake all or part their placement elsewhere.

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• Placements should not be used to conduct research or undertake activities that directly contribute to the doctoral project/thesis. All placements, including those organised as collaborative projects, must be signed off by the WRDTP before the student commences the placement.

Interdisciplinary pathways

• Our interdisciplinary training pathways are open to all of our accredited departments. Applicants are required to align with a main pathway, but we recognise that research proposals may span more than one pathway.
• Our pathways:
• Civil Society, Development, and Democracy (CDD)
• Digital Technologies, Communication and Artificial Intelligence (DCA)
• Education, Childhood and Youth (ECY)
• Security, Conflict and Justice (SCJ)
• Space, Place, Environment and Liveability (SPEL)
• Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)
• Wellbeing, Health and Communities (WHC)
• Pathway descriptors are available on the WRDTP website.

What’s on offer

About our Collaborative Awards

• This year we expect to offer up to 8 Collaborative Awards.
• These are fully funded by the ESRC and institutional match is not required. (Note that institutions are required to top up any international fees.)
• Supervisors develop the research proposal, and if awarded the studentship, recruit the most qualified student.
• The proposal must include a meaningful collaboration with a partner in the private, public or third sectors – collaboration is not simply one-way engagement, e.g. data collection.
• Links with partners do not have to involve funding but must involve meaningful opportunities for the student, e.g. internships, placements, co-production, action research. The partner must also be involved in regular, collaborative supervision.
• Partners are expected to meet any travel, subsistence and accommodation costs.
• We require a letter of support to be submitted with the application. If a project is funded, a contract with the project partner is also required.

Our ambition for collaboration

• There is an increasing recognition of the need to equip PGRs with a wide range of skills, enabling them to forge social science research careers and develop as research leaders within and beyond academia.
• WRDTP is committed to ensuring as many students as possible can engage with non-academic partners. Collaboration is a core principle for all studentships.
• We want all our students to acquire key professional skills, and to have access to a wide range of exciting careers.
• Meaningful collaboration with non-academic partners in the public, private, and third sector; locally, nationally and internationally.
• It should provide opportunities for partnership and collaboration, and for research that has positive societal benefits (i.e. impact).
• Our awards are also an exciting opportunity for research development and collaboration for academic staff.

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What we are looking for

1. Project excellence (double-weighted)

• An excellent proposal will demonstrate all of the following, i.e. all of the areas are ‘excellent’:
• Excellent explanation of the significance of the project and the contribution it will make to academic and empirical knowledge.
• Excellent research design, which draws on an appropriate range of methods and data sources, and which is feasible within the funded period.
• Excellent consideration of likely ethical issues, with appropriate measures in place to address these issues.
• Excellent contingency planning in the event that the research cannot proceed as planned, to ensure submission in the funded period.

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2. Collaborative excellence (double-weighted)

• An excellent proposal will demonstrate all of the following, i.e. all of the areas are ‘excellent’:
• Excellent explanation of how the proposed collaboration will benefit the research project and the student.
• Excellent explanation of the programme of work and engagement between student and partner.
• Excellent in-kind and/or financial resources offered by the project partner in terms of their appropriateness to the research project.

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3. Fit with WRDTP core priorities

• An excellent proposal will demonstrate all of the following, i.e. all of the areas are ‘excellent’:
• Excellent explanation of how the project fits with the WRDTP’s thematic interdisciplinary pathways.
• Excellent account of the likely societal benefits of the project, and the steps that will be taken to realise these benefits.

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How to apply

Supervision teams

• The applicant, i.e. the primary supervisor, is responsible for completing the application form.
• Each application must include a minimum of two supervisors with appropriate academic expertise. Where neither the primary or second supervisor have supervised a PhD student to completion as a primary supervisor, we require the team to include a third supervisor from the host institution with appropriate experience and relevant expertise.
• The primary and second supervisor will normally be based in a department or school that is formally accredited, and eligible to submit studentships, to the WRDTP. The student will normally be in the same school or department as the primary supervisor.
• Cross-departmental supervision is welcomed, as is co-supervision across WRDTP partner institutions. The award is held by the student, and only the host institution benefits from the tuition fee income.

Completing the application form

• We are using a standardised form
1. Applicant Details
2. Project partner details
3. Project details (5 marks max - double-weighted)
4. Collaboration details (5 marks max - double-weighted)
5. The project’s fit with WRDTP core priorities (5 marks max)
6. Academic supervisory team
7. Confirmation of application

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• Before completing the form, you are strongly advised to read both the Collaborative Awards Guidance for Applicants and the Collaborative Awards Assessment Criteria.

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The application process

• Deadline: 12:00 hours (midday) on 12 December 2025.
• Before submission to the WRDTP, all proposals must go through an internal process of peer review. This is a local responsibility, so please consult your own university’s WRDTP AQC representatives.
• Applicants must then complete the standard WRDTP Collaborative Awards Proposal Form (Google Form). We recommend downloading a copy of the form preview document and completing in full before copying across to the Google Form, since the form can only be completed in one sitting. This should also be used for the peer review stage.
• Applications must include a letter of support from the intended partner, indicating how they intend to support the collaboration.
• You must observe the word limits for each field as set out in the form. The WRDTP reserves the right to reject over-length applications outright.
• Applications should highlight the proposed project’s contribution to their discipline, and make reference to existing knowledge and debates they are seeking to contribute to. To this end, the proposal form includes a space to provide a list of key references using the APA referencing style.
• You must have a Google Account in order to submit a response to the form. If you do not have a Google Account already, you can make one using an existing email address.

A note on international recruitment

• UKRI stipulates that no more than 30% of studentships can be offered to international candidates.
• A maximum of 2 Collaborative Awards can be made to international candidates.
• All projects must be advertised to home and international candidates.
• The WRDTP will pay fees at the home rate. Please note that individual universities are required to ‘top up’ the difference between Home and International fees for the duration of the Award. Students will not be asked to make up the shortfall.
• Once Awards have been allocated, the WRDTP will institute a process to approve international studentships, including measures if more than 2 projects seek to appoint an international candidate.
• This process will be clearly communicated to award holders at the point that decisions are made. All deadlines and processes are firm.

Key deadlines

• November 2025 – internal peer review processes, details announced locally.
• 12 December 2025 – deadline for completed proposals to be submitted.
• 20 January 2026 – AQC moderation panel.
• w/c 2 February 2026 – communication of decisions, along with processes for allocating studentships to international candidates.
• Feb-April 2026 - Successful Collaborative Award holders set own local deadline and advertise studentships, shortlist and interview.
• Midday 8 April 2026 - Student nomination completed/submitted to WRDTP Office for quality assurance checking and assessment.

Any questions?