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Faculty of Humanities

Collaborative Doctoral Programmes

Introduction

(July 2020)

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A project-based research scholarship in collaboration with a non-University partner organisation
The research supports the work of the partner organisation
The Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) studies for a PhD with funding for their living costs and course fees for 3+ years provided by AHRC (CDA) or ESRC (CASE)
The PGR is jointly supervised by staff in the HEI and in the partner organisation

What is a Collaborative Doctoral Programme?

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Benefits of Collaborative PhDs

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Collaborative vs standard PhD

Collaborative PhD		Standard PhD
The topic is typically proposed by the partner and the UoM Supervisor: the topic usually comes before the PGR		The PGR comes up with the topic they want to study for their PhD
They are always jointly supervised		They find a UoM supervisor they want to work with
‘Real world’ problem-led research		The topic does not have to support the work of a partner organisation

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Roles and expectations

Party	Expectation
Academic Supervisor	Regular (monthly) supervision session; monitoring progression, review and feedback, preparation for submission and viva. Guidance on selection of External Examiner
Non-HEI Partner	Provide in-kind (and sometimes financial) contribution to project; a non-HEI Supervisor, travel where this may be a significant item in the project. Participate in Supervisory meetings and researcher's progression reviews. Line manages PGR during time spent at organisation.
Postgraduate Researcher	Submits their thesis in three years, four years if a writing-up year is allowed. Thesis should meet the needs of the non-HEI organisation. Good communication, regular supervision, appropriate guidance from academic and non-HEI supervisor, feedback within a reasonable timeframe.

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Project must be underpinned by an academically robust research idea, but the PhD outputs need to be both academic and practical.
The academic supervisor should recognise the particularities of collaborative PhD supervision, including:

The need to manage the relationship not only with the PhD student but also to oversee the relationship with the external organisation;
The need to mentor the PhD student in their relationship with the external organisation;
The need to maintain their own relationship with the non-HEI supervisor in the external organisation;
The of benefit of having (or developing) translational skills.

Discussions about a collaborative PhD award should start as early as possible!

Things to consider

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What will our organisation get from a collaborative PhD studentship?
How much will it cost?
How much time will we have to devote to the collaborative PhD student?
What deliverables can we expect and what is their timing?
How do we manage intellectual property, issues of commercial confidentiality and publication?

Questions frequently asked by partner organisations

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Awarded through the ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP)
Typically around 20 awards per year across the four DTP institutions
2020 competition (for September 2021 start) opens in August with a November submission deadline
See https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/collaboration/case-studentships/ for full details

ESRC Collaborative Studentship Awards (CASE)

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Economics/ Bank of England

Did the Bank of England provide lender of last resort facilities to the private sector in the first 150 years of its existence? Lessons for crisis management today.

Sociology/ The National Employment Savings Trust

Precarious employment and pension planning.

Educational Research/ St Patricks Teaching School

Lessons from 'odds-beating' schools: understanding how schools serving disadvantaged areas achieve good outcome.

History/ Quarry Bank Mill

Understanding the impact of Injury and Infection among the Workers and the wealthy of the Quarry Bank Mill (1847-1920), and the use of heritage for contemporary communities.

Business and Management/ Oxfam GB

The causes and consequences of precarious work for women: A city region study of Greater Manchester.

Recent UoM CASE Awards

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Awarded through the AHRC North West Collaborative Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP)
9 awards per year across the seven DTP institutions
2020 competition (for September 2021 start) now open with a 16^th October submission deadline
See http://www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/partners/collaborative-phds/ for full details

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards(CDA)

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Museum Studies/Manchester Art Gallery

The Manchester Together Archive: Memory, resilience and healing.

Dance, Drama and Performing Arts/ Communities Arts North West -Listening to the voices of refugee artists: opportunities and barriers for performing art practices carried out by refugee artists in the UK.

Translation Studies/ Translate Media

Humans in the Loop: Investigating Interactions between Professional Translators, Non-Canonical texts and Machine translation.

Recent UoM CDA Awards

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In addition to the support provided by the two DTPs, the Faculty of Humanities wishes to provide additional support to UoM applicants
If you are thinking of applying, please complete the online Expression of Interest form linked to this website
We will then contact you to see what support you might need
We will also undertake to provide feedback on your draft proposal

Next steps and Faculty support

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If you have any questions or would like to discuss a potential application please get in touch with:

Carole Arrowsmith

PGR Funding Manager

Faculty of Humanities

Carole.arrowsmith@manchester.ac.uk

Key contacts at UoM

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