The White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP) is an established partnership of the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, York, Bradford, Hull, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield Hallam. Working together since 2017, we are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and significant investment from each of our partner institutions. Each year we offer a range of social sciences PhD studentships across schemes including our Collaborative Awards, Pathway Awards, Advanced Quantitative Methods Awards and Advanced Data Analytics Awards. We also offer a comprehensive suite of training to ensure students acquire high levels of methodological and data literacy skills, and are equipped for research leadership.
The WRDTP aims to produce PGRs with the interdisciplinary understanding and methodological expertise to address complex world problems in collaboration with academic and non-academic partners. We are committed to delivering world class scholarship and training to develop the next generation of social science leaders who will be equipped with transferable skills for a diverse range of professional careers.
Synergies between the social sciences, STEM, and the arts and humanities are part of the WRDTP’s core strengths and an important feature of our ongoing efforts to ensure the sustainable future of the social sciences. This is reflected in the range of departments included in the WRDTP, drawn from faculties of science, health, arts and humanities, and social sciences across our partners.
The WRDTP has been configured to encourage students to position the social sciences at the heart of problem-solving in relation to pressing societal challenges, to think innovatively about social science questions, and to promote interdisciplinary solutions to them. We are organised around seven interdisciplinary pathways , which bring together researchers from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to identify and develop the added value of social science in addressing these societal challenges. Through our interdisciplinary pathways, we provide an intellectually stimulating, diverse community of researchers that transcends institutional, disciplinary and professional boundaries.
As a partnership the WRDTP is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion; interdisciplinarity; academic rigour and excellence; and collaboration. We aim to provide a welcoming and inclusive intellectual environment for all of our students, characterised by pluralist methodologies and theoretical approaches. We are also committed to working in collaboration with, and alongside, non-academic partners; to influencing public and social policy; and to fully involving affected communities and marginalised groups as partners in our research.
Our Partner Universities
