WRDTP Collaborative Awards

WRDTP Collaborative Awards: Information for students interested in applying for a Collaborative Award project

If you are interested in applying for a WRDTP Collaborative Award studentship, please refer to the list of projects below for further details. Each project listing will feature a named contact for enquiries relating to the studentship opportunity, details on how to apply, and any important deadlines/processes that you should adhere to.

Please note that this process will begin *after* the deadline for students to apply to the WRDTP with their own research project. If you have missed the deadline to apply for a Pathway, AQM or ADA Award, this is an additional opportunity to apply to the WDRTP for ESRC funding, outside the main studentships competition.

The academic supervisor, and their department/school will manage the shortlisting and interviewing of studentship candidates, and when a suitable candidate has been identified, the chosen student will be nominated to the WRDTP for final approval. Successful candidates will be notified by their institution’s Scholarships Office by the end of April 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter, depending on the individual project’s timeline for student recruitment.

If you have a question regarding applying for a WRDTP Collaborative Award studentship and cannot find an answer online, please contact enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk.

WRDTP Collaborative Award 2025/26 Projects

Project partner: New Economics Foundation (NEF)

Project title: Exploring the socio-ecological potentials of essential provisioning systems in OECD nations

Principal academic supervisor: Richard Bärnthaler

University: University of Leeds

Pathway: Space, Place, Environment and Liveability (SPEL)

Project partner: Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Project title: Welfare and distributional effects of energy-affordability and debt: Consumer policy beyond the energy crisis

Principal academic supervisor: Andrew Burlinson

University: University of Sheffield

Pathway: Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)

Project partner: Nature’s Laboratory and affiliated organisations

Project title: Transitioning to regenerative business practice, operations and ways of organising

Principal academic supervisor: Ioan Fazey

University: University of York

Pathway: Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)

Project partner: Leeds City Council

Project title: The social value of sustainable food public procurement. A case study of Leeds.

Principal academic supervisor: Sara Gonzalez

University: University of Leeds

Pathway: Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)

Project partner: GLIDE (Growth Led Innovation Driven Employee) Company

Project title: Developing a Democratic Culture of Voice and Participation for Employee-owned Businesses (EOBs): A Critical Action Research Approach

Principal academic supervisor: Martyn Griffin

University: University of Sheffield

Pathway: Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)

Project partner: Choice Support / Supported Loving Network

Project title: Navigating the Mental Capacity Act to support Sexual Decision-Making for People with Learning Disabilities

Principal academic supervisor: Monique Huysamen

University: Manchester Metropolitan University

Pathway: Wellbeing, Health and Communities (WHC)

Project partner: Pinc College

Project title: Re-imagining design for critical access in museums and cultural spaces with neurodivergent youth

Principal academic supervisor: Laura Trafi-Prats

University: Manchester Metropolitan University

Pathway: Education, Childhood and Youth (ECY)

Project partner: Leeds City Council

Project title: ‘The Only Game in Town’: Anchor Institutions and Economic Resilience in the City of Leeds

Principal academic supervisor: Louise Waite

University: University of Leeds

Pathway: Sustainable Growth, Business, Work and Economic Productivity (SBE)

WRDTP Collaborative Awards: Information for academic colleagues submitting a project proposal to the WRDTP

The WRDTP Collaborative Awards support our strong commitment to collaborative research with partners in the private, public or third sectors by involving these partners in a programme of doctoral research.

Our Collaborative Award scheme is supervisor-led. To be able to apply for a Collaborative Award, the applicant, i.e. the primary supervisor, must hold an academic position in an eligible school or department. A full list of eligible schools and departments is here.

Supervisors are invited to submit proposals for cutting-edge research projects that are underpinned by strong links with a non-academic partner. Collaboration is defined as follows:

Collaborations must be with a non-academic organisation in the public, private or civil society/third sector
Collaborations must include substantive knowledge exchange and not just one-way engagement (e.g. not only data collection)
Collaborating organisations should be involved in the development of the project

These links do not have to involve funding and could be internships, placements or other forms of meaningful collaboration (see in particular the ‘Research in Practice’ placements section of our WRDTP Collaborative Awards – Guidance for Applicants). Nevertheless, we expect that the project partner will meet any travel, subsistence and accommodation costs incurred by the student associated with visits made to the non-academic organisation.

Proposals are submitted by academic colleagues who are then responsible for recruiting a student to carry out the project, nominating the student to the WRDTP for final approval, and once the student is appointed, acting as their main supervisor. Awards must align with one of the seven WRDTP interdisciplinary pathways.

Please note: Only ONE proposal can be submitted by the Principal Supervisor.

Each application must include a minimum of two supervisors with appropriate academic expertise. Early career academic colleagues can act as primary and second supervisors (subject to compliance with institutional policies). 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.

Please note: All partner universities will run an internal process of peer review for the Collaborative Awards scheme, given the highly competitive nature of this competition. Details of the internal review process will be announced locally by each university. When submitting a collaborative award application, you will be required to confirm that your application has been subjected to internal peer review at your own university. Failure to engage with the internal peer review process may result in the disqualification of your application.

Process and timeframe

Academic colleagues are invited to attend a WRDTP Collaborative Award Development Workshop prior to submitting their proposal, on Tuesday 1 October 2024 from 14:00 – 15:00. Please see the recording from this event below.

All partner universities will run an internal process of peer review for the WRDTP Collaborative Awards scheme in November/December 2024. Details of the internal review process will be announced locally by each university. Please contact your WRDTP AQC representative or link administrator for information.

Ensure you have submitted your proposal and other requested documents via the online Google Form by 12:00, 16 December 2024.

All proposals will be assessed by the WRDTP AQC and following a panel meeting, the award winners will be announced in the week commencing 3 February 2025.

Throughout early Spring 2025, successful Collaborative Award holders advertise their projects to studentship candidates, and set deadlines for shortlisting and interviewing applicants. Nominees should be submitted to the WRDTP by 12:00, 10 April 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Student nominees are assessed by the WRDTP according to our standard criteria for studentships. Applicants will be notified by their institution’s Scholarships Team if they have been approved for their Collaborative studentship project, by the end of April 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Collaborative Awards Timeline

Date	Who	Process
Summer 2024	WRDTP Office	WRDTP announces 2025/26 Studentship Competition
Autumn semester 2024	Academic colleagues	Information session for supervisors (see below)
Nov – Dec 2024	HEIs and academic colleagues	Internal peer review of Collaborative Award applications, details to be announced locally
12:00, 16 December 2024	Units of Delivery (Depts/Schools)	Deadline for Proposal Forms to be submitted (see wrdtp.ac.uk for details)
6 – 15 Jan 2025	Academic Quality Committee	Assessors to score nominations
15 – 21 Jan 2025	WRDTP Office	Processing scores and preparing for Panel meetings
21 Jan 2025	Academic Quality Committee	Academic Quality Committee Moderation Panel meets
w/c 3 Feb 2025	WRDTP Office	Collaborative Awards announced
Feb – Mar 2025	Academic colleagues	Successful Collaborative Award holders set own local deadline and advertise studentships, shortlist and interview
12:00, 10 April 2025	WRDTP Link Administrators	Student nomination packs completed/submitted to WRDTP Office for quality assurance checking and assessment
10:00, 21 April 2025	Academic Quality Committee	Sub panel of AQC members to review all international student nominations for Collaborative Award projects and and confirm the successful award holders
End of April 2025 or ASAP after that date	WRDTP Link Administrators	Applicants notified of result

Collaborative Award Information Sessions for academic supervisors

Academic colleagues who are interested in submitting a proposal to the Collaborative Awards competition are invited to attend an online information session for guidance on the process. The session will be held online on the following date:

Tuesday 1 October 2024: 14:00 – 15:00

To book your place on a session, please follow this link.

All sessions will run on a virtual basis, via Zoom. You will receive a reminder email with the link to your session, nearer the time of your workshop.

If you can’t attend your preferred session(s) but would like to receive further information, please indicate this via the form. Slides/recordings from the event will be posted on our website in due course, and you will be emailed once these are available.

Application Procedure

Applicants must complete the: White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership Collaborative Awards 2025/26 – Proposal Form.

The Form requires the following file upload:

A letter from the partner indicating their support for the collaboration (Section 2)

Due to the form containing a file upload request, for security purposes 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. Please see here for instructions.

Additional guidance is available in the WRDTP Collaborative Awards – Guidance for Applicants.

Please note that the proposal form (a Google Form) should be completed in one sitting, therefore it is recommended that you download the form preview document (to do this click File – Download – Microsoft Word (.docx)) should you wish to preview the required information in advance.

However, you do not need to submit a copy of the form preview document as well as the online Google Form – this is solely so you can preview the information required by the Google Form before sitting down to complete it (which must be done in one sitting).