WRDTP ESRC Collaborative Awards 2023/24:  Information for academic colleagues submitting a project proposal to the WRDTP

WRDTP ESRC Collaborative awards (10 awards, fully funded by the WRDTP – i.e. no match-funding required from the school/department)

The WRDTP Collaborative Awards Scheme aims to ensure that at least 30% of studentships are linked to partners in the private, public or third sectors. 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.

The contribution from the collaborative partner does not necessarily have to be financial, but wherever possible, co/match funding is encouraged.  In-kind contributions include internships, placements or other forms of meaningful collaboration.  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.

It is expected that within supervision teams, there will be at least one academic member of staff who has prior experience of supervision of PhD students to successful completion. Therefore, where an academic staff member has not yet successfully supervised a PhD student to completion, they should be paired with a more experienced member of the supervision team who has successfully supervised PhD students to completion. Colleagues are advised to also consult their University for any additional local requirements in terms of supervision arrangements.

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

Collaborative Awards Timeline

Supervisor Information Sessions

Academic colleagues interested in submitting a proposal to the Collaborative Awards competition were invited to attend an online information session.  The sessions were held on the following dates:

• Tuesday 4 October 2022: 3:30pm – 4:30pm
• Wednesday 5 October 2022: 10:00am – 11:00am

A recording of the session and the slides can be found below.

Application Procedure

Applicants must complete the: White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership Collaborative Awards 2023/24 – Proposal Form.

The Form requires the following 2 File Uploads.

1. A letter from the partner indicating their support for the collaboration (Section 2)
2. WRDTP Collaborative Award Project Details Upload Template (Section 3)

Additional guidance is available in the section below.

Please note that the online Proposal Form (a Google Form) should be completed in one sitting, therefore it is recommended that you download the Guidance document below (to do this click File – Download As – Microsoft Word (doc x)) should you wish to preview the required information in advance. 

HOWEVER – You do not need to submit a copy of the preview Word 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).

Key Documents

• WRDTP Collaborative Award Application Form Preview/Guidance
• A list of some of our previous successful Collaborative Award projects and partners
• ESRC Postgraduate Collaboration – Collaborative studentship case studies

Assessment Criteria

Proposals will be assessed by the WRDTP Academic Quality Committee using the following criteria:

• Collaborative excellence: the extent and nature of interaction with the non-academic partner organisation
• Project excellence: significance, originality, how this will contribute to knowledge
• Pathway excellence: fit with, and development of, pathway research strategy
• Supervisor Excellence: the suitability and experience of the supervisory team
• Training excellence: the appropriateness and quality of the training provided
• Covid-19 resilience: the extent to which the project has appropriate and robust Covid adaptations built in
• Fundability: On balance do you feel this project is fundable?

For further detail on the Assessment Criteria, please see the WRDTP Collaborative Award Proposal Scoring Criteria.

See also: ESRC Postgraduate Collaboration

If you have any queries contact the WRDTP office: enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk.

WRDTP ESRC Collaborative Awards 2023/24:  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 (the WRDTP Pathway and Advanced Quantitative Methods/AQM Awards – 17:00hrs, 25 January 2023). If you have missed the deadline to apply for a Pathway or AQM 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 2023, 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 Studentship and cannot find an answer online, please contact enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk for further guidance.

WRDTP Collaborative Award 2023/24 Projects

Project partner: Pensana Plc
Project title: Just restorative pathways for rural landscapes and livelihoods impacted by rare-earth mining
Principal academic supervisor: Dr Susannah Sallu
Department: School of Earth and Environment
Pathway: Cities, Environment, And Liveability (CEL)
University: University of Leeds

Project partner: Public Law Project
Project title: Debt by Design: Universal Credit, Deductions and Administrative Justice
Principal academic supervisor: Professor Simon Halliday
Department: York Law School
Pathway: Security, Conflict And Justice (SCJ)
University: University of York

Project partner: Network Rail
Project title: New technologies, travel modes and passenger needs: understanding and predicting the future of rail travel
Principal academic supervisor: Dr Chiara Calastri
Department: Institute for Transport Studies (Faculty of Environment)
Pathway: Cities, Environment, And Liveability (CEL)
University: University of Leeds

Project partner: Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust
Project title: Co-designing mental health services: An evaluation of the experiences of Black and Asian Communities in Bradford and its impact on their care
Principal academic supervisor: Professor Siobhan Reilly / Dr Kathryn Lord
Department: Centre for Applied Dementia Studies, Faculty of Health
Pathway: Wellbeing, Health, And Communities (WHC)
University: University of Bradford

Project partner: International Alert
Project title: Challenges to Peacebuilding in a Changing World
Principal academic supervisor: Dr Claire Smith / Professor Nina Caspersen
Department: Department of Politics
Pathway: Security, Conflict And Justice (SCJ)
University: University of York

Project partner: European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA)
Project title: Sex work, digital rights and freedoms: Creating safer online working environments across Europe
Principal academic supervisor: Dr Laura Connelly
Department: Sociological Studies
Pathway: Data, Communication, And New Technologies (DCT)
University: University of Sheffield

Project partner: Leeds City Council / CitizenMe
Project title: Measuring life quality from digital footprints for informed policy decision making
Principal academic supervisor: Dr Xingjie Wei
Department: Leeds University Business School
Pathway: Data, Communication, And New Technologies (DCT)
University: University of Leeds

Project partner: Greig and Stephenson Architects
Project title: Urban redevelopment for whom? Developing practice-based knowledge for inclusive market redevelopment schemes
Principal academic supervisor: Professor Sara Gonzalez
Department: School of Geography
Pathway: Cities, Environment, And Liveability (CEL)
University: University of Leeds

Project partner: Local Trust
Project title: Understanding the legacies of resident-led community regeneration in deprived neighbourhoods
Principal academic supervisor: Professor Sarah Pearson
Department: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Pathway: Civil Society, Development And Democracy (CDD)
University: Sheffield Hallam University

Project partner: Speech and Language UK
Project title: Improving maths achievement in children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) through ‘collaborative vocabulary teaching’
Principal academic supervisor: Professor Sophie von Stumm
Department: Department of Education
Pathway: Education, Childhood, And Youth (ECY)
University: University of York