Funded SWWDTP Studentships for Doctoral students, Wales, UK 2023-24
Established in 2014, the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership, is a consortium of partner institutions offering research opportunities to staff and students.
Consortium partners
- Aberystwyth University
- Amgueddfa Cymru | National Museum Wales
- Bath Spa University
- University of Bristol
- Cardiff University
- Cranfield University
- University of Exeter
- University of Reading
- University of Southampton
- UWE Bristol
It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to provide postgraduate studentships and training.
The programme offers 200 awards across five student cohorts via both Student-Led Awards and Collaborative Doctoral Awards.
More about our consortium partners
Ethos
The 21st century is transforming academic research: the creative and intellectual challenges of our research enquiries are now combined with the demands of a dynamic and ever more globalised society. This landscape increasingly requires research to be conducted within interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary contexts.
SWW2 is committed to fostering creative approaches within and across disciplines that will develop scholars, researchers and professionals who are flexible and able to respond to both fast-moving research and industry environments.
We provide flexible, student-centred training that nurtures disciplinary expertise in conjunction with interdisciplinary perspectives. These are enriched by the world-class expertise and state-of-the-art resources available at our ten consortium member institutions (nine leading universities and a national museum) and prestigious partner organisations.
Co-supervision
Your research project will be supported by collaborative supervisory teams drawn from two of the consortium institutions.
SWW2 offers joint supervision arrangements between its consortium institutions. This provides unrivalled access across institutional boundaries to the most relevant and cutting-edge expertise on offer across our consortium, ensuring an exceptional breadth and depth of coverage for your project.
Your collaborative cross-institutional supervisory teams will work together, and with you, to ensure you receive the bespoke training you need to develop both your disciplinary and where appropriate, inter-disciplinary knowledge, skills and expertise. Your supervisory team will also help you identify development opportunities with our partner organisations, including mentoring, placements, technical skills and more.
You may already know someone you want to work with. If so, that individual will help you identify an appropriate second supervisor.
If you are unsure of how to find a supervisor, please check the websites of our consortium members to identify the right individual in your discipline(s) of interest.
Methods
SWW2 welcomes a range of methods to engage fully in the cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional, and cross-sectoral research. In addition to discipline-focused research that incorporate established research methods, we also support projects that include co-production in research; creative practice as research; digitally-enabled research; and transdisciplinary research.
Subjects
SWW2 supports research in the following AHRC primary research areas:
- Archaeology
- Classics
- Cultural and Museum Studies
- History
- Law and Legal Studies
- Philosophy
- Political Science and International Studies
- Theology, Divinity and Religion
- Dance
- Design
- Drama and Theatre Studies
- Media
- Music
- Visual Arts
- Languages and Literature
- Linguistics
Within each, there are secondary subject areas that we also cover. Please see the AHRC Disciplines list to confirm that your particular area of interest is covered by the SWWDTP’s remit.
Award types
There are two separate routes through which you can apply for a SWWDTP doctoral studentship. You can apply for both Award types in the same round, but separate applications are necessary, given the different nature of each Award type.
Student-led awards
We invite high-quality applications from prospective students who wish to propose their own research project. The SWWDTP requires students to have two supervisors from two separate institutions within the consortium, unless the necessary expertise can only be found in a single institution; such circumstances are exceptional.
Your preferred supervisors must have agreed to supervise your project and you will have to apply both to the SWWDTP and to the institution where your lead supervisor is based. You should work closely with your preferred supervisors when framing your application. Their advice will help optimise your submission.
Collaborative Doctoral Awards
Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDAs) are doctoral studentship projects which are developed by consortium academics working in collaboration with an organisation outside of higher education. The supervisory team is pre-determined and consists of two consortium academics and a member of the partner organisation.
CDAs embed the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of work outside the university environment and enhance the employment-related skills and training which a student may gain during the course of their award.
Nine CDA awards are available for entry in September 2023.
What does a doctoral studentship include?
- Tuition fees paid at the level of a UK home student
- Full maintenance stipend. This applies to all students, whether home and international
- A comprehensive training programme specific to SWWDTP2 students that is in addition to training opportunities provided by the home institution
- Funding to support additional skills-acquisition and placements with non-HEIs that will enhance the student’s research and experience to enhance employability
- CDA students receive an additional £550 per annum to offset costs incurred by the need to work at the non-HEI partner site
International applicants
Non-UK nationals are eligible to apply for both Student-Led and Collaborative Doctoral Awards. The level of tuition fee paid for international students is the same as that for UK home students.
Each consortium member determines how it manages the difference between its home and international student fees. Please check the relevant funding pages of your chosen home institution for its policy on how it manages this difference. Most consortium members waive the difference.
Applications for 2023 are now open!
Our application system is open and will close at 23.59 on Monday 16th January 2023. SWWDTP offers two types of studentships: Student-led awards and Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA).
More about studentship types and benefits
Student-led awards
Forty Student-led awards are available this year.
Student-Led award application assessment timeline
- Applications open: 00.01 Monday 21 November 2022
- Applications close: 23.59 on Monday 16 January 2023
- Notification of successful awards: Friday, 31 March 2023
Application assessment process summary
After the closing date, each application is reviewed by a panel of subject specialist reviewers independently. The highest scoring applications are then assessed comparatively and ranked by a comprehensive awarding board for final selection.
This is a completely open competition; there are no subject or institution quotas of any kind.
Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA)
Nine Collaborative Doctoral Awards are available this year.
CDA application assessment timeline
- Applications open: 00.01 Monday 21 November 2022
- Applications close: 23.59 on Monday 16 January 2023
- Applicant interviews: over February 2023
- Deadline for revised application if selected: Wednesday 8 March 2023
- Notification of successful awards: Friday, 31 March 2023
Application assessment process summary
After the closing date, each application to a project is reviewed by the project’s academic and partner organisation supervisory team independently.
The highest scoring applicants are invited to interview with the supervisory team to discuss the applicant’s proposed shape of the project. The successful CDA applicant will then have an opportunity to revise their proposal in light of the interview discussion prior to the ranking by the comprehensive awarding board.
SWW DTP2 guidance for applicants 2022-2023 (PDF, 517kB)
SWW DTP2 application FAQs 2022-2023 (PDF, 444kB)
Source / More information: Official Website HERE.