The studentship is part of the cross-national €1.5m NORFACE research project WelfSOC. The project uses innovative methods (deliberative democratic forums and a qualitative cross-national focus group survey) alongside analysis of quantitative survey data. It is the first project to use qualitative methods on such a scale in the comparative study of European social policy.
The studentship offers
- The opportunity to work as part of a team on a major international project and to publish using original data.
- The opportunity to spend time as an academic visitor to the various projects in Denmark, Germany, Norway and Slovenia
- Supervision with leading international scholars
Applicants for the studentship must propose an individual project that
links to the data examined by WelfSoc.
Proposals focusing on public attitudes towards the welfare state, income inequality, immigration, gender, intergenerational issues and/or the labour market are strongly encouraged.
Further details of the project and of the data available are at: http://welfsoc.eu
SSPSSR at the University of Kent has a world-wide reputation for excellence. The 2014 Research Excellence Framework ranked us first in the UK for research impact and awarded our research environment the highest rating possible of 4*.
Successful candidates will have obtained a 1st or good 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant subject, and ordinarily an MA or MSc at Merit or Distinction level. The scholarship covers tuition fees at the postgraduate standard home/EU rate (£4,052) plus an annual maintenance stipend of £14,057 per annum (2016-2017 rate).
Application procedure
Please apply for a PhD in Social Policy at the University of Kent - online application http://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/
Enter ‘School Scholarship’ under ‘Mode of Funding’, head the description of your research proposal ‘WelfSOC PhD Studentship’ and put Peter Taylor-Gooby as supervisor.
For questions about the research project, please email Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/t-v/taylor-gooby-peter.html p.f.taylor-gooby@kent.ac.uk, Dr Benjamin Leruth http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/research/profiles/leruth-benjamin.html B.J.Leruth@kent.ac.uk or Dr Heejung Chung http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/c-d/chung-heejung.html H.Chung@kent.ac.uk; for questions about the application process please email the postgraduate office: sspssr-pg-admin@kent.ac.uk
Please note
· Applications should include a research proposal of *up to* 12,000 characters which should include the applicant’s knowledge of and/or experience in the field of welfare state attitude research and qualitative and quantitative attitude research methods and a concise statement of their research plans within the field of the project. *It is essential to read the sections ‘An Innovative Research Design’ and ‘Our Publications’ on the project website http://welfsoc.eu in order to understand the methods and approach of the project*.
· Applications should include two references and should be received byFriday 14 February 2016.
· In order to fulfil the requirements of a scholarship, international students must be eligible to work in the UK. See Guidance on Checking Eligibility to work in the UK
http://www.kent.ac.uk/hr-managementinformation/documents/eligibility-to-work/checking-eligibility-guidance.pdf.
Such students will be responsible for covering any difference in fees between the European/home and international rate.
The deadline for applications is Friday 14 February 2016. Interviews on our Canterbury campus at a date to be confirmed.