Positions for doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars to participate in this research are now open for competition in five of the GEXcel themes:

•    GEXcel Themes 3 & 6 - Distinctions and Authority: Power Shifts and New Divisions in Society, Work and Universities. EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 9 APRIL 2010.

•    GEXcel Themes 7 & 8 - Teaching Normcritical Sex - Getting Rid of Violence. TRANSdisciplinary, TRANSnational and TRANSformative Feminist Dialogues on Embodiment, Emotions and Ethics. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 16 APRIL 2010.

•    GEXcel Theme 9 - Gendered sexualed transnationalisations, deconstructing the dominant: Transforming men, “centres” and knowledge/policy/practice. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 16 APRIL 2010.

Please go here for further information:

http://www.genderexcel.org/

The University of Southampton School of Social Sciences offers funding for postgraduate taught degrees and postgraduate research degrees in various areas. Details of eligibility, application procedures and application deadlines can be found on these pages.

Please note that all ESRC funding opportunities are intended to carry through to PhD level (1+3 & +3) - taught Masters (only) is not offered in these studentships.

The Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey was ranked joint 6th out of all UK Sociology departments in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise: this ranking recognises the excellence of its research and its research environment, a vital component of which is its thriving doctoral programme. It is now inviting applications from prospective PhD students for four ESRC Quota Studentships to commence in October 2010. Applicants for these awards are expected to have an Upper Second or First Class undergraduate degree in a social science or related subject, or to be able to demonstrate other relevant experience. Studentships are available as either '1+3' or '+3' awards: ‘1+3’ awards are for students to undertake the MSc in Social Research Methods or the MSc Criminology, Criminal Justice and Social Research or the part-time MSc in Social Research followed by a 3 year PhD. ‘+3 awards’ are for candidates who already have an ESRC recognised Masters degree. Proposals are encouraged in any of the areas in which the Department has expertise which include: • ageing, gender and the lifecourse • computer simulation of social processes • culture and identity • deviance and criminology • media and communications • methodology (including development of quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods) • privacy and surveillance • race and ethnicity • science and technology studies • social aspects of health and illness • sociology of childhood • sociology of sleep • sociology of the environment • youth and popular culture More details of research in the Sociology Department. ESRC full studentships are open to UK residents, EU nationals who have lived in the UK for at least 3 years immediately prior to the award, or non-EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years immediately prior to the award for purposes other than education. Maintenance grants for all studentships are worth £13,290 per annum (the rate in 2009-10) and do not attract income tax or national insurance. PhD students also have the opportunity, and are encouraged, to undertake some paid undergraduate teaching in the department. Applicants whose proposals have a strong quantitative focus and wish to gain additional training in advanced quantitative methods, which could include social simulation, will be eligible to apply for an additional ESRC annual stipend of £3,000. For further information please contact Sue Slade, Postgraduate Research Administrator, tel. 01483 689453 or Dr Geoff Cooper, Postgraduate Research Director, tel. 01483 686976. Candidates should complete the Department’s ‘Application for an ESRC Quota PhD Studentship’ form, which can be downloaded below, together with a CV and the names of two referees. (Please note that it is not necessary, at this stage, to complete the University’s ‘Application For A Research Degree’ form.) Download application form. Applications should be returned by email to Sue Slade by 24 February 2010. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview on 15th March. Unsuccessful applicants may be considered for entry by the Department into the ESRC Open Competition.

The SPA invites applications for its Standard and Postgraduate Small Grants Schemes, designed to help fund seminars and workshops dealing with research and/or learning & teaching in a way that is of benefit to the social policy community and SPA members. The focus should be on activities that will benefit a group or network rather than individuals.

During 2010, applications for awards to support events with an international focus and/or to facilitate attendance from overseas, are particularly encouraged.

Funds will be made available in two rounds of applications over the year. Round one runs from 1st January to 30th June and round two from 1st July to 31st December. Applications are welcomed at any point within each award period, and funds are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

Each award offers a maximum of £500. 

Applicants will be expected to:

• Be SPA members;
• Publicise their seminar/workshop as widely as possible, including through SPA channels;
• Write a short report after the event to SPA members via Policy World;
• Use this as an opportunity to recruit new SPA members (including marketing via other channels, distribution of SPA leaflets, use of SPA logo, etc.);
• Make the seminar/workshop as inclusive as possible (attendance need not be limited to SPA members);
• Raise the profile of the SPA to external agencies (government, independent sector, research centres, etc) in the UK and other countries as appropriate;
• Provide a provisional budget which must include a full breakdown of costs, indicating the items on which the award will be spent, and specify whether additional funding from other sources is being sought or has already been secured.  

Applications, which should take the form of a letter (2 sides maximum), should contain an outline description of the aims, rationale and nature of the proposed event. Applicants should also clearly demonstrate how it meets each of the above criteria. As much detail as possible about your plans to ensure that the award will benefit SPA members should be included at this stage. Additionally, applications to the Postgraduate Scheme require confirmation (signature and stamp) from a departmental postgraduate tutor/head of department that a host institution would be able to raise an account to hold funds transferred by the SPA (administered by the SPA treasurer).

The SPA reserves the right to pay the award in more than one instalment if this is appropriate. It also reserves the right to reject applications from those who have failed to fulfil small grant award conditions in the past. 

Please send your application (no more than two sides) as an attachment to an email to Dr Majella Kilkey: M.M.Kilkey@hull.ac.uk. Enquiries about the schemes should also by directed by email to Majella Kilkey.

The domestic and housing transitions of LGBT young people

This PhD project aims to explore the interaction between sexuality and youth transitions through focusing on the housing and relationship experiences of LGBT young people in their late teens and twenties. It is an ESRC +3 studentship linked to the ESRC Research Centre for Population Change, where the student will work under the direction of Professor Sue Heath, one of the Centre’s Co-Directors.

Background

Most existing research on the domestic and housing transitions of young people tends to focus on heterosexual experience. The relative invisibility of non-heterosexual young adults in this body of research may be partly due to the lack of fit between the lived experiences of many LGBT young people and dominant models of youth transitions which often continue to assume eventual progression to heterosexual marriage and parenthood. The limited existing transitions research on LGBT young people is often focused on the experiences of those who have been affected by very specific difficulties (eg homelessness) in their housing transitions, such that we know even less about the experiences of a more general population of LGBT young people. This studentship is focused on the interaction between sexuality and the domestic and housing transitions of LGBT young people in their late teens and twenties, as well as on the ways in which housing transitions may differ for LGBT young people, in order to critically engage with the notion of transition underpinning much youth research. It is envisaged that the research will be primarily qualitative in focus, although the use of a mixed methods approach is not precluded. Beyond these parameters, the successful applicant will be free to develop their own research ideas within this broad topic area.

The Centre

The ESRC Centre for Population Change is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton, and aims to improve understanding of the key drivers and implications of population change within the UK. The Centre is a joint initiative between the University of Southampton and a consortium of Scottish Universities in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and the General Registrar Office in Scotland, and is directed by Professor Jane Falkingham (University of Southampton) and co-directed by Professors Maria Evandrou, Sue Heath (both at Southampton) and Paul Boyle (University of St Andrews).

This studentship will contribute to a strand of research focusing on the dynamics of household change and living arrangements across the life course, which includes a project currently under way on the housing pathways of 25-34 year olds who live alone or in shared households. The successful applicant will be able to play a full part in the life of the Centre, as well as sharing in training and research activities with other research students in the Division of Sociology and Social Policy (Professor Heath’s divisional base), in the School of Social Sciences and within the Graduate School of the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences.

Eligibility

Applicants should have or expect to have an ESRC-recognised master’s programme in a relevant social science discipline (please see the ESRC 'Guidance notes for applicants', in particular sections 2.13 to 2.16 and annex 1, for further details). They should also have a good understanding of and sensitivity towards methodological issues involved in conducting research with LGBT young people.

What the award pays

This ESRC award pays all University tuition fees, plus an annual maintenance stipend (set at £13,290 for the 2009-2010 academic year).

Application Procedure

No separate application form is required to apply for the studentship. Please apply following the steps below:

1. Go to 'how to apply'
2. Click on the button at the bottom of the page marked ‘Apply online here’
3. Select the button marked ‘Research’ (if not already checked)
4. Click the arrow to the right of ‘School’, pull down the menu and highlight and click ‘School of Social Sciences’
5. Click the button marked ‘Search for Programme’
6. Click ‘Apply online’ beside the MPhil/PhD in Sociology and Social Policy
7. When completing the form, please state in Section 8 (funding) that you wish to be considered for the Centre for Population Change studentship.
8. Please attach an up to date CV, including a summary of your grades thus far in your degree, and a covering letter. The covering letter should be no more than one side of A4, must clearly state why you think you would be a good candidate for the award, and provide a brief preliminary outline of how you would propose to develop a research design in this topic area.

Please send a copy of your CV and covering letter to Mrs Gill Crumplin at G.S.Crumplin@soton.ac.uk or by post to: Mrs Gill Crumplin, Building 58, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom, SO17 1BJ.

Further information

Informal inquiries may be made to Professor Sue Heath (sue.heath@soton.ac.uk).

The application deadline is 5 March 2010.

Shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview in late March.