Grand Union DTP at Brunel University London: ESRC-Doctoral funded studentships in social science research.
An ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership uniting Brunel University London, the Open University and the University of Oxford.
Our 'Grand Union' is a Doctoral Training Partnership between Brunel University London, the Open University and the University of Oxford. We are one of 14 ESRC Doctoral Training Partnerships across the UK, providing our postgraduate students with high-quality social science research training.
From 2017 to 2023, we will be offering more than 35 ESRC studentships each year for doctoral study on 24 pathways across our partner institutions. We are committed to a student-centred approach to research training, to widening access to postgraduate study, and to disciplinary and interdisciplinary research excellence.
Our Grand Union scholars are at the heart of our community of students and early career social science researchers. We are proud of the support we give this next generation of social scientists, and we work hard to give them every opportunity to develop as future researchers and professionals.
Social scientists at Brunel have a tradition of innovatory, high-impact research that drives forward academic knowledge and informs policy and practice.Our ESRC-funded DTP pathways are offered through our partnership with the University of Oxford and The Open University, and are available in two of our internationally recognised areas of research expertise – Health and Wellbeing, and Education.
Brunel DTP students on both pathways will be able to access specialist training and professional development opportunities provided across the DTP. Current scholarship areas offered within the Brunel pathways are outlined below. Please follow the links for more detailed information about the areas available. All routes are offered part-time and full-time.
If you wish to gain further information on the Grand Union DTP, please take a look at the following recruitment guide here and / or contact emma.smith@brunel.ac.uk (Post Award Officer )
Grand Union Health and Wellbeing Pathway at Brunel
The Health and Wellbeing Pathway is led by Brunel and delivered in collaboration with Oxford University and The Open University. Students accepted at Brunel will be members of the GUDTP Health & Wellbeing Pathway. Brunel applicants can apply for a DTP studentship based in the Centre for Health and Wellbeing across the Lifecourse. The Centre offers students opportunities to address a wide agenda of the most significant national and global health and wellbeing challenges. Areas of expertise include sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing; health and wellbeing in older age; lifestyle behaviours and health inequalities; health and wellbeing among young people, including sexual health and anti-violence interventions; and evaluation methodologies for health and wellbeing interventions. More information on the doctoral opportunities available in each area is available here:
Grand Union Education Pathway
The Education Pathway is led by Oxford University in collboration with Brunel University London . Students accepted at Brunel will be members of the GUDTP Education Pathway
Brunel DTP students on the Education pathway will join the Department of Education. Education at Brunel is a leading department in the UK offering the full range of provision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In common with the university as a whole the department has a rich ethnic mix among its student population and attracts a significant proportion of students from outside the European Union. The Education Department’s excellence is illustrated by being rated as 10th best in the UK by the Complete University Guide, 2016, and by both Primary and Secondary PGCE programmes being rated as ‘Outstanding in All Areas’ by Ofsted in their most recent inspection. In the last Research Excellence Framework, 60% of the Education Department’s research was world leading or internationally excellent and 90% of its impact was graded as internationally excellent. Students will benefit from Brunel’s diverse specialist expertise in the following four research groups:
Interculturality-for-Diversity-and-Global-Learning - please contact Prof Maria Tsouroufli maria.tsouroufli@brunel.ac.uk
Our research on intercultural communication encompasses a number of local and global concerns across different disciplines including:
- widening participation,
- educational policy and practice within and increasingly global and digitalized higher education institutions,
- transformative and effective leadership,
- clinical communication,
- science innovation,
- forced migration,
- eradication of gender-based violence for sustainable communities.
- Gender, Identities and Intersectionality
- School-related gender-based violence
- Medical/health professional identities and inequalities
- Critical pedagogies
- Global citizenship
- Language and intercultural communication
- Development
The group has a strong and sustained research profile which sits at the intersection of Education, Sociology, Human Geography, Youth Studies, Gender and Feminist Studies and Digital Presence’. Our work covers all educational sectors and includes informal and alternative education settings. We would particularly welcome applications in the field of:
- Access and widening participation
- Embodiment and embodied learning
- Family and parenting
- Youth identities
- Digital presence
- Professional formations and professional identities
- Power, resistance, and compliance
- Education policy
- Social Justice
- Marginalised/excluded learners
- Communities of Inclusive Practice
Pedagogy and Professional Education (contact Dr Deborah Jones)
The Pedagogy and Professional Education Research Group brings together researchers in education with work that involves teaching, teacher education, teacher development, curriculum development and enhancement, and professional education. The research carried out by the group generates both theoretical and practical knowledge which is disseminated to users, policy-makers and the wider community through knowledge transfer activities.
Research areas
Research topics include: teacher learning, professional creativity, policy, use of language, English subject knowledge, reflective practice, curriculum enhancement, and pedagogy.
STEM Education (contact Professor Mike Watts)
The STEM Education research group, led by Professor Mike Watts, is a multidisciplinary group of educators with strong research and development established in the field. The group is a focal point for collaborative work in STEM education, with cross-group activities and initiatives, and is intended to create synergy and instigate and support individual, small group and wider collaborative projects. Our research and educational enquiry is largely practice-based and aims to inform debates on STEM education and professional learning, and contribute to programmes of excellent teaching in both formal and informal educational settings.
Joint Oxford-Brunel supervision will be available where beneficial, drawing on existing external co-supervision practices.
Please note this webpage will be updated periodically.