Doctoral Training Centre
The Consortium
The Universities of Bristol, Exeter and Bath have created the South West Doctoral Training Centre (SWDTC) which draws together the established research excellence of more than 770 academic and research staff at the three institutions. The SWDTC draws together the three research intensive universities in the South West region - the Universities of Bristol, Exeter and Bath. Together, these institutions present a distinctive cadre of social science research staff and students, with established international, national and regional networks, and widely recognised research excellence. As recognised research leaders, the three institutions have a strong track record in advancing knowledge through high quality research and teaching in partnership with business, the professions, the public services, the third sector and other research and learning providers. The SWDTC has developed from a collective desire to raise the bar in postgraduate training by extending innovation and best practice across disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields, and offering students broader access to world class research and training opportunities.
Comprehensive Research Training Pathways in SPAIS
The School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) is well represented in the individual pathways comprising the SWDTC. In ESRC Disciplines the School is represented by
• Political Science and International Studies;
• Sociology.
Academic staff in SPAIS are also heavily involved in the following recognized interdisciplinary areas within the SWDTC:
• Environment, Energy and Resilience;
• Global Political Economy: Transformations and Policy Analysis;
• Security, Conflict and Justice.
Studentships at the University of Bristol
Two fully funded ESRC studentships are available within the following areas for October 2012/13. For further information, please use the contacts listed.
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Political Science and International Studies: torsten.michel@bris.ac.uk
The Political Science and International Studies pathway aims to play a key role in furthering our understanding of major contemporary worldwide issues by advancing both the methodological skills of research students in this discipline and their knowledge of policy outcomes, governance, and policy practice. Students are then able to progress to a range of careers where their analytical, research and communication skills, as well as understanding of complex and constantly changing political and cultural issues, are highly valued. This can be in an academic environment, business setting or the public sector, including research appointments in social organisations and governments worldwide. The training builds on three established and previously ESRC-recognised programmes; MSc Politics and International Relations (Bristol), MRes Politics (Exeter) and MRes European Politics (Bath). The pathway is delivered by three top research intensive politics and international studies departments in the UK, all committed achieving standards of excellence within the Politics discipline. The international profile of staff means they frequently advise regional, national and supranational governments and bodies, as well as publishing widely in the major political science journals and academic and University Presses worldwide.
The School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol has research concentrations in the key themes of International Relations, Global Development and Security; Ethnicity and Migration; Europe and Europeanization; and Culture, Politics, and Society. Other research expertise covers international security, US foreign policy, international political theory and regional/area studies. The Global Insecurities Centre, Centre for East Asian Studies , Critical States of Security Network and International Politics Group particularly generate activities that contribute to this pathway.
Deadline for Applications: 5pm Friday 17th February 2012 via ApplyYourself. Please search for either the MRes in Social Science Research Methods (Politics/IR) or the MPhil in Politics.
- Sociology: Brad.West@bristol.ac.uk
The Sociology pathway trains students in social scientific philosophy and methodology within a contemporary sociology context. The varied nature of the discipline allows students to enter a range of careers and make an impact whether working as academics or undertaking research roles in NGOs, charities, government and industry. The pathway builds on three established and previously ESRC-recognised programmes; MSc Social Science Research Methods - Sociology (Bristol), MSc Science & Technology Studies (Exeter) and MSc Genetics in Society (Exeter). This pathway also includes a new programme MSc Arts, Health & Social Care recently developed at Exeter. The Sociology pathway draws on the strengths of two of the UK’s top Sociology departments.
The School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol has research concentrations in the key themes of International Relations, Global Development and Security; Ethnicity and Migration; Europe and Europeanization; and Culture, Politics, and Society. Academic staff in Sociology have a strong track record for externally funded research which underlines a commitment to theoretically informed empirical work. Over recent years, this has included a series of large research projects funded by the ESRC, Leverhulme Trust and European Union. At the University of Bristol this pathway is particularly supported by the Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship and the International Research Network for European Political Communications (EurPolCom).
Deadline for Applications: 5pm Friday 17th February 2012 via ApplyYourself. Please search for either the MRes in Social Science Research Methods (Sociology) or the MPhil in Sociology.
Subject to approval, two fully funded ESRC studentships will also be available for each of the following SWDTC Interdisciplinary pathways. For further information, please use the contacts listed
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Global Political Economy: Transformations and Policy Analysis: Jeffrey.Henderson@bristol.ac.uk
This PhD training pathway is designed to foreground the dynamics of global transformation and their policy implications as well as their interrelations with national and regional institutional and social responses to the changing global political and economic order. As such, it seeks to foster dialogue and debate between the nationally-grounded assumptions and discourses on which much social science continues to be predicated, and other perspectives which seek to transcend these assumptions. Among other things the pathway will encourage students to analyse the diverse experiences and impacts of economic globalisation, examine relationships between global governance and inequality and to understand that analysis and resolution of many of the key problems that confront humanity in the 21st century require new and inter-disciplinary academic approaches, innovative methods and policy agendas, creative thinking and transnationally comparative datasets.
The pathway will be of interest to those with disciplinary or interdisciplinary backgrounds in politics, economics, geography, sociology, law, history, international relations, policy studies, development studies and area studies. Students on the 1+3 pathway will be expected to complete the Global Political Economy MRes in their first year of study.
The pathway draws on expertise from the University of Bristol’s Schools of Sociology, Politics and International Studies; Economics, Finance and Management; Geographical Sciences; Education; Law; and Policy Studies; and from the University of Bath’s Centre for Development Studies and Department of Education. The Directors of the pathway are: Jeffrey Henderson, Professor of International Development (Bristol) and James Copestake, Professor of Development Economics (Bath).
Deadline for Applications: 5pm Friday 17th February 2012 via ApplyYourself. Please search for either the MRes in Global Political Economy: Transformations and Policy Analysis or MPhil in Global Political Economy: Transformations and Policy Analysis.
- Security, Conflict and Justice: Marianne.Hester@bristol.ac.uk
The Security, Conflict and Justice is an interdisciplinary pathway recognises that traditional approaches to security studies must now be complemented with new perspectives of issues such as human (in)security more widely, including domestic insecurity and violence, in order to develop better strategies for resolving conflicts and securing social justice. It will train researchers who are equipped with the interdisciplinary skills to impact the research, policy and practice needed to avoid and mitigate security risks.
Globalisation has altered the security environment. Violence has, for the most part, shifted from organised inter-state war to protracted warfare fought by irregular units and local militias. Weak states are prone to collapsing, either by the fragmentation of authority, or by external intervention. Climate change, forced migration, gender-based violence, radicalisation, humanitarian emergencies, terrorism, WMD proliferation, have all, to varying degrees, been securitised by states, inter-governmental institutions, and by non-governmental organisations. The broadening of the global security agenda has to date not been accompanied by an increase in the capacity of local, regional, and global actors to respond to these new challenges. What is now required is the development of new theoretical and empirical research on security governance. A vital ingredient in addressing the complex agenda of security governance is an inter-disciplinary pooling of knowledge and expertise that draws together sociological and socio-legal research on human rights, gender, violence and ethnopolitics; area studies expertise on language, culture and practice; and political and legal research on sovereignty, institutions and intervention.
The contributing departments and centres include: Bristol – School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, School of Law (including the Human Rights Implementation Centre); the Centre for Gender and Violence Research in the School for Policy Studies; Exeter – Department of Politics, Department of History, Department of Sociology & Philosophy, Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, European Muslim Research Centre, Centre for Kurdish Studies and Centre for the Study of War, State and Society; Bath – Department of European Studies and Modern Languages (particularly the Conflict and Security research group).
Deadline for Applications: 5pm Friday 17th February 2012 via ApplyYourself. Please search for either the MRes in Security, Conflict and Justice or the MPhil in Security, Conflict and Justice.