Research Scholarships

PhD fee waiver opportunities in the School of Education and Professional Development

The School has a well-established research culture and is keen to recruit high quality full-time PhD candidates in its areas of special expertise. To this end we offer a maximum of 3 full-fee waivers for full-time PhD candidates per academic year. The criteria on which these are awarded are:

-          Excellence of candidates evidenced through previous academic achievements (eg 1^st class honours degree; distinction at Master’s level) together with quality of proposal;

-          The topic must be in an area identified by one of our leading researchers, and that researcher must be able and willing to act as first supervisor;

-          The application (research proposal) must be viewed and deemed worthy of support by the Director of Graduate Education and another leading researcher in addition to the potential supervisor / sponsor.

Please contact the individual professors if you want to discuss any possible application.

Professor James Avis

• Critical analyses of post-secondary education and life-long learning, vocationalism and teacher professionalism.
• Social justice and vocational education and training.
• The lived experience of teachers and learners in post-secondary education and training.
• The political economy of the education and training sector.

Professor Janet Fink

• Children and young people’s experiences of the formal and informal spaces of education, historically and in current times.
• Historical and contemporary studies of childhoods, particularly in the contexts of visual and popular culture.
• The forms and experiences of social inequality that shape children’s everyday lives.
• The potential and challenges of visual research methods for generating knowledge about the experiences of children and young people.

Professor Paul Miller

• The interaction between educational policy and the practice of school leadership.
• Race and educational leadership (access and impact).
• Teacher migration and identity (in particular, overseas trained teachers).
• Corruption in education (in particular, teacher progression/headteacher selection).
• Cross-border approaches to teacher/principal development.
• Cross-cultural approaches to researching in educational leadership.

Professor Kevin Orr

• Vocational education and training experience, policy and practice, including vocational pedagogy.
• Work-based learning.
• Education and training for the professions.
• Teacher education in the further education/learning and skills sectors.

Professor Lyn Tett

• The cultural, class and identity factors that contribute to literacy and numeracy difficulties experienced by adults and the forms of education and learning that are most effective in empowering individuals and communities experiencing educational disadvantage.
• An investigation of the factors that encourage or prevent access to higher education for, and retention of, educationally disadvantaged adults.
• An analysis of how international policy discourses on inequalities impact on UK national and local policies for adult education and lifelong learning.

Professor Robin Simmons

• The changing nature of post-compulsory education, particularly staff and student experiences of vocational education and training – either historically or in contemporary settings.
• Young people’s transitions into adulthood, especially their experiences of education and work. I am particularly interested in those wishing to research the lives of young people classified as NEET or at risk of becoming NEET, or those of those engaged in provision designed to prepare marginalised youth for the world of work. 

Professor Paul Thomas

• Youth, extremism and education - how and why young people become attracted towards extremist groups and ideologies, the role of education and educators in preventing and countering extremism, the Prevent strategy.
• Youth people, ethnic segregation and community cohesion – young peoples’ experiences of ethnic identity and ethnic tensions, the role of education and educators in addressing ethnic tensions and contributing to community cohesion, policy approaches to cohesion and integration.

Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for University of Huddersfield graduates

Research degrees can represent a natural progression for the best graduates. They offer a valuable opportunity to build on promise and realise potential.

At the University of Huddersfield we support academic excellence through the Vice-Chancellor's Scholarships - a scheme that aims to provide the best students with free research degrees.

The highest-achieving students deserve every chance to earn higher-level qualifications.

This scheme reflects our commitment to giving the most promising graduates every possible encouragement to further their studies in a thriving research environment.

It also reflects our commitment to cementing the University of Huddersfield’s reputation as an internationally recognised research-led institution.

Professor Andrew Ball, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise

Our research

The breadth of research degrees available at Huddersfield reflects the full range of fields in which the University advances research, innovation and collaboration, including:

• Culture and creative arts
• Engineering and physical sciences
• Energy, sustainability and climate change
• Healthcare, social services and education
• Security and global uncertainties
• The digital economy, business and enterprise

Who can apply?

The Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship is available to University of Huddersfield students, as follows:

• Students who graduate with first-class honours degree or Master's students - taught or research, who graduate with a distinction.
• Successful applicants will normally be required to undertake a research degree on a full-time basis within 12 months of graduation.

How to apply?

To apply please complete our online research degree application form, making sure it is clearly marked that you are applying under the VC's initiative.

More information

For more information please email study@hud.ac.uk.

New opportunities coming soon.

Proof of Concept Research Bursary 

Following last year’s funding allocation, we are re-running the Proof of Concept (POC) research bursaries.  We have funding allocated to support a number of research bursaries at UKRI level (currently £14,553), aimed primarily at the support of research studentships – either MRes or MEnt, however funding remains flexible to meet needs across as many situations as possible. Overall, the funding is to facilitate the further development and evaluation of promising pre-commercialisation opportunities, and therefore stimulate the commercialisation of early stage intellectual property emanating from the University of Huddersfield.

We are keen to foster collaborative activity between the UoH and our strategic partner NPL and will prioritise such applications. If any academic is keen to make links with potential collaborators in NPL please contact Barry Timmins as soon as possible who will facilitate links and introductions.

Depending on final budget availability we will allocate further funding to the successfully funded bursaries for consumables, travel and subsistence.

Following the outcomes of a research exercise undertaken on this year’s POC bursaries, we have aimed to enhance the guidance and information on the attached application form, as well as introduce some changes to bring improvements to the process as a whole. 

Download the POC Bursary Application Form
‌

Download an Invention Disclosure Form  if required.‌

Key dates are:-

Application Submission by email to crm@hud.ac.uk end of Friday 1st June

Academic Notifications by email on Monday 4th June