Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
Read all about what SGSSS has been up to in our 2024/25 Year in Review!
Click here

Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba

Studentship opportunity

All Studentship Opportunities

Intersecting Vulnerabilities: Mapping the Care Journeys of Opioid-Exposed Children in Scotland using administrative data

This studentship is funded by the ESRC through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS)

Institution
University of Glasgow
Pathway
Social Inequalities
Studentship
Steers – Datasets
Mode of study

Full-time / Part-time

Application deadline
4pm, 14 April 2022
Applications are due 24 March 2026, 5 pm GMT and
References are due 26 March 2026, 5 pm GMT

Project details

Parental substance use is a major contributor to child protection involvement, accounting for nearly two-fifths of registrations in Scotland’s Child Protection Register (2023/24). Although both parents’ substance use can affect child wellbeing, mothers are more often primary caregivers and thus more frequently come into contact with child protection services. While most mothers who use substances do not neglect or harm their children, those who lose custody often experience multiple, intersecting vulnerabilities. Evidence indicates that infants born to women who use opioids are twelve times more likely to be removed by court order at birth than demographically similar peers—a disparity that has widened over the past 15 years. Yet, little is known about the mechanisms driving this relationship, or about the developmental trajectories of these children.

This PhD will extend analyses of an existing ESRC-funded cohort comprising linked health and social work records for 4,836 births to women identified as using opioids in pregnancy (2009–2019), and a matched control group. The research will address four key questions: (1) What are the care pathways for children with prenatal opioid exposure over their first five years? (2) To what extent does prenatal opioid exposure predict child removal at birth and beyond? (3) What causal mechanisms link opioid exposure and child removal? (4) Do children removed from mothers who use opioids have better or worse developmental outcomes than those who remain with them?

Advanced quantitative methods—including pathway analysis, causal inference, and mediation analysis—will be used to explore these complex relationships. Findings will inform policy and practice to improve care and support for women who use opioids and their children. By leveraging a unique, ready-to-use administrative dataset, this project offers a rare opportunity to generate robust, policy-relevant evidence for a highly vulnerable and understudied population.

Supervisory Team:

About the University

The University of Glasgow has been changing the world since 1451. We are a world top 100 university and a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK research universities. Our people have always been at the forefront of innovation, including eight Nobel Laureates, two UK Prime Ministers, three First Ministers of Scotland, 10 Fellows of the Royal Society and 11 Fellows of the British Academy. Our past achievements inspire our current world changers. As a globally connected university, we work in partnership with others across the world to advance global solutions to real world problems. We are proud to be a founding member of the university networks Universitas 21 and The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities. We are committed to tackling the most pressing global challenges facing humanity and the natural world. We are delivering against the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030. We were the first European university to declare it would divest from fossil fuels by 2024 and the first in Scotland to declare a climate emergency.

The School of Health & Wellbeing aims to prevent disease, improve health and wellbeing, and reduce inequalities on a local and global scale. Established in 2012, we are one of eight Schools that sit within the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences. We have strong links with a number of associate Social Scientists in Health academics based in the School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences and elsewhere in University of Glasgow. We are strongly committed to the principles of equality and diversity, and in 2018 won a coveted Athena Swan Gold award. Through our inter-disciplinary programme of world-leading research and excellent research-led teaching we aim to improve population health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities in health. Our research spans three research themes and is delivered across five research groups. Our academics have a wide range of skills and expertise and our external collaborators include academics, the Scottish and UK Governments, the NHS, local authorities, and the voluntary and private sectors.

Based in the Clarice Pears Building, the School of Health & Wellbeing provides a vibrant, interdisciplinary environment to study your PhD. Through university and school PGR training programmes, we will equip you with robust, transferable research skills that are relevant to a range of career options in academia and public, private and third sector organisations in the UK and globally.

This PhD is based within the Centre for Developmental Adversity and Resilience within the School of Health and Wellbeing . CeDAR is a multidisciplinary research team, which aims to be supportive and inclusive in its approach. We host regular team meetings, presentations, and social events. PhD students additionally have access to the School of Health and Wellbeing PhD hub, where they had a dedicated workspace and social space within Clarice Pears.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Applicants must hold or be predicted a First or a good 2:1 undergraduate degree in the social sciences, or have relevant comparable experience.
  • Applicants can have a Masters degree, however this is not a requirement.
  • The applicant must also show demonstrable interest in the topic area under investigation.
  • Applicants can study part-time or full-time

Desirable criteria:

  • Experience of working with large datasets
  • Experience of using statistical packages, such as R and/or Stata
  • Ability to communicate complex and sensitive data to a wider range of audiences

We are particularly keen to hear from people who have lived experience of substance use, care experience, or other under-represented groups in academia.

Funding

As per guidance published by UKRI in October 2020, a maximum of 30% of all studentships awarded can be made to international students, with the remaining 70% going to home students. 

Residential Criteria

To be classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a UK national (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have settled status, or
  • Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

For more on the UKRI eligibility guidance, click here

As per guidance published by UKRI in October 2020, a maximum of 30% of all studentships awarded can be made to international students, of which SGSSS has now awarded for the 2021/22 round of studentship awards. As such, this opportunity is only open to home students.

Residential Criteria

To be classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a UK national (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have settled status, or
  • Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

If you do not meet the criteria above, you will be classed as an international student and will not be eligible to apply. To establish if you would be classed as a home student, please see pages 4 and 5 of the UKRI eligibility guidance here.

Award details

The scholarship is available as a +3.5 (3 year PhD and placement) or a 1+3.5 (Masters year, 3 year PhD, and a placement) studentship depending on prior research training. This will be assessed as part of the recruitment process, however you can access guidance here to help you decide on which to apply for. The programme will commence in October 2026. The full ESRC studentship package includes, as advised by ESRC:

  • An annual maintenance grant (stipend)
  • Fees at the standard institutional home rate
  • Students can also draw on a pooled Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)

Other information

Additional material needed in application:

A personal statement (no more than one A4 page) indicating why you want to pursue a PhD in the area of substance use and/or epidemiology and within the topic of care journeys and developmental outcomes of children with prenatal opioid exposure

If shortlisted for interview:

If invited to interview you will be asked to prepared a 5 minute presentation on why this research is important, the benefits of using linked health and social work records to address the research questions, key challenges that you anticipate with this research, and how your previous research experience could contribute to the success of this project.

How to apply

  1. Applicants must register on SGSSS Apply, completing their Equal Opportunities data.
  2. Applicants must apply via SGSSS Apply, uploading the following documentation:

    • Application Questions (answered within SGSSS Apply, no upload needed)
    • Academic transcripts
    • Academic prizes
    • Referee information
    • CV
    • Other information (if required by the advert)
We strongly encourage applicants review the applicant guidance document for more on the process. 

Please Note:

  • This is not an application to the relevant University, this is an application for SGSSS (ESRC) funding.
  • Students do not need a Masters/PhD offer from the relevant University before they can apply for funding, i.e. this studentship.
  • If successful in obtaining the SGSSS (ESRC) studentship, students can only start the funded studentship once they have an unconditional Masters/PhD degree offer from the relevant University. It is your responsibility to find out the University’s application process, including when you need to secure your offer, as SGSSS plays no role in this process.

This studentship opportunity will open for applications on 9th June.

Apply now via SGSSS Apply

Selection process

Applications will be ranked by an internal institutional selection panel, and you will be notified if you have been shortlisted for interview on 7 April. Interviews will take place the week commencing 20 April.

This studentship award is subject to the successful candidate securing admission to a PhD programme within the University of Glasgow. The successful candidate will be invited to apply for admission to the relevant PhD programme.

Contact details

Name
Team SGSSS
Email
SGSSS Team (for questions on the application portal, only), for any questions on the project, email the supervisory team (see details in abstract above)

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Privacy Policy

© 2026 All rights reserved​

Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, proudly funded by