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Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
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Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
  • About us
    • Governance
    • Challenge-Led Pathways
    • Case studies
    • Our Year in Review
    • Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Contact us
    • Work with us
    • Complaints
  • Current Students
    • Events
    • Training
      • Summer School
      • Spring into Methods
    • Training Funds
      • ESRC Training Funds
      • Training Event Funds
      • Challenge Pathways Cohort Fund
    • Internships
    • Mentoring
    • Research Impact Competition
    • Student Handbook
    • Meet Our Students
    • Meet Our Fellows
    • Expenses Policy
  • Prospective Students and Fellows
    • Studentships
      • Overview
      • Supervisor-led Studentship Opportunities
      • Student-led Open Competition 2024/25
      • Eligibility
    • Fellowships
  • Supervisors
    • Supervisor Eligibility
    • Steers Competition 2025/26
    • Open Collaborative Competition 2025/26
    • Skills Development Scotland Collaborative Competition 2025/26
    • Spring into Methods
    • Supervisors’ Resource Library
  • Our Partners
    • Internships
    • Collaborative Studentships
    • Training
    • The RSE Mentoring Scheme
    • Our work with Industry
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SGSSS Steers Studentship Competition 2025/26

the 25/26 call is now open for eligible applicants

The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is delighted to announce the launch of the supervisor-led SGSSS Steers Studentship Competition 2025/26

In line with the ESRC’s core commitment to enhancing social science capability and building capacity in priority areas, the SGSSS is running a two stage supervisor-led competition awarding funded studentships in the following priority areas (steers):  

  • Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM)
  • Datasets*
  • Interdisciplinary research which straddles other research council remits

To find out more about each steer, please see the ESRC’s Guidance on Steers and Targets. Please note, additional information on Datasets is included in the competition guidance.

SGSSS expects to award three studentships per steer. 

To be eligible to be first supervisor in any SGSSS competition, supervisors must meet the criteria listed in our Supervisor Eligibility page.

Second supervisors may work within any of the SGSSS 16 partner HEIs. We encourage applicants to consider co-supervision with different universities across our network. You can find full information about the SGSSS partner universities online here.

Competition Guidance and Documentation

  • 25/26 Steers Competition Timeline
  • 25/26 Steers Competition Marking Framework
  • 25/26 Steers Competition Supervisor Guidance
  • 25/26 Steers Competition Application Template (Stg 1)
  • 25/26 Steers Competition Application Template (Stg 2)
Apply Now

Webinar Recording and Slides

SGSSS held a Q&A overview session for this competition on 5 September. 

The slides from the presentation can be found here and a recording is available here.

For any questions on the criteria or process, please email team@sgsss.ac.uk 

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