Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
SGSSS is the UK's largest facilitator of funding, training and support for doctoral students in social science. By combining the expertise of sixteen universities across Scotland, the school facilitates world-class PhD research.
SGSSS is a highly attractive environment for doctoral research. Our partner universities offer an excellent research environment alongside comprehensive research training across discipline-specific and interdisciplinary pathways, plus a programme of advanced training courses and an annual summer school.
At the heart of SGSSS is the Doctoral Training Partnership in Scotland. Established in 2011, SGSSS is the largest of the 15 ESRC-accredited DTPs in the United Kingdom, funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council.
The ESRC is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues, supporting independent, high quality research with impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. At any one time it supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students.
A non-departmental public body established by Royal Charter in 1965, the ESRC is committed to the principles of quality, impact and independence.
More about the ESRC →
The SFC funds teaching and learning provision, research and other activities in Scotland's colleges and higher education institutions, supporting the Scottish Government's national priorities.
It contributes to the costs of teaching, research and other activities, including staff, infrastructure, buildings and equipment.
More about the SFC →The Directorate is responsible for the everyday operations of SGSSS and oversees its successful running and strategic development: designing and overseeing the studentship allocation system, providing advanced training, ensuring timely financial reporting, and developing partnerships.
Hosted by the University of Edinburgh.
Senior graduate-school leads from each institution, connecting SGSSS activity to local doctoral provision.
Representatives from each partner university who set the overall strategic direction of SGSSS and oversee the distribution of studentships, the spread of good practice and embedded collaboration.
Your first point of contact locally. Coordination of future and ongoing studentships is handled through these leads.
| Institution | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Aberdeen | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Abertay University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of Dundee | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of Edinburgh | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Edinburgh Napier University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies TBC | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of Glasgow | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Glasgow Caledonian University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Heriot-Watt University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead TBC |
| Scotland’s Rural College | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of St Andrews | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of Stirling | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies TBC | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of Strathclyde | Supervisory Board TBC | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of the Highlands and Islands | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies TBC | HEI Admin Lead |
| University of the West of Scotland | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Queen Margaret University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
| Robert Gordon University | Supervisory Board | Dean of Graduate Studies | HEI Admin Lead |
Roles marked TBC are currently being appointed.
Alongside institutional representatives, the Board includes members from our funding, government and skills partners.
Associate Officers for Student Engagement represent the voices of the student community, are consulted for their advice and expertise as PGRs, and convey the views of students to the Board and the Directorate. Our Associate Officers reflect a broad spectrum of institutions, academic stages, funding bases and demographic profiles.
The Training Network is the primary forum within SGSSS for developing and delivering training for students holding +1 (masters) funding. It builds the foundation for student training, student support and cross-Scotland opportunities, and comprises academic representatives from partner institutions alongside the Directorate and operations team.
| Name | Institution |
|---|---|
| Dr Roxanne Connelly Chair | SGSSS |
| Dr Katherine Keenan | SGSSS |
| Katherine Stephen | SGSSS |
| Natanya Mark | SGSSS |
| Nishat Tasneem | SGSSS |
| Dr Alison Elliott | Abertay University Dundee |
| Dr Alistair Geddes | University of Dundee |
| Dr Sal Consoli | University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Carin Runciman | University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Taulant Guma | Edinburgh Napier University |
| Dr Juliane Kloess | University of Glasgow |
| Dr Niccole Pamphilis | University of Glasgow |
| Dr Alasdair Stewart | University of Glasgow |
| Professor Marian Brady | Glasgow Caledonian University |
| Dr Yasaman Sarabi | Heriot-Watt University |
| Dr Sarah Wagner | University of the Highlands and Islands |
| Professor Vicky Johnson | University of the Highlands and Islands |
| Dr Vicky Ward | University of St Andrews |
| Dr Vera Eory | Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) |
| Professor Paul Lambert | University of Stirling |
| Dr Wendy Cohen | University of Strathclyde |
Sixteen Scottish universities are members of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science.
For studentship queries start with your HEI Administrative Lead. For anything else, the SGSSS Team is here to help.
SGSSS is a highly attractive environment for doctoral research. Not only do our partner universities offer an excellent research environment, we also offer comprehensive and world-class research training in a number of discipline-specific and interdisciplinary pathways. In addition, the school manages a programme of advanced training courses and an annual summer school which together offers our students further opportunities to develop their research, knowledge exchange and transferable professional skills.
At the heart of the SGSSS is the Doctoral Training Partnership (formerly the Doctoral Training Centre) in Scotland. The SGSSS was established in 2011 and is the largest of 15 Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) accredited DTPs in the United Kingdom.
The Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. The ESRC supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.
The ESRC is a non-departmental public body established by Royal Charter in 1965 and receives most of its funding through the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. ESRC is committed to the principles of quality, impact and independence.
More information about the ESRC, its work, impact and findings can be found here.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is responsible for funding teaching and learning provision, research and other activities in Scotland’s colleges and higher education institutions. SFC’s Funding Decisions support the Scottish Government’s national priorities. Its purpose is to secure coherent, high quality further and higher learning provision by colleges and universities in Scotland, and the undertaking of research. SFC contributes to the costs of teaching, research and other activities – including costs related to staff, infrastructure, buildings and equipment. Click here to find out more about SFC.
The Directorate is responsible for the everyday operations of SGSSS. The directorate oversees the successful running and strategic development of the SGSSS in line with its objectives. This includes: designing and overseeing a studentship allocation system; providing advanced training; ensuring timely financial reporting; overseeing the development of partnerships.
The Directorate is hosted by the University of Edinburgh and comprises the following staff:
Professor Graeme Nixon
Director
Professor Alan Marshall
Deputy Director (Studentships and Partnerships)
Dr Katherine Keenan
Deputy Director (Training)
Professor Kathy Hamilton
Associate Director, Challenge Pathway Lead for Health, Wellbeing and Communities/Securities: Justice, Economies and Conflict; Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr Yuki Kamide
Associate Director, Challenge Pathway Lead for Governance and Institutions/Communication, AI and New Technologies
Dr Shari Sabeti
Associate Director, Challenge Pathway Lead for Environment, Migration and Demographic Change/Social Inequalities
Professor Jemina Napier
Associate Director, Supervisor Engagement
Dr Dely Elliot
Associate Director, Student Engagement & EDI
Dr Roxanne Connelly
Associate Director, Training Lead
Dr Yasaman Sarabi
Associate Director, Advanced Training Lead
Linsey Fender
Head of Strategy and Operations
Ross Hoffie
Operations Manager
Dr Victoria McQuillan
Research Impact and Partnerships Manager
Andrea Torres
Studentships Coordinator
Kelly Barbour
Research Impact and Partnerships Coordinator
Katherine Stephen
Student Experience and Development Coordinator
Beth Gorrie
Graduate School Administrator
Each partner institution has a designated administration contact directly connected to the SGSSS. Coordination of future and ongoing studentships is handled locally at each member institution through the HEI Administrative Leads.
Heriot-Watt University
Contact to be confirmed
The Supervisory Board consists of representatives from each of our partner universities and is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the SGSSS. The Board agrees and oversees the strategic priorities and oversees the implementation of ESRC’s guidance on the distribution of studentships, spread of good practices and embedding collaboration.
The members of the Board have been appointed to provide representation of our partner institutions. The Supervisory Board is chaired by Professor Sara Carter at the University of Glasgow.
The members of the Supervisory board include:
Morag Campbell
Scottish Funding Council
Audrey MacDougall
Scottish Government
Emma Hollywood
Skills Development Scotland
TBC
Edinburgh Napier University
TBC
University of the Highlands & Islands
TBC
University of Stirling
Associate Officers for Student Engagement represent the voices of the student community and are consulted for their advice and expertise as PGRs. They also convey the views of students to the Board and the Directorate. SGSSS is committed to increasing student representation within its governance and wide range of activities. Our diverse group of Associate Officers for Student Engagement reflects a broad spectrum of institutions, academic stages, funding bases and demographic profiles.
The Training Network is the primary forum within SGSSS to develop and deliver training components for students given +1 (masters) funding offered by eligible institutions. The network is responsible for building a foundation to student training, student support and cross-Scotland opportunities, and consists of academic representatives from our partner institutions and members of the SGSSS Directorate and operations team.
Dr Roxanne Connelly (Chair)
SGSSS
Dr Katherine Keenan
SGSSS
Dr Sal Consoli
University of Edinburgh
Dr Alistair Geddes
University of Dundee
Dr Carin Runciman
University of Edinburgh
Dr Juliane Kloess
University of Glasgow
Dr Niccole Pamphilis
University of Glasgow
Dr Alasdair Stewart
University of Glasgow
Dr Wendy Cohen
University of Strathclyde
Dr Yasaman Sarabi
Heriot-Watt University
Professor Marian Brady
Glasgow Caledonian University
Dr Vicky Ward
University of St Andrews
Professor Paul Lambert
University of Stirling
Dr Alison Elliott
Abertay University Dundee
Dr Taulant Guma
Edinburgh Napier University
Dr Vera Eory
Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
Dr Sarah Wagner
University of the Highlands and Islands
Professor Vicky Johnson
University of the Highlands and Islands
Katherine Stephen
SGSSS
Gladys Konadu
SGSSS
Nishat Tasneem
SGSSS
The following Scottish universities are members of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. The 14 Institutions eligible for hosting ESRC studentships are listed first:
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