Research in Education employs a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, drawn from both disciplinary and interdisciplinary traditions. It addresses questions regarding education systems and contexts across the entire life course and a wide range of substantive areas of enquiry such as: pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, education policy, educational technology, social exclusion/inclusion and equity issues. The Education pathway comprises six Scottish institutions.

The pathway provides a high quality environment for core and advanced doctoral training in educational research based on a critical mass of recognised educational research excellence and an explicit commitment to contributing to ongoing capacity building in Scotland. The Pathway has extensive experience of collaboration in research capacity building. The pathway brings together complementary strengths across the six universities in terms of expertise in research methodology and methods, theory, and a range of substantive areas of research.

The pathway offers core training in the methods and methodologies of social and behavioural research and in transferable skills, combined with subject specific core and advanced training that pays explicit attention to the distinctive character of educational research.

ESRC-funded studentships in Education are available at the following institutions. Please contact the relevant institutional representative for further information: 

Families and relationships are part of the bedrock of social life, and research in this topic area is of relevance to almost all challenges in social science research. Similarly, promoting the health and wellbeing of populations is a clear priority nationally and globally. A ‘Healthier Scotland’ is one of The Scottish Government’s strategic objectives and three of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals focus on health. This pathway brings together Scottish-wide networks including the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) and the recent development of the Scottish hub of the Centre for Population Change (CPC), as well as both established and emergent collaborations across social science disciplines, between the social and biomedical/clinical sciences and with policy and practice.

The pathway draws together strengths in qualitative and quantitative research, training and knowledge exchange in this topic area, supplementing existing recognised MSc provision offered by social science disciplines in the participating institutions.

The pathway PhD training is structured around a 1+3 or +3 full-time and equivalent part- time arrangements, enhancing the core MSc/MRes offered by other pathways with pathway advanced training in research, in knowledge exchange, and in impact in the topic area. The pathway taps into the networks between academia, policy and practice. This networking connects academics with the NHS Scotland, third sector organisations related to children, families, older people and health, as well as statutory authorities, local and Scottish Government. It also builds on the CPC in Scotland’s articulation with government, sited in the Registrar General of Scotland’s office, with whom the director established the Longitudinal Studies Centre – Scotland. CRFR, CPC and the health consortiums are embedded in international networks which will also be used to enhance student experience.

Applications for studentships within this Pathway can be made with attachment to the following institutions. Please contact the relevant institutional representative for further information:

The Social Policy Pathway is offered by a partnership between the University of Stirling, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University. These Universities provide high-quality ESRC-recognised doctoral training. The partnership constitutes a top-rated research environment in which to study Social Policy and Social Work at graduate level within the UK and internationally.

Core subject-specific training, general research and transferable skills are provided via a range of MSc degrees. This includes the delivery of Advanced Quantitative Methods. Students usually complete a ‘1+3’ route in either institution (MSc, PhD). Studentships may also be offered on a +3 basis for applicants who have already achieved required levels of research training.

As part of a Scottish DTC, Social Policy and Social Work students have the opportunity to undertake training and research in a unique and increasingly significant policy context. Each University provides a robust research environment and all have strong governmental and professional practice links. In particular, we have strong links with the Scottish Government, local authorities and third sector organisations, with many doctoral students benefiting from placements and collaborative studentship awards in recent years.

The pathway builds on and looks to extend existing collaboration between the Universities such as the Scottish Social Survey Network, the Scottish Social Policy Network, the Centre for Families and Relationships, Gender-based Violence Research Network, Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. Academics in all five institutions participate in a variety of international research networks such as the Socrates Network of European University Schools of Social Work and EU (FP VI) Network of Excellence in Reconciling Work and Welfare (RECWOWE).

ESRC-funded PhD studentships in Social Policy and Social Work are available at the following institutions. Please contact the relevant institutional representative for further information:

This pathway builds upon long-standing and widely distributed strengths in Law and Society research and post-graduate training in Scotland. Socio-legal studies (SLS) and criminology encompass research that addresses core concerns of society around state power, marginality and vulnerability, effective regulation and social order. The research areas of this pathway comprise an extensive domain including inter alia sociology and anthropology of law; criminology and criminal justice; penality and social control; the uses and applications of law in public policy and economic relations domestically and internationally; images and representations of legality, crime and punishment in official discourse, popular culture and everyday life; regulation and ordering practices in political, commercial and private spheres; security and securitization, and their associated institutional and rhetorical dynamics.

The development of criminological and criminal justice research is a priority in Scotland. This has been reflected in major investment from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Scottish Government and led to the formation, in 2007, of the cross-institutional, multi-disciplinary Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR). At around the same time SFC, in conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, created the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) – an alliance of 13 institutions.  As a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary consortium, comprising all institutions currently in receipt of ESRC recognition/quota in the area, SCCJR is the natural platform for a new collectively-provided training initiative in criminology.

Research training in socio-legal studies benefits from varied and extensive bodies of policy-relevant socio-legal scholarship and training at the Universities of Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Strathclyde. The boundaries between socio-legal studies and criminology are porous – and students in each field benefit from being trained together, with specialist provision for each as appropriate.

ESRC-funded studentships in Socio-Legal Studies in Criminology are available at the following institutions. Please contact the relevant institutional representative for further information:

The pathway consists of the Sociology units of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Stirling, and Stirling Film, Media and Journalism. Each of the members provides both subject-specific and advanced training.

PhD training is structured around a 1+3 full-time (or 2+6 part-time) arrangement with an MSc in the first year. Students with adequate MSc training are able to go directly into the PhD in a +3/+6 arrangement.

The pathway is part of the Scottish Sociology Consortium, along with the 8 other institutions teaching sociology in Scotland. Experts in these institutions will contribute to advanced shared pathway training, and students from them will be able to access pathway training. The pathway will also draw on UK and international expertise through a series of planned collaborations, building on our recognised UK and global prestige.

ESRC-funded studentships in Sociology are available at the following institutions. Please contact the relevant institutional representative for further information: