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Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
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Menu
  • About us
    • Governance
    • Pathways
    • Case studies
    • Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Contact us
    • Work with us
    • Complaints
    • COVID-19 FAQs
  • Current Students
    • Events
    • Training
      • Summer School 2022
      • Spring into Methods
      • Business Booster
      • Career Orientated Training
      • Disciplinary Specific Training
      • Methods and Methodologies
        • When Methods Meet
    • Training Funds
      • ESRC Training Funds
      • Training Event Funds
    • Internships
      • Current Opportunities
      • Open Call​
    • SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher (SER) Programme
      • Overview
      • Open Competition
      • Targeted Placements
    • Mentoring
      • Mentoring Overview
      • SGSSS RSE Mentoring Programme
      • SGSSS Career Pathways Mentoring Programme
    • Research Impact Competition 2022
    • Student Handbook
    • Meet Our Students
    • Expenses Policy
  • Prospective Students and Fellows
    • Studentships
      • Overview
      • Supervisor-led Studentship Opportunities
      • Student-led Open Competition 2022/23
      • Eligibility
    • Fellowships
      • Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) Scheme 2022/23
  • Supervisors
    • Steers Competition 2022/23
    • Open Collaborative Competition 2022/23
    • Skills Development Scotland Collaborative Competition 2022/23
    • ADR UK Studentship Competition 2022/23
    • Spring into Methods
  • Our Partners
    • Internships
    • Collaborative Studentships
    • Training
    • The RSE Mentoring Scheme
    • Our work with Industry
    • SGSSS Alumni Community

Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
Menu
  • About us
    • Governance
    • Pathways
    • Case studies
    • Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Contact us
    • Work with us
    • Complaints
    • COVID-19 FAQs
  • Current Students
    • Events
    • Training
      • Summer School 2022
      • Spring into Methods
      • Business Booster
      • Career Orientated Training
      • Disciplinary Specific Training
      • Methods and Methodologies
        • When Methods Meet
    • Training Funds
      • ESRC Training Funds
      • Training Event Funds
    • Internships
      • Current Opportunities
      • Open Call​
    • SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher (SER) Programme
      • Overview
      • Open Competition
      • Targeted Placements
    • Mentoring
      • Mentoring Overview
      • SGSSS RSE Mentoring Programme
      • SGSSS Career Pathways Mentoring Programme
    • Research Impact Competition 2022
    • Student Handbook
    • Meet Our Students
    • Expenses Policy
  • Prospective Students and Fellows
    • Studentships
      • Overview
      • Supervisor-led Studentship Opportunities
      • Student-led Open Competition 2022/23
      • Eligibility
    • Fellowships
      • Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) Scheme 2022/23
  • Supervisors
    • Steers Competition 2022/23
    • Open Collaborative Competition 2022/23
    • Skills Development Scotland Collaborative Competition 2022/23
    • ADR UK Studentship Competition 2022/23
    • Spring into Methods
  • Our Partners
    • Internships
    • Collaborative Studentships
    • Training
    • The RSE Mentoring Scheme
    • Our work with Industry
    • SGSSS Alumni Community

SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher (SER) Programme

SGSSS has recently been successful in their application to the Saltire Emerging Researcher (SER) Programme.

The objects of the Saltire Emerging Researcher Exchange Programme are:

  • Enabling research collaboration and professional network development with European partners
  • Identifying common research priorities, promoting the sharing of research themes, data, methodologies and approaches
  • Fostering the development of long-term relationships between Scottish and European social science researchers for future joint research initiatives
  • Establishing networks with non-academic collaborators (policy makers, businesses, third sector organisations) and engaging with the wider population through public engagement activities
  • Developing future leadership skills to develop capacity for application to external funders such as ESRC New Investigator awards

The programme will offer opportunities for incoming and outgoing social science PGRs and ECRs to apply for an exchange visit allowing them to spend up to 6 months under the guidance of a nominated academic mentor in a European host institution.

Programme Information

Open competition second round and targeted opportunities are now open for applications.

Apply Now
  • Guidance
  • Application Form Template
  • FAQs (from Q&A session)

Programme Q&A Session

SGSSS held a Q&A session on 15 November 2021 to discuss the SER programme, offer examples of similar placements activities and further guidance to potential applicants.

Please click here for a copy of the slides. 

Please click here for a copy of the FAQs.

How does the programme work?

The programme will operate through two routes:   

  1. Open call for applications. Doctoral students and ECRs can submit a proposal, aligned with one of our priority research themes, drawing on their developing networks including those of their research group(s). The SGSSS priority themes are based on the National Outcomes, which track Scotland’s progress in the National Performance Framework.
  2. Targeted opportunities  with existing partners within the SGSSS consortium. The partnership details will be finalised in autumn as we work with our existing training pathways to identify candidate partnerships for inclusion, and then prioritise the most promising opportunities for collaborative working with European partners. These are likely to include existing research infrastructure investments such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks.   
What support will be available throughout the programme?

The programme will be designed to facilitate participation from students of all backgrounds and minimise existing barriers through the following activities: 

  1. Pre-application webinar – to source potential European partners as well as examples of how the visit could be designed, and a Q&A with students who have participated in our existing OIV scheme. 
  2. Flexibility in placement design – supporting short visits combined with a longer online engagement for those unable to be away for a prolonged period. 
  3. Inclusive research culture – All applicants will demonstrate how their proposal nurtures inclusive research cultures and considers under-represented groups in cohort building. 
  4. Professional and Career development – There will be a comprehensive system of pre, during and post visit support to: help define individual and collective benefits/outcomes, enhance readiness, maximise the value of the experience and finally reflect on the outcomes. E.g. training on project management, cross-cultural communication and establishing networks; a buddy system including virtual coffees/discussion forum; and an end of programme reflective interview. 
Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is not based on nationality, but on the country of location of the PhD registration. Applicants for this open call (October 2021) must be currently registered for a PhD or employed as an ECR at an SGSSS partner HEI in a disciplinary area which broadly falls under Social Science disciplines detailed by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Centre). Please note that for any interdisciplinary PhDs, at least 50% of the project must fall within Social Sciences disciplines. Placements must take place at an EU, EEA, or EFTA HEIs and applicants must also have met any immigration requirements to allow them to undertake the placement in the proposed country (unless the placement is completely online).

For the purposes of this programme, ECRs applicants must be within 3 years of the award of their PhD (from the point of notification of award to the point of applying). Notification of award means the date at which you received notification that your PhD would be awarded/has passed, not the date of a graduation ceremony or receipt of a certificate.

For PhD candidates, it is expected that the placement will be separate to the PhD and an interruption will be taken to ensure the placement is not detrimental to on time PhD completion.

If you are offered an award, you will be asked to confirm that you (a) have appropriate approval from your HEI to allow the placement to take place, and (b) are covered by your home HEI for insurance purposes to undertake the research placement.

What would I need to do next? 

If interested in this opportunity, click on the links below to explore our open competition, live now, or look out for updates on our targeted placement opportunities in the coming weeks. We’ll be promoting the call through our Weekly Digest and the SGSSS website. 

For any questions and if you would like to find out more, please contact Flaminia (SGSSS Employability and Partnership Manager) on team@sgsss.ac.uk.  

Open Competition

LIVE

Targeted Placements

LIVE

Timeline for Saltire Targeted Placements 2022

Thursday 27 January 2022

Online application system opens for targeted placements

Thursday 27 January 2022
Wednesday 16 February 2022, 5pm

Targeted placement application deadline

Wednesday 16 February 2022, 5pm
Friday 11 March 2022

Notification of targeted placement outcomes

Friday 11 March 2022
January - July 2022

Placements and tailored training and development opportunities

January - July 2022
August 2022

End of Programme conference and ceremony

August 2022

Timeline for Second Open Competition 2022

Thursday 27 January 2022

Online application system opens for second open competition

Thursday 27 January 2022
Friday 18 March 2022, 5pm

Open competition application deadline

Friday 18 March 2022, 5pm
Friday 1 April 2022

Notification of open competition outcomes

Friday 1 April 2022
January - July 2022

Placements and tailored training and development opportunities

January - July 2022
August 2022

End of Programme conference and ceremony

August 2022

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