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Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba

Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba

Studentship opportunity

All Studentship Opportunities

Disabled People’s Lived Experiences of Benefit Reform and the Costs of Disability

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 10 April, 5 pm BST and
References are due 16 April, 5 pm BST

Project details

This PhD will re-analyse 118 in-depth interviews with 52 disabled people (each interviewed up to three times) from the ‘Welfare Conditionality’ (Welcond) qualitative longitudinal dataset. The aim is to establish original knowledge about how the design and delivery of social security impacts disabled people’s lived experiences of the costs of disability in Scotland and England.

The candidate will learn, apply and develop advanced secondary analysis techniques for rare ‘Big Qual’ (Brower et al, 2019) data, including NVivo framework matrix analysis. Cuts and reforms to disability benefits are fundamental to welfare transformation (Patrick, 2017). Whilst much of the debate has focused on work-related benefits (Wright & Dwyer, 2022), less is known about changes to support for the additional costs of living with a disability. At UK level, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (formerly Disability Living Allowance) was established to support disabled people regardless of their employment status.

The application process for PIP became controversial because of a punitive approach to assessments carried out by private agencies (Porter et al, 2021). Reanalysis of Welcond data will reveal new insights about how PIP was experienced by claimants in England and Scotland (2014-18). In 2018, the Scottish Government created a devolved social security system with the explicit aim of establishing ‘fairness, dignity and respect’ in financial support for disabled people (Pearson et al, 2024). The Scottish Adult Disability Payment (ADP) was introduced in 2022 to replace PIP for disabled people in Scotland. Although ADP has a new benefit assessment process, payments remain set at an equivalent rate to the system operating in England. Additional fieldwork with a total of approx. 10-15 ADP claimants/stakeholders in Scotland will supplement the secondary analysis. This combination of advanced secondary analysis and primary data will offer methodological advances in the field and deliver potential policy impact.

Supervisory Team:

  • First Supervisor: Professor Sharon Wright, sharon.wright@glasgow.ac.uk
  • Second Supervisor: Professor Charlotte Pearson, charlotte.pearson@glasgow.ac.uk

About the University

Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy, University of Glasgow

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Applicants will have a first degree (undergraduate) and have a demonstrable interest in the topic area under investigation.
  • Applicants can have a Masters degree, however this is not a requirement.
  • Applicants can study part-time or full-time

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.

If you do not meet the criteria above, you will be classed as an international student. To establish if you would be classed as a home student, please see pages 4 and 5 of the UKRI eligibility guidance 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 2025. 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

N/A

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 or around 1 May. Interviews will take place 19 May.

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
SGSSS Team (for questions on the application portal, only), for any questions on the project, email the first & second supervisors (see details in abstract above)
Email
team@sgsss.ac.uk

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