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.

ESRC is conducting a Mid Term Review of all DTPs during late 2026, which SGSSS is looking forward to participating in. The outcome will be shared towards the end of the year, and confirmation of studentship awards made will be subject to that outcome.

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.