Why York?

Why York?

• The Department has an excellent record of doctoral research
• We have an international reputation for research excellence and methodical and theoretical innovation
• There is a significant concentration of research expertise within the department, and a number of research fellows and graduate students working in related projects
• We are successful at generating substantial research income from national and international funding agencies.  These include:
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
  • European Commission
  • AHRC
  • The Royal Society
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • Wellcome Trust Centre For The History Of Medicine At UCL
  • Medical Research Council
  • EPSRC
  • NIHR-CCF
  • Department Of Health
  • British Academy
  • The Nuffield Foundation
  • The Wellcome TrustJoseph Rowntree Foundation
• Research in the Department is focussed around five substantive research clusters and research units
• You can choose whether to work with a particular member of staff on independent research or you can conduct your research within one of the department's research units. (You would still have a specific supervisor allocated to you)

Research

Recent research themes

• Vaccines against vice: A constructive technology assessment of immunotherapies for addiction
• Risk and socio-techynical system: A study of the Taiwanese campus accident reporting system
• Communicating offline protest online: mapping changes in mobilization, identity building and organisation.
• Late License: contempoary adulthood and the night time leisure economy
• Life in a northern town: call centres, labour markets and identity in post-industrial Middlesbrough
• Work and its other: A multiple purpose analysis of incapacity benefit reform
  
• Contemporary Chinese migration : exploring the experiences of middle-class Chinese families living in England in the early 21st Century
• Experts in the wild: natural history film-making as a culture of knowledge-production
• From risk to reason: understanding young people’s perception of HIV risk in South Africa
• Home and away: a sociological study of transnational intimate relationships
• Modes of lay environmental monitoring: towards a sociology of environmental monitoring
• Online @ home in retirement: situating computer and internet use within bodies, spaces and biographies
• Talking of transcendence: a discursive exploration into how people make sense of their extraordinary expepriences
• Wired for sound : on the digitalisation of music and music culture
• Translating molecular diagnostics : innovation, communication and the dynamics of clinical implementation
• Speaking of spirits: representations and experiences of the spirit world in British spirit mediumship
• Medicine : its meaning, management & value
• Talking about violence: women reporting abuse in Brasil
• Understanding Internet Governance

Supervision

Supervision

All students will be allocated to a supervisor or supervisors at the beginning of the first academic year; normally student and supervisor(s) will already have met or corresponded before admission.  Where relevant to the student’s research interest, a second supervisor from the Department may be appointed.

As well as the main supervisor(s), a Thesis Advisory Panel (TAP) will be appointed, to monitor students’ progress towards completion and offer advice where necessary.  The supervisor/supervisee relationships will have a major influence on the progress of the research.  The learning process should be two-way, from which you should both benefit.  However, a supervisor should help to maintain and develop a student’s intellectual interests, offering new perspectives on the research topic, drawing attention to new work in the area, providing appropriate academic contacts, giving notice of useful conferences and seminars, and advice on publication.  The supervisor will direct students to relevant short courses offered in other departments, and by university service departments.  The supervisor should also help the student in the planning and organising of his or her time. 

Training

All research students take part in transferable skills training which develops competence in communication skills, career management, networking and team building and personal effectiveness. It is expected that students will take six days of training per year which will be selected from the generic transferable skills courses offered by the University’s Graduate Training Office. The Department also runs courses of one, half day or two day courses (or equivalents) which provide training in sociology subject specific transferable skills. 

 

Second Year PhD students organise and run a one day conference in the Spring Term.  Departmental training for all other students usually takes place in Week 1 of the summer vacation and you will be notified of these events.

The University Researcher Development Team will help you to conduct first class research and to strengthen your employability prospects. We provide a central suite of training opportunities for all researchers (research students, research associates, research assistants and research fellows) and work with departments to provide subject specific training

Applying

Entry requirements

Normally, you will have a good undergraduate degree in a social science discipline, or in a discipline related to the research area in which you intend to work.

Graduate Students with English as a second language

If English is not your first language, we do expect you to be able to demonstrate a high level of proficiency. Our required IELTS language qualification score is 7.0 with at least 6.0 in writing:

• TOEFL score 260 (computer based test)
• TOEFL score 105 (Internet-based test iBT)

Students who have successfully completed a recent undergraduate or taught masters degree at a UK University are exempt from the English Language requirement.

Application procedures

Application for Research degrees are made online. Please follow the relevant link to access the online form:

• PhD in Sociology
• MPhil in Sociology

If you are applying for a research degree (i.e. not for a taught one-year Masters' course) you are asked on the application form to provide a brief outline of your proposed research area. This, together with the other information you provide on the form, will be reviewed by the proposed supervisor, in consultation with another specialist in the relevant research area. If you have not already visited us informally, to meet and talk to the person with whom you are interested in working, and if it seems that your proposed field of research is one in which we are able to offer appropriate supervision, then you will normally have the opportunity to come and talk to us about your plans, and see the university.

Applicants from overseas are encouraged to visit the department, wherever possible, so that you can get a clear, first-hand impression of the department, the university and the city of York.

A decision will be reached on the basis of our assessment of the potential for your successfully completing original doctoral research, which depends in part on whether we are able to offer you the necessary expert supervision. So we look for a close match between the work which an applicant is proposing to do, and the research expertise of the relevant member(s) of staff.

Please note that the University and the Department pursue a policy of equal opportunities in offering places to read for postgraduate degrees, as in all appointments.

Fees & funding

Fees

• Up to date information on tuition fees is provided by the University Registry Services.  Fees for 2011 entry are now available on their web site
  

Funding

The University and International Office do offer scholarships to applicants. This information is provided centrally by the University Registry Services on their Funding Information Page

ESRC Awards

The department is able to offer ESRC +3 Quota Awards. Information will be posted in January 2012 when ESRC confirm the new funding arrangements.