DTC ESRC Multidisciplinary Studentships 2013/14

Background

Background

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recently announced an opportunity for Doctoral Training Centres to host multidisciplinary PhD studentships, recognising that research activity that crosses discipline boundaries has the potential to create innovative and transformative social science knowledge.

The White Rose Social Sciences Doctoral Training Centre (WRDTC) is offering three multidisciplinary studentships under this pilot ESRC scheme. Successful applicants will be based at the University of Leeds, Sheffield or York (depending upon the research project) and will work in collaboration with the BBSRC DTP (Doctoral Training Partnership).

The design of the PhD programme includes substantive training within the BBSRC DTP (Doctoral Training Partnership) as well as the White Rose Social Sciences DTC. This innovative approach to the doctoral experience will allow groups of social scientists, scientists and engineers to meet and derive mutual benefit from a structured programme of collaborative activity.  Key goals will be the creation of a community of social scientists capable of making valuable contributions to wideranging debates in the UK and beyond, and the production of innovative social science knowledge impacting in the arena of science and society.

The Social Sciences DTC offers a well established framework for delivering joint programmes and a wide-ranging training and development provision.  Our programmes focus on the quality of the student experience and a collective commitment to a rich and varied training environment.  

The principle of joint supervision of studentships is embedded in our provision and has proved extremely successful over many years.

Fully funded PhD studentships are being offered in three project areas.

Project 1

Project 1: Visual methods in knowledge production

Supervisors: Dr. Susan Molyneux-Hodgson (Department of Sociological Studies) and Professor Simon Foster (Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology), University of Sheffield

The project takes as its starting point the BBSRC priority for the development of new technologies and methodologies for biosciences and the ESRC interest in innovative methods. The Mechanistic Biology DTP has one focus on “exploiting new ways of working”, including the production of new bioimaging technologies. The project would explore aspects of imaging and the visual within biological research and the possibilities for novel routes to knowledge production that images and imagining play. The development of new technologies in the biological sciences (e.g. advanced microscopy) opens up new avenues for the development of innovative data analysis tools; the possibility of secondary analysis of databases; and renders ‘fuzzy’ the conventional qualitative / quantitative data divide.

The biology is based on the application of new microscopy methods to understand the architecture of bacterial cell walls (extremely important as targets for antibiotics such as penicillin). Extraordinary structures of a complexity and engineering previously unimagined are being revealed, revolutionising many cell biology fields. These developments raise intriguing epistemological and ontological issues, as well as practical concerns, that are relevant to the generation of scientific knowledge. The project would explore the following:

• The development of bioimaging technologies and new approaches to visual work
• The implications of new forms of data collection and new representations, especially for the divisions of research labour
• The co-evolution of objects and the means of interrogating them
• The role of images in the research process and the meanings ascribed to images by different research fields / practitioners involved in the development of the new tools
• The function and value of visual media in the production of knowledge

Opportunities for secondments to work with instrument manufacturers will be provided.

Contact: Dr Susan Molyneux-Hodgson, s.hodgson@sheffield.ac.uk

Project 2

Project 2: The social aspects of predictive modelling of biological systems

Supervisors: Professor Anne Kerr (Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds) and Professor Phil Wright (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield)

This project will explore the social and ethical challenges of combining and reusing genetic and other data in predictive modelling of biological processes such as gene expression. Data can be drawn from a range of public and private sources, presenting researchers with many challenges with respect to consent, confidentiality, compatibility, access and gaps and missing data.

This project will explore how they negotiate these challenges when building hypotheses and models by working closely alongside scientists involved with the DTP, following the projects in which they are involved. The research will be contribute to understanding of how to enhance predictive modelling whilst at the same time protecting the interests of patients and database providers. The student will also engage in training on predictive modelling of social data provided by the DTP as well as specialist social science training through NCRM, and develop insights of relevance to the use of biological and social data, including the possibilities of developing combined methodologies and ethical framework for these activities.

This would make a novel contribution to the social science of genetics, where there is little engagement with the complexities of data sharing and modelling, and also contribute to addressing the deficit in quantitative skills amongst social scientists.

Contact: Professor Anne Kerr, E.A.Kerr@leeds.ac.uk

Project 3

Project 3: Clinical trials and the challenge of regenerative medicine

Supervisors: Professor Andrew Webster (SATSU/Sociology) and Dr Paul Genever (Department of Biology) both University of York


This project proposes to examine developments in clinical trialling methodologies in the cell therapy field given these pose new challenges for biomedical researchers and companies. The recent ‘UK Strategy for Regenerative Medicine’ noted that social science research is needed in order to better understand the development of translational models to accelerate clinical application, not least because of the need to develop  new tools, standards and approaches to assess efficacy and safety will require detailed exploration of regulatory processes. New trial designs may therefore be required, perhaps more adaptive in nature. Such methodological changes could affect trial governance and ethics. The ESRC itself has, as a partner in the development of the ‘Strategy’, called for research on trial facilitation and governance. It is important to examine how the production of appropriate evidence in the regulatory space is being negotiated by stakeholders in different subsectors of the field.

The studentship will include examining trends in the deployment of ‘adaptive’ trials, development of post-market surveillance data and its employment in health technology assessment and company/producer strategies, and infrastructural initiatives. The project aligns with the BBSRC’s theme of ‘Industrial Biotechnology’, examining how bio scientists, firms and regulators are responding to the challenge of changing trials protocols to be fit for purpose for cell therapies, as distinct from drugs.

The social science student would undertake training on trialling methods, and their role within research and translational medicine. Placements (e.g. with Genever’s osteoarthritis collaborators) would involve trial planning in order to understand the challenges that are faced with the clinicians.

In addition, the student would have a short-term placement in the University of York’s Clinical Trials Unit as well as a placement with a large pharmaceutical company, facilitated by the Department of Biology that has dedicated staff who secure such opportunities for PhD students.

Contact: Professor Andrew Webster, andrew.webster@york.ac.uk

Studentship terms

Studentship Terms

• Studentships are funded on a four year PhD basis.  In exceptional circumstances, funding for five years will be considered, which includes a Masters year.

• The studentship provides an annual tax free standard maintenance grant set at the Research Council national postgraduate rate, which for 2013/14 was £13,726 but will also include an enhanced stipend of £2,000 p.a.; full payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU
standard Research Council rate, and a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG of £750) per annum.  

• In accordance with ESRC eligibility criteria, the studentships are available to UK and EU applicants only. Further information on eligibility is available at:  Am I eligible for an ESRC Studentship?

• The studentship is tenable from Session 2013/14 (start September/October 2013).

How To Apply

How to apply

Applicants are advised to contact the lead supervisor in the first instance.

• Enquiries related to the application process for projects based at the University of Leeds should be emailed directly to Shirley Yeadon, s.yeadon@adm.leeds.ac.uk, Administrative Officer, Scholarships Office, University of Leeds.
• Enquiries related to the application process for projects based at the University of Sheffield should be emailed directly to pgr-scholarships@sheffield.ac.uk.
• Enquiries related to the application process for projects based at the University of York should be emailed directly to Kay Mitchell, research-student-admin@york.ac.uk, Research Student Administrator, Registry Services, University of York.

Timetable

Contact Details

For further information email enquiries@wrdtc.ac.uk.