White Rose Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership

The Economic and Social Research Council White Rose DTP is a regional consortium of seven universities with social science research excellence and involves the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York as well as Bradford, Hull, Manchester Metropolitan and Sheffield Hallam.

Funding

ESRC stipend (£20,780 2025/26) plus full fee waiver (updated rates for 2026/27 will be published in early 2026)

Academic year

2026/27

Open to

International (including EU), International (non-EU) and UK (home) students

Qualification level

Postgraduate research

Important information about deadlines

Although the deadline is January 21 2026, applicants must first be shortlisted by their chosen departments to be eligible. This will involve submitting a draft funding application by an earlier internal department deadline (see department deadlines below). If you are interested in applying for this funding opportunity you must contact your chosen department first to ensure you are following any internal deadlines/processes.

The WRDTP has been accredited by the ESRC to offer PhD scholarships across a range of schemes, available for doctoral research students commencing their studies in Autumn 2026. The following awards will be open for application from students:

up to 35 Pathway Awards available across the DTP incorporating 2 Interdisciplinary Research Awards and 2 WRDTP/Stuart Hall Foundation Awards for Black British applicants
up to 2 WRDTP Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) Awards
up to 2 WRDTP Advanced Data Analytics (ADA) Awards.

There will also be up to 8 Collaborative Awards made to supervisory teams for projects involving collaboration with an external partner. Supervisors will apply for these awards, and those projects that are awarded funding will be open for applications from students in early Spring 2026.

Further information about each of the award schemes can be found on the WRDTP website, and in the guidance documents below. All awards are available on a +3.5, +3.75 or a 1+3.5 basis, and can be held full-time or part-time.

Application

You must have applied online for a place on an appropriate academic programme first, before applying for the scholarship.

Please note that if you intend to apply for a 1+3.5 studentship (see below, Types of Scholarship) then you must apply for both the MA in Social Research (for 2026/27 entry) and the relevant PhD programme (for 2027/28 entry).

You don't need to complete the form all at once - you can save your progress, and a link will be emailed to you so you can continue at a later time. Once you have submitted your application, a copy will be emailed to you for your records.

The PG Admissions team will be able to help you with this process, should you have any questions:
pg-admissions@york.ac.uk
+44 (0)1904 322142

Application guidance and character limits

Scholarship benefits

Being part of the WRDTP will give you access to:

a wealth of supervisory expertise across the social sciences
a wide range of training opportunities particularly focused on maximising the social and economic benefits of your research
a network of students and researchers studying in your discipline across Yorkshire
a network of interdisciplinary contacts and the opportunity to develop expertise working across disciplines.

Information session

We will be running an online Q & A session about the process at York on 23 October between 5pm and 6pm. You can sign up for this via the following Google form.

White Rose Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership contact details

esrc-whiterose-dtp@york.ac.uk

Eligibility

Open to International (including EU), International (non-EU) and UK (home) students.

Check the department processes and eligibility section (below) for department-specific eligibility requirements.

All students are eligible to receive a full award, to include a stipend and fees at the home level.

How to apply

The application process is managed internally by departments. You should seek out advice from your prospective supervisor in the first instance if you are interested in applying for the competition.

1) Applicants are asked to apply for a place on the PhD programme in the department/school of their choice first.

2) Each department has an earlier internal deadline by which prospective applicants must have applied for a place on the PhD programme in order to be eligible for consideration for ESRC WRDTP funding. Some departments will also require you to submit a draft funding application for the ESRC WRDTP scheme. You must contact the department to check if this is the case: they will provide you with information about how and when to complete their required applications, including draft application forms.

If you have any queries around the deadline, and whether you are required to submit a draft funding application, please contact the Postgraduate Research Administrator of your chosen department directly for details on this earlier deadline. They will also be able to supply you with a word version of the application form.

3) Following this internal department deadline, departments will shortlist their PhD applicants and invite them to complete a full application for the ESRC competition.

Departments will share an application form link directly with the applicants that they have shortlisted for the ESRC Competition.

Once the application form link has been received by the shortlisted applicants from their chosen department, they will have until 5pm, 21 January 2026 to make their formal application to the ESRC competition through the application form link.

Terms and conditions

All ESRC scholarships are subject to the terms and conditions set out in the ESRC funding guidelines (esrc.ukri.org).

Continued receipt of all scholarships is conditional upon satisfactory academic progress. We may request academic progress updates from your supervisor(s).

Data protection

Any data we require will be held and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

Earlier department deadlines

School for Business and Society - 5 December 2025 5pm GMT
Department of Education - 12 December 2025 5pm GMT
Department of Health Sciences - 24 November 2025 5pm GMT
Department of Sociology -12 December 2025 12 noon GMT
York Law School - 12 December 2025 12 noon GMT
Department of Politics and International Relations - 12 December 5pm GMT
Department of Economics - 19 December 12 noon GMT
Department of Psychology - 7 January 2026 5pm GMT
Department of Environment - 8 December 5pm GMT

Types of scholarship

Awards on offer

Applicants without a social science Masters degree will normally be funded for 4.5 years, undertaking a 1 year MA Social Research followed by 3.5 year PhD.
Applicants who already have a social science Masters degree, but have fewer than 60 credits of M-level social science research training will normally be funded for 3.75 years to undertake an integrated PGCert/PhD.
Applicants with a social science Masters degree and with 60 or more credits of M-level social science research training will normally be funded for 3.5 years to undertake a PhD.

Pathway awards

The following schools/departments are eligible to participate in nominations for a pathway award:

The above departments can then nominate in any of the following Thematic Interdisciplinary Training pathways.

You should discuss which theme is the best fit for your research proposal with your academic department.

Information for current studentship holders

If you are a current ESRC White Rose Social Sciences DTP studentship holder, you can find further information and guidance on the Information for current studentship holders web page hosted by the White Rose DTP.

Department processes and eligibility

Here are the departments who have a specific process to follow. If your department is not below and you have questions, contact them for more information.

Environment and Geography

First, applicants need to apply for a place on the PhD in Environment and Geography by Monday 8 December 2025.

Second, download a blank copy of the WRDTP application form. Send a completed draft of your application form to chem-env-pgr@york.ac.uk by Monday 8 December 2025.

Both of these tasks need to be completed by Monday 8 December at midday.

Contact chem-env-pgr@york.ac.uk if you have any questions. If your application is progressed, there will be additional subsequent deadlines to meet.

Law

First, applicants need to apply for a place on the PhD in Law.

Second, applicants need to complete the ESRC White Rose DTP application in discussion with their proposed supervisors and email this to law-pgr-admin@york.ac.uk.

Both of these tasks need to be completed by Friday 12 December at midday.

We will not be able to make exceptions for delayed applications.

School for Business and Society

How to apply for a WRDTP scholarship through the School for Business and Society:

Step 1 - Apply for a place on the PhD in Management or PhD in Social Policy and Social Work by Friday 5 December 2025.

Step 2 - Please download a blank copy of the WRDTP application form. Send a completed draft of your application form to sbs-phd@york.ac.uk by 5pm on Friday 5 December 2025.

You will be notified if your application will be progressed to the next stage of the application process by Friday 19 December 2025. Please contact sbs-phd@york.ac.uk if you have any questions. If your application is progressed, there will be additional subsequent deadlines to meet.

Sociology

Step 1 - Apply for a place on the PhD in Sociology or PhD in Women's and Gender Studies by Friday 12 December 2025.

Step 2 - Download a blank copy of the WRDTP application form. Send a completed draft of your application form to sociology-pgr-admin@york.ac.uk by 12 noon on Friday 12 December 2025.

We will be shortlisting candidates the end of December and will notify individuals as soon as we can.

Please contact sociology-pgr-admin@york.ac.uk if you have any questions. If your application is progressed, there will be additional subsequent deadlines to meet.