How to Apply

The North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) holds an annual competition for postgraduate studentship funding. Candidates may apply for funding towards master’s and doctoral study combined, or doctoral study only. The NWSSDTP does not fund standalone master’s programmes.

Applications must be submitted via one of our subject pathways, for one of the pathway’s eligible programmes – details of eligible subject areas and programmes can be found on our pathway pages: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/pathways/.

The NWSSDTP welcomes applications for part-time study across all competitions, institutions and subject pathways. 

The NWSSDTP’s fully-funded ESRC studentships cover:
  • payment of tuition fees for the duration of the studentship at the Home tuition fee rate;
  • an annual maintenance stipend (full-time: £20,780, part-time: £10,390 in 2025/26);
  • reimbursement of research expenses via the Research Training Support Grant;
  • opportunities to apply for additional funding for internships, fieldwork and overseas institutional visits.
How to Apply

Please find below the guidance and application paperwork to apply:

All applicants must also submit an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form with their application:

The deadline for applications to be submitted to your School PGR Administrator is 5pm on the 2nd February 2026.

Directed Studentships and Global Majority Commitment

In order to reflect and promote the ethos and values of the consortium, we actively encourage applications from students from backgrounds that are currently under-represented within our consortium and in postgraduate research within Higher Education in the UK more broadly.

Accordingly, we currently ring-fence two studentships annually for students who identify as Black British and two studentships annually for students who identify as Asian British. We have also made a commitment that a minimum of 20% of all our studentships will be awarded to applicants from Global Majority backgrounds (International or British). For further information, please visit: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/global-majority-directed-studentships/

Priority Areas

The ESRC have awarded the NWSSDTP 9 steered awards each year in the following Priority Areas:

  • Advanced Quantitative Methods (3 awards)
  • Data Skills (3 awards)
  • Interdisciplinary research which straddles other research council remits (3 awards)

We encourage applicants to identify if their proposed project fits into a Priority Area, as this may strengthen their application and will be considered positively in terms of fit with a priority area. For further information, please visit: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/priority-areas/

Further support for prospective candidates

Candidates can view examples of previously successful NWSSDTP Standard Studentship applications here: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/example-apps/. There are further good practice examples of answers to the ‘Preparedness for Postgraduate Research’ question here: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/preparedness-for-postgraduate-research/

Prospective referees can view good practice examples of references here: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/example-references/

An applicant workshop for 2026 entry was held in October to support applicants who are from groups traditionally under-represented at PhD-level: Global Majority candidates, those who have been away from education for more than three years, disabled students, and those who are the first in their family to go to university. A link to a recording can be found here: https://youtu.be/JMYIviyttJA Attendees at these workshops also have access to a follow up drop-in session in late November.