The North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) relies on the support of over 100 members of academic and administrative staff across the constituent universities. The information on this page provides guidance for staff on various aspects of the NWSSDTP, and their role within it.

Pathway Representatives and Leads

Each NWSSDTP Pathway has an academic Pathway Representative at each of the constituent universities. One of these institutional Pathway Representatives will also act as the overall Pathway Lead, who is responsible for overseeing the pathway and representing the pathway at Allocation Committees. For an full list of all Pathway Representatives, please see here. 

Guidance for Pathway Representatives can be found in the NWSSDTP Pathway Representatives and Leads Handbook:

• NWSSDTP Pathway Representatives Handbook 2025-26

Northern PGR Network Supervisor Development Programme

The Northern PGR Network is a collaboration between four ESRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnerships: NINE, NWSSDTP, SGSSS and WRDTP.  We are very pleased to launch our first joint Supervisor Development programme, which is open to all PGR Supervisors in the social sciences across the network.  The programme offers bitesize (one or two-hour), engaging sessions aimed at opening up dialogues and fostering and developing reflective practice.  It also seeks to facilitate peer-to-peer exchange, learning and support and is led and informed by Supervisor experiences.

• Northern PGR Network Supervisor Development Programme 2025/26

Studentship Competitions

Standard Studentship Application Guidance and Forms can be found on the ‘How to Apply‘ pages. Information about the CASE Competition can be found on the ‘CASE Studentships‘ page.

Pathway Events Funding

Pathway Representatives and Leads can apply for funding from the NWSSDTP for the organisation of pathway events and training. The NWSSDTP expects each pathway to hold at least one event a year for its students, either solo or jointly with other pathways.

• Pathway Events Fund Guidance [PDF] ¦ Pathway Events Fund Guidance [Word]
• Pathway Events Fund Application Form
• Pathway Events Fund Event Report

Recognition of New Programmes

Each year, pathways may make a case for new master’s programmes to be added to the list of eligible programmes by completing the form below and submitting this to nwssdtp@liverpool.ac.uk by the 30th June. The contents of the forms will be reviewed by the NWSSDTP Office – in line with the ESRC Postgraduate Training and Development Guidelines 2022 – then used to update the eligible programmes on the webpage ahead of the new studentship competition paperwork launching.

The next opportunity to add master’s programmes in June 2025. PhD programmes can be added at any time.

NWSSDTP Newsletter

All NWSSDTP Students receive a monthly newsletter by email, containing information about events and opportunities, as well as profiles of current student activity. These newsletters will also be sent on to Pathway Representatives for information. To view copies of our previous newsletters, please visit the archive here.