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Postgraduate Research Funding

Studentships

The School of Education is inviting applications for Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant (GTRA) Studentships to commence in September 2013. The GTRA award holders will be required to support a wide range of activities that contribute to enriching the ethos and environment of the PGR community in the School of Education, and thereby to the research culture in the School itself. Award holders will be expected to make a contribution of around 6 hours per week (180 hours a year) in the School, principally assisting academic staff in the delivery of high quality research and teaching and taking a central role in fostering a vibrant PGR student community.

Specific Research Opportunities

The School welcomes applications from across a general range within the discipline of Education, and its associated sub-disciplines. Specific research groups within the School would keenly welcome applications within the areas of their specific current research programmes/ projects. These are listed below:

The Language Teacher Education Group welcomes applicants interested in any aspect of second, foreign, additional and/or international language education and language teacher education but particularly those who wish to explore intercultural, psychological and technological aspects of TESOL. The LTE group has a thriving doctoral community http://edtechandtesol.info/phd/ with a strong focus on qualitative methods, especially but not exclusively those involving narrative approaches. For further details and support in making an application to this group please contact Dr Richard Fay at richard.fay@manchester.ac.uk.

The Centre for Equity in Education welcomes applicants interested in any aspect of educational disadvantage, but particularly those who wish to contribute to the Centre’s programme of work on the links between schools, families and communities in disadvantaged areas. The Centre is currently developing a series of ‘children’s zones’ in collaboration with Save the Children (see www.education.manchester.ac.uk/research/centres/cee/publications/Developing-Children's-Zones-low-res.pdf) and there is a unique opportunity for students to join this pioneering work by focusing their study on the development and evaluation of these zones. Specialists in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods are equally welcome to apply. For further details and support in making an application to this centre please contact Prof Alan Dyson at d.a.dyson@manchester.ac.uk and Dr Kirstin Kerr at kirstin.kerr@manchester.ac.uk

The Mathematics Education Research Group welcomes applicants interested in any aspect of mathematics education, but particularly those who wish to contribute to our work in Primary, secondary or undergraduate developments in modelling and problem solving, professional development through R&D groups and lesson study, and/or theoretical work in Social Theory. See www.transmaths.org for recent and proposed project work. Researchers interested in sociocultural theory, quantitative methods, or narrative and case study approaches are particularly encouraged to apply. For further details and support in making an application to this group please contact Prof Julian Williams at julian.williams@manchester.ac.uk.

Studentship applications are invited to work as part of a strongly developing research team in Science Education, building on existing research programmes in science and maths. The research will focus on exploring curricular and pedagogical approaches which lead young people in disadvantaged contexts to engage with the challenges of learning science. Initial teacher education provides part of the context for this project, which involves both experienced and beginning teachers in a regional partnership with university lecturers in science education. For further details and support in making an application under Science Education please contact Dr Andy Howes at a.j.howes@manchester.ac.uk.

The Educational Psychology Group particularly welcomes applicants interested in supporting its pioneering work on the design and evaluation of attentional training software programmes for the reduction of test anxiety relating particularly to public examinations. The next phase of this research will involve further qualitative and quantitative data gathering with young people in the 14-19 age group within an established network of school and college contacts in the North-West. For further details and support in making an application please to this group contact Prof Kevin Woods at kevin.a.woods@manchester.ac.uk

The Social and Emotional Learning Research Group welcomes applicants interested in contributing to our work on social and emotional learning in schools and the mental health and well-being of pupils and/or teachers. Researchers interested in the role of the teacher, the influence of the school climate, the processes of implementation, or factors that influence mental health and well-being are particularly encouraged to apply. We welcome quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. For further details and support in making an application to this group please contact Prof Neil Humphrey at neil.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk.

For further information on the School of Education’s general research areas and expertise, and the profiles of its academic staff please visit: www.education.manchester.ac.uk/research/.

President’s Doctoral Scholarship (PDS) Awards

The prestigious President’s Doctoral Scholarship (PDS) awards are open to all nationalities and all research areas. PDS awards will be allocated to the most outstanding studentship applicants. Based on the academic track-record of applicants, and evidence of their research potential, we will select our PDS award winners from the awarded studentships across our 2013 funding scheme. Applicants will receive confirmation of their PDS status alongside confirmation of their studentship.

PDS award status will entitle our successful candidates to a further £1,000 enhancement to their stipend and they will also have the opportunity to:

attend a series of exclusive events where they will have the opportunity to meet the University of Manchester President and Vice Chancellor;
benefit from international research leadership under distinguished scholars;
interact closely with the academic community and network with other PDS award students;
receive a PDS medal at graduation and become a PDS award ambassador for the University.

STUDENTSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS

Criteria

Applicants will normally have:

Excellent academic achievement: a good honours degree and a Masters level qualification at merit or distinction, incorporating significant educational research methods training (or equivalent).
Relevant professional and/or research experience, which may include contributions to publications or presentations.
Studentship applicants must have made, or been offered or be in the process of making, an application to one of the School of Education’s 3 year PhD routes (or part-time equivalent). This can be done online at: www.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/howtoapply/
Applicants must be eligible for an offer of a place on the School of Education’s 3 year PhD route (or part-time equivalent)

Applicants should submit an application based on their own research proposal, or one developed with a potential academic supervisor, from within or possibly outside of the specific research opportunities outlined above. Applicants should complete and submit the GTRA application form, together with their qualification transcripts and references to the contact details below.

The deadline for submission is Monday 22 April at 5pm, and it is likely that interviews will be held on Friday 3 May.

GTRA Application Form (Word Document, 125 KB)

GTRA Further Particulars (Word Document, 44 KB)

Note that an offer of a GTRA or PDS studentship can only be made once an applicant’s 3 year PhD application has been accepted.

Enquiries relating to eligibility and submission of applications for the School of Education’s doctoral programmes or studentship awards should be directed to:

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