ESRC announce Postgraduate Training Strategy

The ESRC have announced a new Postgraduate Training Strategy aiming to deliver excellence in postgraduate training by building on the considerable strengths that exist across the social science community. This strategy follows a wide ranging consultation with stakeholders through the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) Network Evaluation and ESRC’s Strategic Consultation, and uses findings from the Demographic Review 2015, ESRC Management Information and other research council approaches. 

ESRC CEO Jane Elliott has said that the Council are keen to build on the success of our Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) network and so the majority of their investment in postgraduate training will continue through this mechanism, although due to RCUK harmonisation of terms these Centres will be referred to as Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs). 

The ESRC intend to reserve 10 per cent of their training budget to provide flexibility over the five-year funding period. This will enable them to work collaboratively with other Research Councils and partners to be more responsive to new or emerging research issues or urgent skills gaps. There is a planned introduction of up to five Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) while they also plan to enhance the capacity building dimension of Centres and Large Grants by increasing the number of studentships they can apply for. 

The call for DTPs and two CDTs (the CDT priority areas will be announced in May 2015) will be released in September 2015. The decisions will be made in September 2016 and the first cohort of students will start in September 2017. 

For more information, visit the ESRC website.