BOURSES : Funded PhD project : Knowledge, care and emotions in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work in British higher education, Loughborough University, UK — LIMITE : 01/​08/​2022

Over­view

Lough­bo­rough Univer­sity is a top rated univer­sity in England for research. In REF 2021 an outs­tan­ding 91% of the work of Loughborough’s academic staff who were eligible to be submitted to the REF was judged as ‘world-leading’ or ‘inter­na­tio­nally excellent’.

In choo­sing Lough­bo­rough for your research, you’ll work along­side acade­mics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from compre­hen­sive support and guidance from our Doctoral College, inclu­ding tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career.

The School of Social Sciences and Huma­ni­ties is composed of five divi­sions : Commu­ni­ca­tion and Media ; Crimi­no­logy, Socio­logy and Social Policy ; English ; Geography and Envi­ron­ment ; and Inter­na­tional Rela­tions, Poli­tics and History. It is a partner in the Central England NERC Trai­ning Alliance (CENTA) for doctoral trai­ning and the Midlands Graduate School ESRC Doctoral trai­ning Partnership.

Project details

A range of profes­sional and academic staff are engaged in work to promote, support and embed EDI in British univer­si­ties. This work is directed towards processes, regu­la­tions and prac­tices involved in everyday insti­tu­tional life and external char­ters such as Advance HE’s Athena SWAN and Race Equa­lity Char­ters. This PhD project proposes a socio­lo­gical approach to explore EDI as everyday work acti­vi­ties embedded in univer­sity plans and stra­te­gies to achieve equity and justice. The project will inves­ti­gate the produc­tion of what consti­tutes ‘EDI know­ledge’ and which acti­vi­ties and types of know­ledge achieve recog­ni­tion and status in HEI. It will also examine whether and how EDI work repre­sents an ethics of care (Tronto, 2013) and the extent to which it involves emotional labour (Hoch­schild, 1983). The project aims to study these issues within the context of one or two British univer­si­ties, using mainly quali­ta­tive research methods (e.g., ethno­graphy ; inter­views ; focus groups). It will contri­bute to current debates about EDI in higher educa­tion and provide research-informed propo­sals on how to best support univer­sity staff who engage in EDI work.

The successful candi­date will become part of an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary mini doctoral trai­ning centre at Lough­bo­rough Univer­sity entitled CITHEI – Unequal Academic Citi­zen­ship : Oppor­tu­ni­ties and Barriers to Parti­ci­pa­tion and Inclu­sion of Cultural Diver­sity and Inter­sec­ting Iden­ti­ties in Higher Educa­tion. The project is prin­ci­pally located within the School of Social Sciences and Huma­ni­ties (SSH), where social inequa­li­ties is a major research theme, and secon­da­rily within the School of Busi­ness and Econo­mics (SBE), where work and orga­ni­sa­tions are key research themes.

Entry requi­re­ments

Our entry requi­re­ments are listed using stan­dard UK under­gra­duate degree clas­si­fi­ca­tions i.e. first-class honours, upper second-class honours and lower second-class honours. To learn the equi­va­lent for your country, please choose it from the drop-down below.

Entry requi­re­ments for United Kingdom
The successful appli­cant will have a Masters’ degree with merit (2.1) or above in socio­logy or any rele­vant disci­pline in the social sciences. Expe­rience from EDI work in higher educa­tion is desi­rable but not necessary.

English language requirements
Appli­cants must meet the minimum English language requi­re­ments. Further details are avai­lable on the Inter­na­tional website.

Appli­cants must meet the minimum English language requi­re­ments. Further details are avai­lable on the Inter­na­tional website (http://​www​.lboro​.ac​.uk/​i​n​t​e​r​n​a​t​i​o​n​a​l​/​a​p​p​l​i​c​a​n​t​s​/​e​n​glish/).

Fees and funding

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assess­ment and opera­ting Univer­sity faci­li­ties such as the library, IT equip­ment and other support services. Univer­sity fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, inclu­ding online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account infla­tio­nary pressures.

Due to funding restric­tions, the funding is only open to UK students. The student­ship is for 3 years (full-time) or 6 years (part-time) and provides a tax-free stipend of £16062 per annum for the dura­tion of the student­ship plus tuition fees at the UK rate. Please note that student­ships will be awarded on a compe­ti­tive basis to appli­cants who have applied to this project using the advert reference.

How to apply

All appli­ca­tions should be made online athttp://​www​.lboro​.ac​.uk/​s​t​u​d​y​/​a​p​p​l​y​/​r​e​s​earch/. Under programme name, select Crimi­no­logy, Socio­logy and Social Policy.

To avoid delays in proces­sing your appli­ca­tion, please ensure that you submit the suppor­ting docu­ments. Please quote the adver­tised refe­rence number CITHEI-LN-22 (Appli­ca­tions will not be consi­dered for the student­ship without the Advert Reference).

Refe­rence page