ESRC SWDTP Studentships: Climate Change, Sustainability and Society Pathway for 2025/26 Entry Ref: 5289

Pathway Lead: Iain Soutar (I.Soutar@exeter.ac.uk) 

Post-graduate researchers on this interdisciplinary pathway will be located within one of three Faculties: Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy (ESE); The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Science (HASS, or; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS). 

Masters training will be provided through the MRes Social Science Research or the  MSc Sustainable Development, to be confirmed before October 2025. 

For more information about the ESRC SWDT please visit our main website https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/pg-research/funding/phdfunding/fundedcentres/swdtp/ 

Funding: ESRC SWDTP funded studentships available for September 2025 entry. For eligible students, the studentship will provide funding of fees and a stipend which is currently £19,237 per annum (for 2024/25) 

Entry requirements

Please see the Academic Entry Requirements section for full details https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/pg-research/funding/phdfunding/fundedcentres/swdtp/ 

How to apply

Apply now

To apply for SWDTP funding, you must do so by clicking on the 'apply now’ button above. Only applications submitted via this SWDTP pathway link will be considered for funding.
 

Please do not apply directly to the University PhD programmes of study at this stage. If successful, your application for funding will become your University Programme application so you will not need to apply again. 

You will need to upload the following documents to the studentship application form. Please note our preferred format is PDF, each file named with your surname and the name of the document, eg “Smith – Transcript”, “Smith – Annex A”, “Smith - Collaboration Support”: 

• A completed SWDTP Studentship Application Form 2025 Entry (Annex A). This will include your research proposal of 1,300 words including the name(s) of the potential supervisors. For 1+3.5 students it is recognised that this will be an outline proposal to be further developed during the first year of the studentship.  Please upload Annex A to the ‘ESRC SWDTP Studentship Applications Form’ section.
• 2 references:
  • 1 Supervisor Supporting Statement Form for 2025 Entry (Annex B) – this must be completed by your nominated primary supervisor
  • 1 reference from someone familiar with your academic work 

     If your referees prefer, they can email the reference direct to PGRApplicants@exeter.ac.uk.  Please ensure     you read the full details relating to references via the main Exeter ESRC SWDTP 'How to Apply' section. 

• Verified transcript of your highest qualification to date or an interim transcript if you are still studying
• Letter(s) of support (ESRC collaboration):  If your project requires external letters of support from prospective collaborators please upload the documents to the "Letter(s) of support (ESRC collaboration)" section in the application form.  If your project does not require an external collaboration letter of support please upload a blank document in the format identified above with the title "Collaborative Support N/A"
• If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country you will need to submit evidence of your proficiency in English (for further details, please see the University’s English language requirements) 

Key Dates 

Deadline for applications: 12.00 (Noon) GMT Tuesday 14 January 2025 

Interviews for short listed applicants will take place between 27^th January and 7^th February 2025 and will be held online. 

Summary