Research funding opportunities

Santander MPhil/PhD Scholarships - 2018/2019

Santander is awarding Research Degree scholarships for MPhil/PhD students studying full-time in years 1 - 3 or part-time in years 1 - 4 at Oxford Brookes.

-  The Scholarship will provide £2,500 towards the fees for the current academic year 2018/2019 for current MPhil/PhD students studying full-time in years 1 - 3 or part-time in years 1 - 4.

-  Your application for Registration must have been approved by the appropriate Research Degrees Committee subject Sub-Committee: the Humanities, Environment and Social Sciences Sub-Committee or the Science and Technology Sub-Committee

Part-time students should note that if the award exceeds the fees due for the next academic year, the remainder will be carried forward towards the fees for the following year.

Awards cannot be deferred.

Please note that candidates receiving awards from other sources of funding which cover all their tuition fees will not be eligible for a Santander Research Degree Scholarship; eligibility is not affected by funding covering just maintenance costs.

The scholarship aims to reward the most academically gifted students.

To apply you must be:

  * a graduate from a university in the Santander Universidades Scheme

  * be actively enrolled and engaged in your research on the MPhil/PhD programme studying full-time in years 1 – 3 or part-time in years 1 – 4.

  * Your application for Registration must have been approved by the appropriate Research Degree Committee subject Sub-Committee: the Humanities, Environment and Social Sciences Sub-Committee or the Science and Technology Sub-Committee

To find out if your University is part of the Santander Universidades Scheme, please refer to the list of Santander Universities and Institutions.

How Do I Apply?

To apply please complete the application form and ask a member of your current Supervisory Team to provide a reference to support your application. The application form and referee form can be downloaded via the links below.

Application Form

Reference Form

The deadline for receipt of complete applications (including reference) is Friday 26 October 2018.

All applications should be sent by email to asa-pgrscholarships@brookes.ac.uk

The successful candidates will be notified by Friday 9 November 2018 at the latest.

Please note: Under the terms of the Scheme, contact details for all applicants who apply for this award will be passed on to Santander.  In addition as part of accepting the award, scholarship winners must be prepared to appear in publicity and attend certificate presentation events organised by Santander and Oxford Brookes University.

For further information or if you have any questions about the scheme, please email: asa-pgrscholarships@brookes.ac.uk

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Santander Scholarships for International Conferences or Fieldwork

Santander is awarding Research Degree scholarships for MPhil/PhD students studying full-time in years 1 - 3 or part-time in years 1 - 4 at Oxford Brookes.

-  The Scholarship will provide costs of up to £560 towards attendance at an international conference, or towards the costs of carrying out fieldwork or the equivalent research activity abroad, during the current academic year 2018/2019. The scholarships are for current MPhil/PhD students studying full-time in years 1-3 or part-time in years 1-4.

-  Your application for Registration must have been approved by the appropriate Research Degrees Committee subject Sub-Committee: the Humanities, Environment and Social Sciences Sub-Committee or the Science and Technology Sub-Committee.

Awards cannot be deferred.

To apply you must be:

  * a graduate from a university in the Santander Universidades Scheme

  * be actively enrolled and engaged in your research on the MPhil/PhD programme studying full-time in years 1 – 3 or part-time in years 1 – 4.

  * Your application for Registration must have been approved by the appropriate Research Degree Committee subject Sub-Committee: the Humanities, Environment and Social Sciences Sub-Committee or the Science and Technology Sub-Committee

Please note that funds for successful applications will be paid upon the provision of receipts for the expenditure, and not in advance of booking.

To find out if your University is part of the Santander Universidades Scheme, please refer to the list of Santander Universities and Institutions.

How Do I Apply?

To apply, please complete the application form and ask a member of your current Supervisory Team to provide a reference to support your application. The application form and referee form can be downloaded via the links below.

Application Form

Reference Form

The deadline for receipt of complete applications (including reference) is Friday 26 October 2018.

All applications should be sent by email to asa-pgrscholarships@brookes.ac.uk

The successful candidates will be notified by Friday 9 November 2018 at the latest.

Please note: Under the terms of the Scheme, contact details for all applicants who apply for this award will be passed on to Santander.  In addition as part of accepting the award, scholarship winners must be prepared to appear in publicity and attend certificate presentation events organised by Santander and Oxford Brookes University.

For further information or if you have any questions about the scheme, please email: asa-pgrscholarships@brookes.ac.uk

Oxford Brookes Business School

3 year, funded PhD Studentship:  Migration, work and organisations

Bursary: £16,000 pa (with no inflation increase)

Fees: 3 years of fees will be paid by Oxford Brookes Business School

Deadline: The closing date for applications is 3 December 2018 (12 Noon) Interview date: Interviews will be held in week beginning the 10 of December

Start date: January/April 2019

Eligibility: Home/EU

The Centre for Business, Society and Global Challenges at the Oxford Brookes Business School, Oxford Brookes University is offering a studentship to an exceptional candidate seeking to study for a full time PhD in migration, work and organisations starting in January or April 2019.
 

This full-time studentship, which includes a commitment of seminar teaching to undergraduate students, will be for 3 years, subject to satisfactory progress

The Project

Engaging in paid or unpaid work and transition in the labour market are often important in shaping migration trajectories and integration experiences for economic migrants and refugees. Current political, economic and social developments globally have introduced a variety of challenges for migrants and organisations – driving new forms of mobility whilst fundamentally changing the terms of engagement between actors and institutions. We are interested in examining how commercial and non-commercial organisations, and experiences of work within workplaces, shape migrants’ integration into the labour market, alongside their settlement more generally, as well as understanding the distinctive forms of migrant agency that are brought to bear upon these processes. Moreover, the study may also account for how other organisations, including civil society bodies, NGOs and state institutions, impact upon migrants’ entry into work, learning and development, and their broader adjustment to working in the host society, identifying both the scope and limitations for enabling migrant agency within these organisations.

Applicants are expected to hold a good undergraduate degree and a good Master’s degree at merit level or above in a relevant area of the social sciences (e.g. organization studies, sociology, geography, anthropology or migration studies). Applicants should also be able to demonstrate strong research capabilities, preferably an experience of having conducted fieldwork, and be fluent in spoken and written English.

We are looking to recruit a candidate of the highest quality and who is capable of submitting a PhD thesis within 3 years. Funding will cover the three year period subject to the candidate making satisfactory progress annually. PhD students will take part in the School’s PhD programme, which offers seminars and training on research methodology as well as a collegiate environment to present work in progress.
 

Candidates interested in discussing their proposals can contact the supervisory team: Dr Peter Lugosi (plugosi@brookes.ac.uk) and Dr Tamsin Barber (t.barber@brookes.ac.uk)

For more information about research in the Business School visit: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/business/research/
 

How to apply: To request further details of how to apply, please email: bus-researchdegrees@brookes.ac.uk

Please ensure you quote Migration and work in the email title when applying.

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Three years, full time PhD Research Studentship in Centre for Movement, Occupational and Rehabilitation Sciences

Project Title: EPIC: Exercise, Physiology, Imaging and Cardiometabolism

Eligibility: UK/EU

Bursary: £14,777 (2018/2019)

Fees: Tuition fees will be paid for by the University

Closing Date: 09 December 2018, 5pm

Start date: 08 April 2019

 

How to apply:

Completed application forms should be emailed to hlsapplications@brookes.ac.uk together with a CV.

Requirements:

Applicant must hold a UK/EU passport and a degree in a discipline related to the expectations of the role. For full details of entry requirements please visit the Postgraduate Courses Entry Requirements.

Project description:

For this studentship, the successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary research team at the Centre for Movement, Occupational and Rehabilitation Sciences (MOReS) working on a pioneering new University of Oxford study, “OxSOCRATES”, that addresses the origins of cardiovascular disease in the young and, in particular, how sedentary behaviour and obesity contribute to early disease development.

The study is the first of its kind to be funded by the British Heart Foundation and is under the overall leadership of the Principal Investigator, Dr. Alexander Jones (Paediatric Cardiologist and Senior Clinical Scientist, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford), who brings expertise in the early cardiometabolic abnormalities of childhood that precede established adult cardiovascular disease, and works in close collaboration with Professor Helen Dawes (Director of MOReS, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University), who brings a wealth of expertise from her studies of children’s exercise physiology in the Oxfordshire region.

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• engage with and visit participating schools
• provide an exercise intervention and ongoing support to participating schools
• participate fully in relevant research activities
• present at relevant scientific meetings and to publish their work

Appropriate training relevant to undertaking a PhD will be provided as well as an honorary contract with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Any successful candidate will be subject to a DBS search once they enrol. In view of checking procedures they will be required to exhibit specified documents: 

https://www.gov.uk/criminal-record-check-documents

For further information on the project please e-mail Professor Helen Dawes hdawes@brookes.ac.uk or Dr Alexander Jones alexander.jones@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.

• From genes to species: Investigating the contribution of evolutionary change in tartan to mating behaviour and reproductive isolation
• Building a nervous system: Analysis of transport and assembly mechanisms in synapse formation
• Butterfly evo-devo in a conservation context: How embryos respond to pesticides and immune challenges
• Deep learning to mine genomics datasets
• Genetic contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders

There are not funding opportunities available at the moment.

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

PhD Studentship: Criticality Analysis - Machine Learning of Human Gait

Eligibility:        Home/EU and International Students

Bursary:           £14,057 per annum for three years for a stipend

                           £3,300 for project costs

 Fees:                Tuition fees will be paid by the University

 Deadline:          24 October 2018

 Start date:        21 January 2019

The Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment at Oxford Brookes University is pleased to offer a three-year, full-time PhD studentship to a new student commencing in January 2019.

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Dr Tjeerd olde Scheper in the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics in collaboration with Prof Helen Dawes in the Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work.

Brief project description:

 Analysis of biological data is based around the interpretation of data within the context of its source. Gait, as primary motive means for humans, is both energetically demanding, and reflects many of the human disorders. Physical disorders (muscle atrophy, etc.), mental disorders (Alzheimers, Parkinsons, etc.), as well as energetic dysfunction (diabetes, malnutrition, etc.) are readily expressed in gait. However, the underlying complexity prevents easy analysis, because of the intricate nonlinear relations involved in the biosystems that allow effective gait. Criticality Analysis (CA) makes it feasible that biological information can be extracted from intricate systems. CA is based on the proven method of Rate Control of Chaos (RCC), and provides a means of generating nonlinear representation spaces based on dynamic interaction, rather than probabilistic models.

The key research questions are (not exclusive):

1.  Determine the critical parameters, based on already shown results, that allow a critical system to reflect the data accurately;

 2.  Investigate the numerical properties of the data representation, based on different controlled models, and connectivities of the underlying network;

3.  Create a representative model system that can analyse gait data for specific disorders, and determine the boundary conditions for reliable and effective categorisation and identification.

Requirements:

We are looking to recruit a highly accomplished candidate, capable of submitting a PhD thesis

within the 3 years of the project. Candidates would be expected to have a good first degree, or Masters, in a related subject (e.g. mathematics, computer science with data analysis, physics, computational biology, etc.). They should be able to demonstrate strong research capabilities, and proficiency in spoken and written English. Required skills are mathematical understanding of dynamic systems, scientific modelling, and software engineering. Desired skills are biological data analysis, and statistical analysis.

Competence to develop:

The successful candidate may expect to work in a developing research group in machine learning. They will develop skills in data analysis, computational research, scientific methods, and machine learning.

Enquiries: Please email Dr Tjeerd olde Scheper – tvolde-scheper@brookes.ac.uk.

As part of the application, you must submit a detailed research proposal (maximum 1000 words), a

CV, and a supporting statement (maximum 300 words).

How to apply: For further information on how to apply, please email tdestudentships@brookes.ac.uk

for an application pack, quoting “Criticality Gait Analysis” in the subject line.

 

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Faculty of Technology Design and Environment

School of the Built Environment & School of Architecture

PhD studentship: Co-creation of Distributed Renewable and Interactive (DRI) energy systems & Citizen-Centred, Low Carbon Cities

Eligibility:        Home, EU and International Students

Bursary:           £14,777 per annum (with no inflation increase) for three years

                          £1,000 for fieldwork

Fees:                Tuition fees up to Home/EU rate only will be paid by the University

Deadline:         31 October 2018                                               

Start date:        21 January 2019

The School of Built Environment and the School of Architecture are jointly offering a 3-year full-time funded PhD Studentship. This is an inter-disciplinary study that cuts across the Construction Project Management and Low Carbon Building research groups, which are part of the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development.

As part of the Studentship, Fees at the Home/EU rate will be paid by the University for the period of the studentship, and please note, if you are an International student, you will be required to pay the difference between the Home/EU fee and the annual International fee rate.  £1,000 per annum will be available for fieldwork.

Project description

The key research question is how the technological and digital literacies of a ‘smart community’ can be developed to move towards the effective operation of DRIs, resulting in significant reductions in energy demand to rise to the challenges associated with Climate Change. The installation & operation of smart citizen-centered energy systems will be evaluated through the comparison of policies, and top-down and bottom-up practices in leading ‘Smart Cities’. This evaluation will focus on how local communities can improve their awareness and competences to embrace new technology and how they can become equal partners in co-creating Smart Cities.

The aim is to explore, using Grounded Theory, the relationships between smart communities & the technological solutions to operating the DRI systems. The key output will be an innovative framework to place prosumers at the heart of effective integration of DRI systems in existing urban environments.

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Dr Esra Kurul, Prof Rajat Gupta and Dr. Maurizio Sibilla. Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr Kurul (ekurul@brookes.ac.uk).

We are looking to recruit a candidate of the highest quality who is capable of submitting a PhD thesis within 3 years. Candidates would be expected to have at least an upper second class degree and/or Masters in a related subject (e.g. sociology, urban geography, energy studies, anthropology etc).  They should be able to demonstrate strong interdisciplinary research capabilities, be fluent in spoken and written English.

The selection criteria will focus on academic excellence, suitability of research experience/ skills, and subject knowledge. A demonstrable interest in social innovation would be an advantage.

Applicants must submit a detailed research proposal (max. 1000 words), which should include the research objectives and methods, a CV and a supporting statement (max. 300 words).
  

How to apply

For further information on how to apply, please email tdestudentships@brookes.ac.uk for an application pack, quoting “Co-creation of DRIs and Low Carbon Cities” in the subject line.

The Postgraduate Doctoral Loan scheme is available from 2018-19, and further information can be found at:

https://www.brookes.ac.uk/studying-at-brookes/finance/postgraduate-finance---uk-and-eu-students/postgraduate-doctoral-loans/

• This loan is open to students who start their programme after 1st August 2018.  Students in receipt of Research Council funding cannot apply.
• A total of £25,000 is available over the duration of a course and this will be paid annually in 3 instalments.
• The loan will be divided equally across each year of your course.
• Students must be registered on the Doctoral Degree and not on a Masters award to qualify.
• Students are encouraged to apply from Year 1 as it cannot be backdated.

Information about loans available for Masters by research and MPhil programmes can be found at /studying-at-brookes/finance/postgraduate-finance---uk-and-eu-students/postgraduate-loan-scheme/