The Vice Chancellor's PhD Studentships
With Anglia Ruskin you can pursue your passion, and join a community of researchers committed to making a profound difference to the world around us.
With Anglia Ruskin you can pursue your passion, and join a community of researchers committed to making a profound difference to the world around us.
Thank you for your interest in the Vice Chancellor's PhD Studentships.
Applications are now closed. We will contact shortlisted applicants in early April.
Interviews will be held between 23 April and 3 May. The actual interview dates can be found under each project description, below.
Successful applicants will benefit from a fee waiver and a stipend/bursary of £15,009 per annum (setat UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) level). As, PhDs run for three years, your stipend will be uplifted in line with UKRI recommendations for each year of study.
Select a research area to view studentship opportunities.
This project is devoted to the topical issue of responsible, socially inclusive advertising.
As tougher advertising standards are introduced (for example, regarding gender bias) and social media backlash increases, advertisers are not being equipped with the tools to implement more inclusive, less biased practices.
We aim to test novel ways of boosting the effectiveness of socially inclusive advertising practices pertaining to specific social groups, ie women, minorities, elderly people, people with mental illness. On a theoretical level, this will extend the application of social perception models to brands and advertising contexts. It will also explore the possibility of applying novel techniques to branded online content (eg with Bacardi).
The successful candidate will experimentally investigate the role of social perception principles in the effectiveness of socially inclusive advertisements. They will design and preselect appropriate advertising stimuli and test relevant manipulations, their effects on ad, brand, self-perceptions and attitudes to disadvantaged groups as well as suitable mediators and moderators.
Ultimately the candidate will aim to produce high-quality articles for peer-reviewed journals; and practical guidelines for consumers, practitioners and advertising standards agencies.
Candidates should have a background in psychology, social sciences, marketing and/or advertising, alongside experience in running quantitative research projects (experiments) and conducting advanced statistical analyses. Knowledge of, and interest in, experimental social psychology is essential. A knowledge of gender and consumer psychology is desirable.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
Over 21% of primary and 17% of secondary pupils in English state schools speak a heritage language, with 18 languages spoken by more than 10,000 pupils each in 2012.
The study of heritage languages is now well established in the USA and Germany, but the field is underdeveloped in the UK, somewhat surprisingly given the UK’s great linguistic diversity.
The primary focus of this project is to contribute to the documentation of the grammar of a UK heritage language. This will ideally be a language that’s spoken widely in the East of England (Urdu, Polish, Bengali, Panjabi or Portuguese – DfE, 2012), and one for which GCSE and A-level qualifications exist.
These languages present a huge potential resource for UK schools and society, but, despite Government intervention, entries for community language GCSEs and A-levels remain low. If community languages are to feature in increased language provision at GCSE resulting from the English Baccalaureate, there is an urgent need to understand the barriers to uptake – and to propose strategies to overcome them. Investigating this will be the secondary focus of the project.
The ideal candidate will have a strong background in linguistics, with a particular interest in syntax and bilingualism and competence in a UK heritage language. Working in the Anglia Ruskin Research Centre for Intercultural and Multilingual Studies, and with local schools, you will collect and analyse linguistic data informed by syntactic theory and previous work on bilingualism/language contact.
The analysis of heritage languages attitudes will draw upon established sociolinguistic and ethnographic techniques, using interviews with heritage speakers, their parents and teachers.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
This studentship will use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the ways in which professionals are best able to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) people experiencing mental health challenges.
LGBT+ communities experience mental health challenges at a significantly higher rate than the general population. They also report lower levels of satisfaction with the provision of mental health services, along with lower levels of access to co-ordinated and comprehensive care. There is little research on structural and systemic aspects of these disparities.
Inter-professionality is a key concept in the provision of co-ordinated multi-disciplinary care. This project offers the opportunity to combine methodological innovation with a significant and pressing health and social care need.
The core methodology will be the collection and analysis of personal social network graphs. These are visual and mathematical representations of the structure and dynamics of relationships between key individuals (alters) and a central individual (ego). Significantly, the methodology examines both the relationships between the ego and alters and between alters. In this study the ego would be one or more young LGBT+ people experiencing mental health challenges, and alters would be service providers and key social contacts.
Depending on your particular focus, the design might be: a set of longitudinal case studies; a larger sample of cross-sectional case studies; a pre-post design focussing on a particular therapeutic intervention; a reflexive design where network graphs are discussed with the ego and alters; or a combination of these. Each of these designs would address significant gaps in our understanding.
The project is supported by highly experienced research staff in ARU. It also draws on the expertise and support of mental health professionals from Anna Freud Centre and University College London.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
The use of so called ‘brain training’ techniques for improving cognitive abilities is widely debated.
Claims that they have a positive impact on structural and/or functional integrity of the brain are reported in the media, but are typically unsupported by sound empirical evidence. To date, few studies have focused on neurologically healthy older adults. Instead, they've examined cognitive training in neurological patients, or in those with subclinical conditions such as mild cognitive impairment. Those studies that have explored effects in healthy older adults report outcomes with limited or questionable ecological validity. For example, some demonstrate improved working memory function on trained tasks, but with little evidence for a transfer effect beyond the training. Moreover, to date, studies have not comprehensively explored the role of participant characteristics (such as age, education, intelligence, employment status, etc) in the effectiveness of cognitive training.
By analysing the potential interactions between individual differences on a range of cognitive and socio-demographic variables and the efficacy of particular methods, we hope to find the basis for a more fine-grained, targeted understanding of the potential benefits of cognitive training.
The successful applicant will address the gap in the literature, by analysing the role of baseline cognitive and socio-demographic characteristics in the effectiveness of cognitive training in healthy older adults.
Our intention is that this work will underpin the development of more effective, evidence-led interventions using individually-tailored training packages to maximise the likelihood of positive outcomes in neurologically healthy, ageing people.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
This PhD will explore how, and how effectively, different user engagement theories are being applied in local and integrated renewable energy projects.
It will use a range of case studies to investigate how user engagement is implemented by energy scientists in the context of a low-carbon energy transition, and make recommendations for future projects, particularly in terms of bringing social user engagement understandings to technical project leads.
The design and delivery of new energy systems for a low-carbon economy depend on end-user engagement with new technologies. While a growing body of energy social science explores technology use and acceptance, little work has been done on how energy project leads may utilise this to inform and qualitatively engage with end users and how effective their efforts are.
This innovative PhD will focus on questions surrounding, eg:
This is a collaboration with the British Geological Survey (BGS), the UK’s main authority on geoscience. BGS will support access to relevant energy projects, including a wide energy-focused stakeholder base, and provide advisors’ time. The project will support the ‘User engagement, preferences and behaviours’ work package of the EPSRC EnergyREV consortium, funded under the Industrial Strategy ‘Prospering from the energy revolution’ theme.
The Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) offers an internationally leading research environment, including on how the energy system influences the individual and how the individual influences the system.
The GSI is part of the £6m ESRC Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity; has won grants from six of the UK research councils; and is currently co-ordinating three EU energy policy projects (SHAPE ENERGY, MEDEAS, and RRING).
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship to conduct a research project which develops the understanding of the widespread effects of being subject to the Sex Offender Register and Notification (SORN), frequently referred to as the ‘sex offender register’; as well as developing an understanding of the process of d e-registration and the significance of this for both the registered sex offender (RSO) and their wider community.
There are now approximately 52,770 RSOs in England and Wales, all subject to mandatory notification requirements, monitoring and management by police teams in the community, for the duration of their registration period. Whilst research has investigated the effects of SORN on the individual RSO, much less attention has been paid to the effects on the RSO’s family, friends and wider community, as well as the effects on opportunities for long-term reintegration. Very little is also known about the processes involved for those RSOs who apply to be removed from the register, something which those subject to indefinite notification requirements have had the right to do since an amendment to the Sex Offences Act 2003, in 2012.
The successful candidate will join the team at the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER), a highly innovative and active multi-disciplinary research institute, with established links to police, probation and other criminal justice agencies. Here the successful candidate will not only be provided with high-quality supervision and support, but will also be afforded opportunities to engage in PIER’s regular programme of research seminars and conferences.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
Construction projects are becoming increasingly complex – while technological developments under Construction Project Management (CPM) 4.0, and the increasing use of offsite manufacturing, are changing the way we build.
Our future cities will be the product of tightly coupled, multi-nodal manufacturing systems, incorporating multiple interactions of both social and technological complexity. However, traditional approaches to construction remain wedded to the management of construction elements, rather than the complex interactions between those elements.
We think a new approach is needed. CPM 4.0 is a framework that’s better able to manage the organisation of increasingly complex construction projects, through practical tools and organisational approaches. Our research project aims to re-evaluate construction project management from complexity perspectives, and to develop new 4.0-ready tools.
We’ll draw on knowledge from the management of systems already mindful of their own complexity. We’ll also look at the behaviours of High Reliability Organisations (HROs), where the ability to adapt and self-organise following deviations from ‘work as planned’ is an essential part of their resilience.
Working with large organisations in the civil engineering and construction sectors, we will co-produce innovative CPM 4.0 techniques for the construction industry of the future.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Emerging creative technologies are disrupting conventional narrative structures, including the way in which stories are found and told.
This multi-disciplinary PhD will investigate how traditional creative practice workflows are changing within these new storytelling landscapes – and subsequently, what practices can be adopted to produce stories in the most creative and effective ways, while offering a meaningful, engaging audience experience.
We’ll address these gaps in knowledge by testing the application of novel creative practice methods via a series of prototype studies involving the creative use of data, archive and immersive visual and sound design.
On a theoretical level this PhD will also call attention to historical audiovisual practices and user experience. Overall, it will contribute to the development of a common creative language that can be used across convergent disciplines and for a diverse audience.
This PhD sits within a wider research project conducted by StoryLab Research Institute. As such it will contribute to an iterative cycle of studies leading to the production of an immersive multi-platform narrative exploring intergenerational identity in migrant communities.
This position will suit candidates with a background in any of the following areas: creative practice, qualitative research methods, audio-visual technologies and/or coding skills. The successful candidate will have the support of StoryLab (recognized by the AHRC and BAFTSS for delivering innovative and impactful research); resources (relevant equipment and software); and a multidisciplinary supervision team (with expertise in user experience, gaming, coding, film and narrative).
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
Help us improve the structure of competition at the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic competition is structured into classes so that athletes compete against others whose impairment has a similar impact on performance. The aim of this classification system is to maximise the chance of the winner being the best athlete, rather than the one with the least impairment.
Track and field athletics for individuals with vision impairment currently uses three classes: B3 for athletes with least impairment, B2 for moderate impairment, and B1 for high impairment. These classes were created many years ago using the World Health Organization’s criteria for low vision and blindness, without any evidence to show they represent the fairest way to structure competition. Moreover, the same three classes are used for all sports (eg athletics, swimming, cycling), even though the impact of vision impairment is likely to differ depending on the visual demands of each sport.
The aim of this PhD project is to design a new evidence-based classification system for athletics for individuals with vision impairment, that can be used in future Paralympic events. It will suit someone with a background in vision and/or sport.
You will travel to training camps and competition events to test the vision and competition performance of athletes.
At ARU, you’ll be based in our Visual Function and Physiology Research Group in the School of Vision and Hearing Sciences. The group has expertise in both vision and sport, and has recently published in high-impact scientific journals such as Sports Medicine and The New England Journal of Medicine.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
This PhD studentship will culminate in the production and clinical testing of a music-based touchscreen app for the rehabilitation of hand function following stroke.
In order to meet the current need for more effective, cost-efficient upper limb rehabilitation, and increase treatment dosage for patients, the researcher will review all relevant literature before employing a suitable methodology to work with stroke in-patients, their relatives and health professionals on key design points for the app. This will ensure optimum accessibility and functionality, potentially enabling patient self-delivery on stroke wards, with secure data collection and analysis.
The researcher will be in direct contact with adults on a ward who have had a stroke, their relatives, and health professionals who are delivering medical care and rehabilitation. Access to patients will be through Dr Alex Street, who designs, delivers and supervises projects with stroke in-patients using technology in and around Cambridgeshire. This will allow for design consultation and, later, feasibility testing once the app is programmed with a sufficient number of exercises.
Dr Street also works with external health technology organisations, who will be able to link in with the project. Full, regional ethical approval will be required prior to conducting this research.
This doctoral research would suit, but is not limited to:
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
The incidence of dementia is increasing as our society ages. This has led to an increase in ‘informal’ caring, where partners provide the majority of the care for their loved one with dementia.
Previous research has linked informal caring with very high levels of psychological stress and substantially elevated stress biomarkers, such as the hormone cortisol, and disrupted cardiovascular responses to stress.
Our Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research has examined the use of an active music therapy programme for people with dementia and their caregivers. We have found benefits for individual carers, and evidence of improvements in caregiving techniques.
This PhD studentship will use biomarkers – such as measures of hair cortisol and heart rate variability as well as validated psychological measures – to examine the role of music therapy as a method for reducing the perceived stress of caring for a partner with dementia.
The successful candidate will be able to draw on the world-renowned music therapy expertise at our Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research. They’ll also collaborate with our School of Psychology and Sports Science – home to the internationally recognised ARU Biomarker laboratory, and experts in stress and physiological responses to stress.
Applicants should have a good first degree in psychology or related science. Expertise in related methodologies (for example stress biomarkers and or music therapy) is advantageous but not essential.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects ~1% of the global population.
Currently, arthritis is monitored in a number of ways. The Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28 is an internationally recognised indicator of disease status but it requires physical examination of 28 joints by a doctor, which is highly subjective and time-consuming.
Ultrasonography is another option. It provides a more accurate measurement of synovial inflammation, but is expensive and requires trained operators, restricting use in patients’ homes and GP surgeries.
Frequent assessments are also important for monitoring disease progression and therapeutic response, but there is a practical limit to the number of times that patients can be assessed in clinic due to time constraints. As a result, clinicians can only get a brief 'snapshot' of disease activity.
There’s a clinical need to develop alternative techniques that allow patients to better self-manage their condition and reduce the need to attend hospital clinics.
This PhD project aims to develop and evaluate a cost-effective system that provides an objective assessment of disease status that correlates with current clinical indices (DAS28 and ultrasound synovial thickness). The system will also provide ongoing monitoring of disease activity to identify rheumatoid arthritis ‘flares’.
We are looking for a highly motivated candidate who has a strong interest in developing innovative healthcare technologies and has a broad understanding of physiological measurements. The PhD project requires working with clinicians, biomedical engineers, and the medical device industry at different stages along the development pathway – and will lead to a patentable medical technique and high-quality publications. It will involve clinical data collection and analysis, and a variety of computing work (including physiological signal processing, AI algorithms development, and statistical analysis).
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
This project will explore how craft beer and micro-breweries are changing the brewing industry and innovating products, processes and a wider paradigm of production and consumption.
It will examine how the ‘craft revolution’ in brewing combines historical associations of craft as pre-industrial, skilled work, with change and novelty in beer styles, tools, and ingredients – simultaneously evoking and breaking traditional brewing methods and rules.
From a historical perspective, this research will contribute to understanding how the current epoch of craft brewing connects to the broader history of beer and brewing in Britain. It will also help us to better understand the broader artisanal economy: how it is reimagining entrepreneurship and creating a different image of business to that seen on The Apprentice or Dragons’ Den.
The successful applicant will have a background in the social sciences or humanities and experience of, or a willingness to learn about, qualitative research methods. Located in our School of Management – renowned for its qualitative research into organisation and entrepreneurship – they will be jointly supervised from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
As a result, the project will investigate how the craft beer industry is shaped by, and shapes, a range of factors including:
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
As a music therapy PhD student, you will join our internationally-known clinical research team. We work on a programme of projects in the fields of dementia, adult mental health, and child and family work.
You’ll be focused on the project HOMESIDE, involving family care givers and people with dementia dyads. The University of Melbourne is the lead partner, together with four other universities in the UK, Germany, Poland and Norway. You will work primarily for the UK arm of the study, which will test the effectiveness of a three-month home-based music programme and its capacity to reduce behavioural and psychological problems for people with dementia, using a primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes will examine relationship quality between couples, depression, resilience, competence, and quality of life.
Specifically, you will assist in data collection and musical training for participants, using music therapy techniques. Couples will be making music or reading together at home. You’ll visit participants’ homes for training and support, and gather data through telephone calls. As well as this, you will develop and monitor written training manuals for the musical training of carers and their companions with dementia, and be involved in data analysis of videos and qualitative data from participants’ diaries.
This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience in research ethics; work with an international multi-disciplinary team; present at dementia/carer conferences around the world; and present at academic conferences, including contributing to dissemination and publications.
Based in The Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research, which is housed in the state of the art Jerome Booth Music Therapy Centre, you’ll work alongside professors, postdoctoral researchers and research assistants in music therapy and neuroscience. The MA Music Therapy course is based in the centre, so opportunities for teaching will also occur.
Please note that the University retains intellectual property rights to the research.
Applications for this studentship are now closed.
You should be ready to submit your thesis within 3.5 years of starting your studentship. Please note that the University asserts the right to claim any intellectual property generated by research it funds.
If you have any queries about the application process or the terms and conditions of our Vice Chancellor's PhD Studentships, please contact Becky Kraszewski on 01245 684920 or email vcphdstu@anglia.ac.uk.