The Moffat Charitable Trust Postgraduate Scholarship

The Moffat Charitable Trust Postgraduate Scholarship

[please note – information below has been revised and new dates have been set for applications]

The Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change at the University of Glasgow is a new research Centre, whose purpose is deepen our knowledge and understanding about the relationship between poverty and low educational achievement and to support the development of more equitable education systems. With the Moffat Charitable Trust’s support, we are able to offer this exciting opportunity for postgraduate PhD research with a focus on the East End of Glasgow.

Education offers people the opportunities, skills and flexibility to take a full and active role in society, and it is a significant factor in determining opportunities and income in later life. In Scotland, the negative relationship between deprivation and educational success has been well recognised, with the impact of deprivation most starkly obvious in Glasgow, which has the greatest concentration of deprived areas (35.8%) according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. This impacts the educational attainment of pupils in Glasgow, which is a major factor in the life chances of many young people in the area, effectively keeping generations of people in poverty.

The Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change is committed to challenging inequality by conducting research needed to shape the educational policies and practices needed to instigate necessary change. The three key questions that underpin the Centre’s work are:

•  What policies and practices promote equitable education systems?
• How and why do these policies and practices break down the link between disadvantage and low educational outcomes for young people?
• What are the social and economic impact of policies and practices that promote equitable education?

The successful recipient of this scholarship will focus their work on aspects of these key questions and work closely with academic staff in the Centre and College of Social Sciences to generate new understanding of the relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and educational, health and wellbeing outcomes in Glasgow, with a particular focus on the East End.

Eligibility

Home/EU and international applicants are eligible to apply as well as students already in their first year of a University of Glasgow PhD. Both full-time and part-time students are eligible.

The Award

The scholarship will run for a maximum of three years full-time or 5 years part-time commencing in September 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter and will provide:

• an annual bursary equivalent to the RCUK rate – £14,057 for 2014/15
• fees at the standard Home/EU rate
• a research support grant of £750 (£375 part-time) per annum

For further information/ informal conversation about this opportunity please contact:

Professor Christopher Chapman chris.chapman@glasgow.ac.uk

How to apply:

All applicants should complete and collate the following documentation then attach to a single email and send to alan.mcconnell@glasgow.ac.uk by 6^th August 2015

Academic Transcript(s)

Full academic transcript(s) from previous studies (undergraduate and postgraduate).

2 references

On official headed notepaper and signed by referees.

References given to candidates in sealed envelopes should be opened, scanned and attached to the email.

References can also be emailed direct to alan.mcconnell@glasgow.ac.uk by referees via their official University email address; clearly labelling the reference e.g. “John Smith XX Scholarship Reference”

Copy of CV

Research Proposal

A brief 2-page document outlining the proposed research project.

Any application which fails to meet the above requirements will not be considered.

Selection Process

Applications will be ranked by a selection panel and applicants will be notified of the decision on their application by 20^th August 2015. Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on the morning of 27^th August 2015.

All scholarship awards are subject to candidates successfully securing admission to a PhD programme within the College of Social Sciences.  Successful scholarship applicants will be invited to apply for admission to the relevant PhD programme after they are selected for funding.