The Collaborative Institute for Education Research, Evidence and Impact (CIEREI) at the School of Education and Human Development, Bangor University, invites applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship. Supported by the Abbey School, the studentship will commence in October 2021. The research partnership also includes CEDAR at the University of Warwick.
Table of Contents
Summary
| Scholarship Sponsor | Bangor University |
| Scholarships level | PhD studentship |
| Award Amount | Fees plus maintenance stipend (see text for conditions) |
| Study area | Education Studies |
| Opening date | February 16, 2021 |
| Closing date | March 12, 2021 |
Project Description
Abbey School is a new independent provision in Chester for 75 pupils aged 4-19 who have special educational support needs. Located in the heart of Chester, the ethos of the school is to pursue excellence in all that it does and to seek new ways of providing effective support for learning, development, and growth among its pupils and its staff.
The mission of CIEREI is to contribute to the creation of co-produced close-to-practice impact evidence that informs policy and practice in order to have a positive impact on the learning and wellbeing outcomes for children, families and education staff through schools. The partnership with Abbey School and CEDAR is a unique opportunity to develop state-of-the-art knowledge of evidence-based approaches in SEN settings.
The PhD will be broadly focused on Health and Wellbeing and the following theme:
Studentship: Pupil Health and Wellbeing
Supporting the health and wellbeing of children with disabilities and/or autism (LDA) is the primary aim of UK legislation and policy (see Children and Families Act (2014); Future in Mind (2018)). A key focus for services is the development of skills that support wellbeing and independence across a person’s life. Early intervention with children is recognised to be critically important and leads to long term financial savings for the country (Graham Allen report 2011 – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-intervention-the-next-steps–2).
This studentship will broadly focus on the Health and Wellbeing of pupils in SEN settings and the application and impact of a universal school-based PSHE curriculum on the wellbeing of children with LDA. CONNECT is an early intervention model that teaches children evidence-based psychological skills that improve their emotional resilience and support them to engage in psychologically healthy behaviours.
During this studentship, there will be opportunities to contribute to the development, refinement and evaluation of the Abbey School Pupil Wellbeing approach utilising and adapting the CONNECT curriculum. This project will likely adopt a mixed-methods approach. This project could involve working across a number of collaborating settings in England and Wales and using a mixed-methods approach that could include evidence synthesis, staff surveys, interviews, focused evaluations, and robust experimental methods.
What The Studentship Will Cover
The Studentship Award will commence in October 2021 and will cover your tuition fees as well as a maintenance grant and includes access to an additional Research Training Support Grant (RTSG). There are other opportunities and benefits available to studentship holders, including internship opportunities.
The majority of the study will take place between Bangor University and Abbey School in Chester. The University has a campus in Wrexham, but the successful candidate will spend much of their time between Abbey and Bangor University and perhaps other SEN settings across the North West and North Wales. The PhD will also include opportunities to develop teaching experience in the University setting and an expectation for the successful candidate to complete the PGCertHE and develop their lecturing experience during their studentship.
Supervision
This studentship project represents one element of a significant investment in an ambitious long-term collaborative research and development programme involving Abbey School, CIEREI, and CEDAR spanning the next decade. As such, the successful candidate will join a large collaborative team of experienced academics working between the three partnership organisations (Professors Carl Hughes, Sandy Toogood, Richard Hastings, & Drs Corinna Grindle, Katy Lee, Steve Noone), and a multi-disciplinary team of teaching and applied practitioners working in Abbey School. You can discuss the studentship with Prof. Carl Hughes if you have any enquiries.
Application Deadline
The deadline for applications is March 12, 2021
FURTHER INFORMATION
Informal enquiries about the studentship should be directed to c.hughes@bangor.ac.uk.
Eligibility
Studentships are highly competitive, and candidates should have an excellent academic background in Psychology or related areas (e.g., Education), holding a 1st or strong upper 2nd class degree; it is usual for PhD applicants to also have a relevant Masters qualification.
Full awards (fees plus maintenance stipend) are open to UK Nationals and EU students who can satisfy UK residency requirements.
Application Process
A completed application form, and accompanying documents for admission to doctoral study at Bangor University, should be submitted via the Direct Application Service at https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/applicant/ by the deadline.
Incomplete applications or applications received after this specified time will not be accepted. On the on-line application, please indicate that you are applying for the Abbey School -CIEREI collaborative award under the ‘Finance’ section. Please use the following working title under the ‘Project title’ section: Evaluating the impact of a pupil Health and Wellbeing programme in Special Needs contexts. Please specify the potential start date as October 1, 2021.
The application must contain the following documents:
- Covering letter: Please address to Professor Carl Hughes. The covering letter must name the collaborative studentship being applied for. It must set out your reasons and motivation for applying to study at Bangor University and the collaborative project; your understanding, and expectations of doctoral study; and your academic interests generally, and particularly how these relate to the description of the project supplied. The covering letter should be no more than two pages.
- Academic / Professional Qualifications: This particular study requires a high degree of fluency in English. Fluency in Welsh is also desirable. Please indicate your ability to work through the medium of Welsh and English. Where appropriate, this should include proof any Welsh language qualifications and English Language Competency (7.0 IELTS minimum).
- References: All applications require two academic references to be submitted in support. Candidates must approach referees themselves and include the references with their application.
- Curriculum Vitae: This should be no longer than two pages.
- Reflections on the research topic: For this collaborative studentship, your reflective piece should build directly on the outline description that has been supplied. Your reflection should be up to a maximum of 1500 words, not including bibliographic references. We suggest that you use the following five headings in your reflection piece:
· Your reflections on the aims and purpose of the research;
· An overview of some key research literature relevant to the study;
· Your ideas for developing the design and methods of the study;
· A description of potential outcomes of the project for our understanding, knowledge, policy and practice (as appropriate to the topic);
· Bibliographic references
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