UBEL (UCL, Bloomsbury and East London) Doctoral Training Partnership
Birkbeck, along with four other universities in London, is a member of the UCL, Bloomsbury and East London (UBEL) Doctoral Training Partnership, which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
More than 40 studentships are available each year across 25 pathways. Studentships are offered on a full-time and part-time basis, across a range of routes, with opportunities for MRes, MSc and MA training attached to your chosen PhD programme, if you do not already hold a Master's qualification recognised by the ESRC.
If you would like to apply for ESRC UBEL funding for postgraduate research studies at Birkbeck, please read the following sections.
The Birkbeck Graduate Research School runs online briefing sessions about applying for studentships – you can find the date of the next session on the BGRS timetable.
How to Apply
UBEL applications are considered in two stages: a UBEL Preliminary application; followed by a UBEL Full application for a shortlisted subset of candidates. The two-stage process ensures that only the most competitive candidates need to undergo the time-consuming Full application process.
UBEL provided a support session for potential UBEL applicants: slides and a recording of the session are available. We strongly recommend that you take time to watch the recording.
In order to be considered for an ESRC UBEL studentship beginning in 2023/24 you will need to submit a Preliminary application using the ESRC UBEL application portal.
Deadlines
- 30 November 2022: Deadline for UBEL Preliminary applications.
- 16 December 2022: UBEL will inform candidates of their Preliminary application outcomes. The Full application form will be made available to successful candidates.
- 31 January 2023: Deadline for Full applications.
Applications are student-led, but in practice are joint with the supervisor. Applicants are advised to be in discussion with prospective supervisors as early as possible in the Autumn term.
UBEL Pathways at Birkbeck
You can apply for UBEL funding at Birkbeck via the following pathways. You should notify the most relevant UBEL pathway contact below before you apply so they can provide you with information about how to apply via your chosen pathway.
Archaeology and Heritage Studies
- We offer particular expertise in:
- archaeological practice
- cultural heritage studies
- heritage studies
- public archaeology
- heritage science
- sustainable heritage.
- Find out more about the UBEL archaeology and heritage studies pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Esther Breithoff
Economic and Social History
- We focus on:
- the relationship between society, the economy and power
- state formation
- emergent fields such as educational history, healthcare, environmental history and technology
- material/consumer culture.
- Find out more about the UBEL economic and social history pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Sarah Marks
Economics
- We have exceptionally strong and complementary expertise in the field of economics and finance.
- Find out more about the UBEL economics pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Walter Beckert
Gender and Sexuality
- We offer particular expertise in the areas of gender and:
- international development
- law
- media and cultural studies
- psychosocial studies
- sociology.
- Find out more about the UBEL gender and sexuality pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Penny Vera-Sanso
Health and Wellbeing
- We offer particular expertise and interests in:
- health and well-being in the family
- lived experience of health and illness
- resilience in breast cancer
- health psychology
- quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods.
- Find out more about the UBEL health and wellbeing pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Jonathan Smith
Human Geography
- We offer particular expertise in:
- critical human geography
- environmental geography
- collaborative projects in this area.
- Find out more about the UBEL human geography pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Jasmine Gideon
Law and Criminology
- Birkbeck's School of Law has a reputation for pioneering new fields of legal scholarship, offering a strong, critical, theoretically driven and dynamic research culture and a breadth of expertise and research interests.
- Find out more about the UBEL law and criminology pathway.
- Contacts for Birkbeck applicants: Nathan Moore and Sappho Xenakis
Linguistics
- With an emphasis on interdisciplinary methods, we seek to understand the nature and functions of language and communication in real-life contexts through rigorous, critical examination.
- Find out more about the UBEL linguistics pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Jean-Marc Dewaele
Politics and International Relations
- This pathway brings together three world-class departments: Birkbeck's Department of Politics, the SOAS's Department of Politics and International Studies and UCL's Department of Political Science/School of Public Policy. These departments cover a huge range of sub-fields, attract significant research funding, and supervise many doctoral students to successful completion.
- In addition to provision within Birkbeck, students following the Politics and International Relations pathway will have the opportunity to take modules across SOAS and UCL.
- Find out more about the UBEL politics and international relations pathway.
- Additional application requirement: You should include a covering letter with your application stating that you wish to be considered for an ESRC studentship. This letter should make clear that Birkbeck and the UBEL DTP are your first choice in applying for an ESRC studentship and explain why your academic studies to date and proposed research project make you a suitable candidate for this highly competitive source of funding.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Alejandro Colas
Psychology
- We offer great breadth with interlocking areas of strength in:
- cognition
- computation
- development
- education
- language
- neuroscience
- social change.
- Find out more about the UBEL psychology pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Michael Thomas
Psychosocial Studies
- This is an interdisciplinary field drawing on critical frameworks to study the interconnections between individual subjectivities, group identities and historical and contemporary social and political formations.
- Find out more about the UBEL psychosocial studies pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Stephen Frosh
Sociology
- We have a range of sociological perspectives, emphasising interdisciplinarity, wide thematic reach, innovative and rigorous methodologies, global outlook and a commitment to critical, theory-building research.
- Find out more about the UBEL sociology pathway.
- Contact for Birkbeck applicants: Margarita Aragon