Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership

What is the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership?

The Grand Union DTP is an ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership uniting The Open University, the University of Oxford and Brunel University in London. The partnership builds on the recognised research and doctoral training strengths of all three institutions. The DTP covers 23 subject areas (‘pathways’), themed into five broad clusters. Different pathways offer students opportunities to:

• undertake a research Masters’ course followed by a PhD (known as ‘1+3’, ‘2+2’ or ‘2+3’ routes)
• enter directly onto a PhD having already completed appropriate Masters-level training (‘+3’)
• undertake doctoral study over a longer period (‘+4’) in order to gain Master-level training and skills in a flexible and personalised way, meeting individual students’ needs.

All OU pathways are available for students studying part-time as well as those studying full-time.

Holding an GU DTP studentship enables you to access bespoke training, overseas institutional visits, placement opportunities and share training and facilities with Oxford and Brunel Universities.

As a Grand Union PhD student you will have the opportunity to gain profound expertise within your field(s), learn to communicate your research to a variety of academic and public audiences and to collaborate across disciplinary and national boundaries. This will enable you to produce rigorous, distinctive doctoral theses and graduate with an exceptional range of skills. Whatever your chosen career, whether within or outside of the academy, you will be able to bring the critical and creative skill-set of the doctorate and the insights it provides into human society, past, present and future

With an Grand Union ESRC DTP studentship you can gain the necessary research expertise and professional skills for a wide range of careers in academia and beyond. If you are interested in being a part of this exciting opportunity, and would like to find out more about the consortium and our partners, please explore the website further Grand Union ESRC DTP. We hope that the information you find here will encourage you to apply to join the OU and this exciting partnership.

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What is the application process?

Before you begin your application, we strongly recommend that you review the information provided by GU for Prospective students. This site provides a wealth of information on what the DTP offers, eligibility criteria, pathways, guidance and support with your application.

To apply for a studentship via the GU DTP with the OU, you will need to progress via three stages of processes.

• Stage One – Institutional selection process – your application will be progressed via OU recruitment and selection procedures based on your GU application form, OU application form and successful interview.
• Stage Two – GU Review - your application will be assessed by GU DTP studentship selection panels. Assessment will be based on information provided on the pathway nomination form, Grand Union DTP Application Form, and University application materials. This is an open competition across OU, Oxford, and Brunel.
• Stage Three –The DTP determine the number of awards to be made and communicate to the successful candidates. Decisions are expected to be made in late March and most of the successful candidates will be informed in April. Some further awards may be offered in May and June from a reserve list if other candidates withdraw.

All studentships will be allocated on the basis of merit rather than any sense of an institutional ‘allocation’, the strongest applications will be the ones funded in a given year.

All studentships are for commencement of study from October 2025.

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How do I apply?

Before you start your application, candidates are strongly advised to make informal contact with potential supervisors or subject area leads at The Open University. We recommend that you make contact at the earliest stage so that we can work with you to maximise your potential for a successful application. 

A full list of subject level contacts for pre-application enquiries can be found from OU pathways and academic leads

In making an application you are applying to both the GU DTP and to the OU. This means you will need to complete two application forms.

To apply for a studentship with the OU for DTP funding, you will need to complete the following:

1. OU Application form - please indicate on the OU application form under Funding (No. 25) “How are you intending to finance your studies” that you wish to be considered for Grand Union studentship funding.
2. GU DTP Application form - you may refer to Application Assessment

To meet the Open University admission requirements, it is essential that you have:

• Good academic qualifications i.e. a 1st or 2:1 in undergraduate degree in the relevant subject area from a UK institution or equivalent from a non-UK institution and/or a relevant Master's degree)
• Demonstrable ability to produce high-level academic writing.
• Evidence of the self-discipline and organizational skills required to complete a major academic project in three years and three months or part-time equivalent.
• Willingness to participate in the broader intellectual community of The Open University (and, if selected, Grand Union DTP community as well).

In addition to meeting the Open University’s requirements, please ensure that you review the eligibility criteria on the Grand Union funding page.

Please send completed applications to FASS-PhD-Applications@open.ac.uk by 7 January 2025 (midday, UK time) indicating the pathway (subject area) you are applying in the title of your email.

Please note you are responsible for making sure that all required documents, including references, are submitted in time for your chosen deadline and meet the University’s requirements. If your application is submitted late, and/or it is incomplete, it will not normally be assessed.

Please use our application checklist to ensure you have included all the documents required:

• Application forms (GU and OU) - fully completed.
• Research Proposal and or Personal Statement
• Curriculum Vitae
• Copies of degree certificates
• Transcripts of academic qualifications
• Certified translations of degree certificates and transcripts (if applicable)
• Copies of English language qualification certificates - SELTS (if applicable)
• Copies of your passport, or any other form of identification
• Documentation supporting a change of name (if applicable)
• Copy of research proposal / statement / project description
• The contact details for two independent referees (to be provided on the application form). Please contact FASS-PhD-Applications@open.ac.uk if you have queries about references
• List of publications or evidence of research experience (if relevant)
• Equal opportunities and HESA Monitoring Form (available on the OU application form)
• Please note that final applications must be emailed to FASS-PhD-Applications@open.ac.uk

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What support is available for me to complete my application?

We advise that you contact potential supervisors or Pathway (subject area) leads at The Open University for support with your application. This provides an opportunity to build a relationship with academics in your discipline area to develop your project proposal and strengthen your application.

If you require advice on locating a potential supervise or a list of initial, subject level contacts for pre-application enquiries can be found from OU pathway and academic leads.

Please also refer to Applicant Support and FAQs on the DTP pages.

For administrative enquiries related to the DTP or enquiries concerned with the application, please contact FASS-PhD-Applications@open.ac.uk.

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OU pathways and academic leads

Development Policy and Practice Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

Pathway leads:Dr Mark Lamont and Dr Frangton Chiyemura

Contacts: mark.lamont@open.ac.uk and frangton.chiyemura@open.ac.uk

DPP at the OU challenges 'top-down' and aid-driven development policy models and promotes research into more participatory and inclusive approaches. In particular, its approach to 'inclusive innovation' focuses attention on how technological, economic and social innovations in food, health, and education systems can bring benefits to marginalised groups. Underpinning this pathway is a history of research in DPP on sustainable energy infrastructures, migration, security, heritage, sustainability, climate change, and the political dimensions of development, all with a strong orientation to policy and practice.

Find out more about the Development Policy and Practice Pathway.

Geography and Environmental Studies Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University (Lead University: Oxford)

Pathway lead: Dr Carry Van Lieshout

Contact: carry.van-lieshout@open.ac.uk

The Geography & Environmental Studies Department at The Open University has a record of producing innovative research and teaching in both human and environmental geography. Research is conducted through the OpenSpace Research Centre, which encourages a vibrant research environment, drawing on research expertise both within and beyond The Open University and academia.

Find out more about the Geography Pathway.

Innovation in Learning Pathway - Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University

Pathway lead: Dr Margaret Ebubedike

Contact: margaret.ebubedike@open.ac.uk

Innovation in learning embodies a wide diversity in research, including creative learning and teaching in formal, nonformal and informal contexts, understanding children and young people’s worlds, intercultural communicative competence, academic and digital literacies, language learning, mobile and ubiquitous learning, citizen engagement, open education practices, issues of inclusion, social justice and well-being, and research into addressing real-world problems of learning in contexts of disadvantage and ill-health. It also includes new disciplines such as learning analytics and new fields of inquiry such as learning futures and performance augmentation.

The pathway offers opportunities for collaborative, participatory and interdisciplinary research, alongside research in technology-enhanced learning. Educational research relevant to this pathway sits within the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS), which is home to the UK’s only Regius Professor in Open Education, the Institute of Educational Technology, the Centre for Literacy and Social Justice, the Children’s Research Centre and the new Centre for the Study of Global Development. WELS is also home to the OU's largest group of postgraduate research students and offers an inclusive and cohesive research community.

Find out more about the Innovation in Learning Pathway.

Health and Wellbeing Pathway - Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University (Lead University: Brunel)

Pathway lead: Dr Justin Rogers

Contact: justin.rogers@open.ac.uk

Achieving good health and supporting wellbeing for all is essential to achieving social justice, and this lies at the heart of the Open University’s mission. We have expertise in and place value on participatory and inclusive research, with a particular focus on groups that are marginalised, ‘hard to reach’ or have complex needs. We welcome proposals for research that locates the experiences of service users, ‘patients’, carers, family members and practitioners at the fore of inquiry. The pathway will equip students to address health and wellbeing as complex, dynamic and fluid phenomena across the life course, and to use established and innovative social research methodologies to address these challenges.

Applications are invited on one or more of the following themes:

• ageing and later life
• children, young people, parenting and families
• death, dying and bereavement
• disability and long-term conditions
• reproductive and sexual health
• care and caring
• mental health

Find out more about the Health and Wellbeing Pathway.

Psychology Pathway – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

Pathway leads: Dr Sandra Obradovic and Dr Ailsa Strathie

Contacts: sandra.obradovic@open.ac.uk and ailsa.strathie@open.ac.uk

Psychology is a key component in all aspects of social life. Questions about how individuals think, feel, and act, and how these relate to wider social, cultural, economic and societal issues, lie at the heart of studying Psychology. It explores principles of human behaviour that link the social sciences. For example, investigations of the role of learning and memory in education, individual and group decisions in financial and political systems, perception and decision-making in legal contexts, or inter-group conflict arising from public policy or migration. At the same time, as an empirical science, Psychology forms a critical bridge from economic and social research to the natural and medical sciences, both in methodology and academic scope.

The School of Psychology and Counselling at The Open University has a vibrant research culture that is noted to be an international leader in transdisciplinary and applied research. Our School houses three research streams: i) Culture and Social Psychology (CuSP); ii) Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (PHeW) and iii) the Forensic Cognition Research Group (FCRG) which form part of the Open Psychology Research Centre (OPRC). Psychology at The Open University produces psychological research that seeks to understand, transform and enrich the lives of individuals and communities by foregrounding methodological and theoretical pluralism with a commitment to social justice. Students will be equipped to examine complex psychological phenomenon as they unfold as part of social practices in real settings. Using established, innovative and creative social science research methodologies, students will develop research to address wider societal challenges. Postgraduate students play a central role in developing new ideas with a contemporary focus, examining the impact of exceptional and everyday situations through a psychological lens. The School of Psychology and Counselling provides students with first-class training and resources which will enable them to be future research leaders in distinctive and emergent social practices constituting and transforming everyday lives.

Find out more about the Psychology Pathway.

Organisation, Leadership and Governance Pathway - Faculty of Business and Law, The Open University

Pathway lead: Dr Inge Hill

Contact: Inge.hill@open.ac.uk

The Organisation, Leadership and Governance pathway draws on the OU’s wide-ranging expertise in the fields of organisational studies, ethical leadership, governance, and sustainability. Sitting within the Business School (OUBS) and supported by our Law School, this expertise and knowledge informs and is informed by the OU’s Open Societal Challenges programme, because organisational practices are simultaneously the problem and potential solution to contemporary global crises.

Faculty academics publish in internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals. Expertise including supervisory and mentoring experience is available in many pathway-related topics such as gender, leadership, precarious work, the refugee experience, post-COVID working arrangements, as well as human trafficking, digital vulnerability in the financial sector, gamification, economic citizenship and governance, and renewable energy entrepreneurship.

The pathway draws upon four main research centres that enhance its research environment: the Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL), the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL), Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures (REEF) and the Law School’s Open Justice Centre (OJC). In addition, smaller Research Clusters provide PhD students and postdoctoral fellows with opportunities to share specific theoretical knowledge within supportive internal and external networked alliances. For example, Gendered Organisational Practice (GOP) have hosted a series of ‘how to write about gender’ workshops facilitated by a world-renowned gender expert, which PhD students and academics attended.

Find out more about the Leadership and Organisational Governance Pathway.

Social Justice and Inequalities Pathway - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University

Pathway leads: Dr Dan Taylor and Dr Victoria Cooper

Contacts: dan.taylor@open.ac.uk and victoria.cooper1@open.ac.uk

The Social Justice and Inequalities pathway provides a rigorous interdisciplinary framework for exploring the complexities of inequality and injustice at both national and international levels. Based in the School of Social Sciences and Global Studies (SSGS), this pathway is closely aligned with the new Global Challenges and Social Justice (GCSJ) Research Centre, which has particular strengths in applied research and the co-production of knowledge with relevant community and policy stakeholders.

Students enrolled on this pathway will be immersed in a vibrant research culture, backed by two leading research units specialising in Politics and International Studies, and Social Work and Social Policy. These units have been lauded for their research quality and have secured significant research funding, attesting to their academic vitality. Together, they encompass approximately 75 academic staff members and potential supervisors in the School.

Find out more about the Social Justice & Inequalities Pathway.

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Further Support and Resources

For specific information about ESRC terms and conditions, including eligibility rules, please visit UKRI website

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