Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership

What is the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership?

• The Open University, alongside the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, is now part of the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). This three university consortium was been awarded Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding to enable it to support five cohorts of PhD students, starting in October 2019. The DTP expects to award c. 77 doctoral studentships every year, across all AHRC subject areas.
• The DTP is underpinned by world-class research and training environments and is supported by strategic partnerships with the BBC World Service, the National Trust and British Telecom.
• The DTP allocates studentship funding, develops bespoke training (and shares existing training and facilities) and offers students placement/internship opportunities with non-HEI partners. It also provides an opportunity for academic staff to develop new links and external relationships.

Further details about DTP can be found on the OOC DTP website.

How do students apply via The Open University to the OOC DTP?

• 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. A list of contacts for each OU/AHRC subject area can be found here.
• Application is a four-stage process:
  • Students apply to The Open University (preferably under advice from potential supervisors) and include the OOC DTP Application Form. Disciplines review applications, interview selected candidates and decide which to put forward for consideration for funding.
  • These applications are reviewed by an internal Open University panel which decides which are put forward for consortium level consideration.
  • The DTP convenes four panels (made up of academics from a range of disciplines) to review and grade the applications submitted via the three universities.
  • The OOC Management Board allocates studentships based on the recommendations of these four panels.
• The advert and further particulars for 2022-23 studentships can be found on the OU employment website. A list of contacts for each OU/AHRC subject area can be found in the Further Particulars document.

How can I find out more?

• For academic enquiries, please contact Professor Sara Haslam (Professor of Twentieth- Century Literature and Director of Research Degrees at the Open University). Sara is the academic lead for the Open University within the Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP, and is the consortium’s Deputy Director: sara.haslam@open.ac.uk
• For administrative enquiries related to the DTP or enquiries concerned with the application, please contact Esther Brown in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences: esther.brown@open.ac.uk.

Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP Application Process 2022/23