2026 University of Hull White Rose Social Sciences DTP

The University of Hull offers fully funded opportunities through the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP) for postgraduate researchers in the Social Sciences. You’ll develop your own research idea addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges, aligned with one of the WRDTP’s seven interdisciplinary themed pathways. The support provided allows you to focus fully on your research and benefit from the collaborative training and resources of the White Rose network.

Applications are open for programmes starting September 2026.

• Table of Content
• About University of Hull
• University of Hull PhD Scholarship
• Aim and Benefits of University of Hull PhD Scholarship
• Requirements for University of Hull PhD Scholarship Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

University of Hull PhD Scholarship

Aim and Benefits of University of Hull PhD Scholarship

• Fully funded

Requirements for University of Hull PhD Scholarship Qualification

• WRDTP welcome applicants from eligible social science schools and departments in our seven partner universities (i.e. Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, and York).  A full list of eligible schools and departments can be found here.  To be eligible for a WRDTP award, applicants must hold an offer for a PhD place in an eligible school or department, and must be intending to undertake a social sciences research project that is within the ESRC’s remit.
• Applicants do not apply directly to the WRDTP for an award, but are instead nominated by their university.  You should therefore allow sufficient time to liaise with potential supervisors. You should also ensure that you observe any processes or deadlines that the individual department, school or university has in place for assessing applications.  All universities are required to have fair and equitable processes for determining which applicants should be nominated to the WRDTP for consideration.
• As part of the application process, you will be required to complete a WRDTP Studentship Application Form.  Please note that this is a separate process, and is in addition to any form that you may have completed when applying for a place to study a PhD at your chosen university. More details can be found here.
• Applicants must meet the entry requirements of their nominating school or department.  The ESRC also stipulates that: ‘for all studentships, students must have qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first- or upper second-class level, from a UK academic higher education institution, or, through a combination of qualifications and/or experience, be able to demonstrate equivalence. In the majority of cases, students will have undertaken an undergraduate course at a recognised UK higher education institution or equivalent international qualification. Prior qualifications may be enhanced to meet these requirements by the acquisition of at least one satisfactorily completed academic year of full-time study or its part-time equivalent (i.e., two years) towards a UK higher degree, if applying for an award without an undergraduate degree’.  Please note that applicants must satisfy their university’s entry requirements AND the ESRC’s minimum threshold.
• The ESRC limits the proportion of awards available to international applicants to 30%, which means that the WRDTP cannot offer any more than 30% of its awards to international candidates each year. To manage this, each of our universities has a limit on the number of international applications that it puts forward to the WRDTP.  If you are an international candidate, you should speak to your school or department to find out about the selection processes that may be in place. 
• Current students are eligible to apply for WRDTP studentship funding for the remainder of their studies, but only in the first year of their PhD programme. This is in order to comply with the ESRC Postgraduate Funding Guide, which states “The ESRC does not expect its funding to be used for students who have already completed a substantial proportion of a PhD; for example, funds should not be used to support a student entering the third year of full-time study”. Current students are required to apply via the same process, and according to the same deadlines as new entrants. Please contact the WRDTP via [email protected] to confirm your eligibility to apply.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Once you have a research question and a draft proposal and know which WRDTP Interdisciplinary Pathway your project aligns with, identify a supervisor at the University of Hull from one of the participating disciplines:

• Hull University Business School
• History, School of Arts and Humanities
• Human Geography, School of Environmental and Life Sciences
• Criminology, School of Criminology, Politics and Law
• Education, School of Education
• Psychology and Social Work, School of Psychology and Social Work

If you need help, contact the relevant academic area directly - or email [email protected].

Applications without a confirmed supervisor attached will be rejected.

The application deadline is 17:00 on 21 January 2026. Late applications will not be accepted.

Some departments have an earlier internal deadline: History, Criminology, Education - 8 December 2025, Business School – 15 December 2025

1. Contact a discipline lead
   • Get in touch with the named contact for your subject (see list below).
2. Apply to Hull
   • Submit a University of Hull application for your chosen subject and upload your completed scholarship application form via the corresponding admissions page (see list of specific subject areas).
3. PhD programme selection
   • Apply for a standard PhD (full-time or part-time). If you are awarded a scholarship, your application will be matched to the appropriate WRDTP route.

Note: Final route allocation is made by the White Rose DTP panel and may differ from your initial choice.

For more information, kindly visit University of Hull scholarship webpage.