£5.2M for social science studentships
Posted on 25/01/2011
A student in the library
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has awarded King’s College London approximately £5.2 million to support postgraduate studentships and training in the social sciences.
The King’s Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (KISS-DTC) has won a coveted place in the national network of training centres accredited by ESRC after the awarding committee was ‘impressed with the strategy and vision behind the King’s bid’ and singled out the ‘very strong interdisciplinary focus’ of the Centre for particular praise.
Rather than conventional disciplines or departments, the KISS-DTC is organised around 15 cross-cutting research themes in the broad domains of health, regulation and public services, social change, and security. The KISS-DTC themes reflect areas of established research excellence at King’s and the College’s long-standing commitment to interdisciplinary ways of working.
Professor David Demeritt, KISS-DTC Director said, ‘This latest award doubles the number of ESRC studentships we can provide to support doctoral study in the social sciences at King’s. It represents a huge vote of confidence in our approach to social sciences and in the quality and wider impact of our research and training activity across the 15 KISS-DTC themes. It will enhance the College’s outstanding environment for postgraduate study and professional development.’
Chris Mottershead, Vice Principal (Research & Innovation), said, ‘This is a considerable achievement and provides a platform for us to become known as one of the world’s strongest centres of social science, made possible only by colleague's commitment, effort and vision.’
Knowledge exchange
Officially launched by the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, the KISS-DTC will provide innovative and interdisciplinary research training, connecting the social sciences with the health and natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities. Its 15 research themes provide a framework to deepen collaborations among subject experts distributed across an archipelago of excellence at King’s, and each one involves a series of more detailed training ‘pathways’, enabling students to progress from more than 230 MA programmes into more specialist, doctoral research in the social sciences.
As well as studentships, ESRC funding will enable the KISS-DTC to run a programme of placement and knowledge-exchanges with organisations across the public and private sectors. A suite of advanced doctoral training courses and summer schools will also be run collaboratively with learned societies and other universities, including the College’s international partners.
[Image by Alfredo Falvo]
Notes to Editors
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC’s total expenditure in 2009/10 was about £211 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
Social Science at King’s
• Critical mass: 359 Category A staff returned in RAE 2008 (~30 per cent King’s College London total)
• Research Excellence: 66 per cent in top decile, 27 per cent in top quartile UoAs; King’s 6th for social science research income in UK
• Interdisciplinary breadth: Embedded in 26 of 37 UoAs and in every school, with 60 per cent outside SSPP
For more information on King's Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (KISS-DTC) see:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/pg/school/KISSDTC.aspx
Postgraduate Study at King’s
If you’re interested in Postgraduate study at King’s find out more about Programmes, the Graduate School and events, open days and visits: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/pg/index.aspx
King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2010 QS international world rankings), The Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11' and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.
King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.
King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit:
www.kingshealthpartners.org
Further information
Alex Bevis, Public Relations Department, Public Relations Department, King's College London
Email: alex.bevis@kcl.ac.uk Tel: 020 7848 323