Deadline: 31 January 2013
Open to: UK, EU and overseas candidates holding bachelors or masters degrees
Scholarship: full scholarship equivalent to fees and stipend
Description
The Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute invites applications from UK, EU and overseas candidates holding, or expecting to be awarded, a 1st Class Bachelors degree and/or a Masters with Distinction, or equivalent. Only the highest quality candidates will be interviewed and considered for full scholarships (equivalent to the fees and stipend awarded by the UK research councils). Top flight candidates with funding or part funding from other sources will be prioritised. Please note: funding is not available for existing PhD students. Applicants can either apply for one of the specific advertised projects which have been proposed by the SCI research and supervisory community (see below), or develop their own research proposal.
It is important that all applicants familiarise themselves with the spectrum of SCI research to ensure their interests align with areas covered by the Institute. The SCI currently has three interrelated overarching themes to guide and organise research activities:
- Sustainable Consumer Behaviours and Lifestyles Stimulating Eco-Innovation for Sustainable Production
- Distribution Climate Change
- Carbon: Mitigation, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
Five distinct programmes are emerging as follows.
- Consumer Behaviour and Everyday Life: This programme includes: consumption and everyday practices; patterns and trajectories of consumption; the formation of cultural values, tastes and conventions; ethical consumption; the mix and relationship between goods and services; and the significance of social networks in shaping consumption.
- Sustainable Consumption: 2025 and 2050: This forward focused programme will cover: emissions reductions scenarios; relationships between short and longer-term objectives on climate change; sustainability metrics; accounting for the dynamics of consumer behaviour and lifestyles in emissions forecasting; and identifying key indicators of sustainable consumption in 2012, 2025 and 2050 for different nations.
- Lead Companies and the Transition to Sustainable Societies: The commercial sector has a key role, and this programme includes: company capabilities and routines, both internal and in their supply chains, to promote eco-innovation; understanding what structures and stakeholders (including consumers) shape the development and adoption of eco-innovations; organizational innovation; major challenges faced by lead firms and how they can adapt; how institutional differences shape company strategies; and foresight scenarios to deliver eco-innovation.
- Socio-technical Transitions to Sustainable Consumption: This programme includes: the systems and processes that shape innovation processes; strategic niche management and radical innovations; the relationships and interactions between different stakeholders (firms, policy-makers, consumers, civil society) in shaping socio-technical transitions; design, development and diffusion of radical innovations; adoption and use of new technologies by consumers; and new business models or policy paradigms for government.
- Governance, Sustainability Policy and Management: At the level of government, this programme covers: economic policies for encouraging sustainable consumption; market regulation; discourses and framings of public understandings of consumption and well-being; affluence and willingness to act; visions and promotion of transitions to a sustainable society; climate policy instruments to reduce consumption-based emissions; policy selection frameworks; and behavioural constraints to successful environmental policies.
In addition, sustainable cities, circular economy and ecosystem services have been identified as topics for future development. Part of the latter theme, could expand upon SCI research on sustainable water resource management combining hydrology, environmental engineering and natural resource economic modelling to derive key policy recommendations.
Application
Applications should be completed online by 31 January 2013 through The University of Manchester online application process HERE.
Documents required:
- Full CV
- Two academic references.
- Copy of official academic transcripts from your undergraduate and/or Masters degree.
- A personal statement summarising: your own project ideas or the specific project you are applying for (see list below); your research experience to date; your suitability to join the SCI CDT; also what you hope to achieve from your PhD and your post-PhD aspirations.
- A fully developed, yet concise, research proposal. Whether applying for a listed project or with your own idea, the proposal should include clear statements covering the following: rationale and justification; aims and objectives or research questions or hypotheses, as appropriate; proposed research methods and appropriate discussion of relevant academic literature.
- IELTS/TOEFL Certificate (if applicable) dated within the last two years.
- Alternative funding sources (eg. government, industry, family)
For more information, please see the call for applications AVAILABLE HERE and contact Senior Programme Administrator Sue Huzar for more information at sue.huzar@manchester.ac.uk.