PhD Studentship: Personal Budgets Across The Lifecourse

The ESRC Centre for Care is pleased to offer a PhD studentship based in the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham.

The ESRC Centre for Care is a new research centre established following a highly competitive process run by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Centre is led by investigators in five universities, three major charities and the Office for National Statistics, and will work in close partnership with a large network of partners and leading international research teams, co-producing its research with people who need care, carers, care workers and others.

The PhD will focus on social care in the UK. It will take a longitudinal approach to studying the experiences of people who have held a personal budget (or direct payment) to pay for their social care. The exact focus will be co-designed with the applicant. We anticipate that it will consider how personal budgets have interfaced with lifecourse changes (such as the move from children’s to adult services) and with other systems (such as personal health budgets). It will be a qualitative study to explore people’s experiences of managing a personal budget over time, and identifying the key enablers and barriers. Methods will be developed by the successful candidate but these are likely to include qualitative interviews and/or ethnography. There is scope to work indepth in one locality or to compare people’s experiences over a small number of localities.

The successful student will be supervised by Professor Catherine Needham and Dr Louise Overton Interested candidates should in the first instance contact c.needham.1@bham.ac.uk

How to Apply

Applications can be made through the University of Birmingham Postgraduate Application portal, and select CODE as the programme for which you are applying. Your scholarship application will not be considered if you do not apply for admission. To apply for admission please 'Apply' above. The scholarship application is a section on the admissions system which can be completed at any point. We recommend that applicants submit their application to study with us as soon as possible to allow time to process it and resolve any queries in advance of the funding deadline.

Your application should include:

• 1,000 - 2,000-word research proposal
• Supporting statement / cover letter
• Transcripts (previous qualifications)
• Two academic references
• CV
• Example of your written work

The studentship is offered as a 4 year award (commencing September 2022) on a full-time or part-time basis. Applicants should have a strong first degree (2:1) in a relevant social science. Relevant professional experience will also be considered. Applicants should have a Masters degree in a social sciences discipline with full social sciences research methods training. Applicants without research methods training will be considered, and if appointed will be expected to successfully complete relevant research methods modules during year one of the PhD.

The studentship covers:

• Full tuition fees at the Home rate (£4596 per annum, pro-rata for a part-time student)
• An annual maintenance grant for 4 years, at the standard RCUK rate (minimum £16,062 per year for your living costs, paid in regular instalments), pro rata for a part-time student

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