Supervisor-led PhD Studentship (Tuition and Stipend)

September 2024 entry

The Department of Management is offering a competitive PhD studentship commencing September 2024. Exceptional graduates are invited to submit a research proposal to work with one of the following supervisor teams:

1. Professor Tobias Jung on the topic ‘Foundation Governance and Leadership: Investigating Governance Structures and Leadership Dynamics in Philanthropic Foundations’ (see below for further details). Applicants are strongly encouraged to align their proposal with either the Governance, Organisations and Accountabilities or Work, Organisations and Society research groups.
2. Dr. Anna Brown and Prof. Kirstie Ball on the topic ‘The craft imaginary: shaping a better future for work’ (see below for further details). Applicants are strongly encouraged to align their proposal with the Knowledge and Practice research group.
3. Dr. Samuel Mansell and Dr. Cailean Gallagher on the topic ‘Business ethics and the history of philosophy’ (see below for further details). Applicants are strongly encouraged to align their proposal with either the Governance, Organisations and Accountabilities or Work, Organisations and Society research groups.
4. Dr. Lucy Wishart and Dr. Alina Baluch on the topic ‘Social Value and Organisation(s) in the Circular Economy’ (see below for further details). Applicants are strongly encouraged to align their proposal with either the Knowledge and Practice or Work, Organisations and Society research groups.
5. Dr. Vicky Ward and Dr. Shona Russell on the topic ‘Examining the emotional impact of knowledge translation’ (see below for further details). Applicants are strongly encouraged to align their proposal with either the Knowledge and Practice or Work, Organisations and Society research groups.

About the studentship

The Studentship will comprise a stipend at UKRI level (£18,622 for 2023/24) and full tuition fees (UK/International) for 3.5 years. In addition, the studentship offers:

• Research funding of up to £500 per academic year to help with research-related costs;
• Funding for travel, accommodation, and conference fees to support attendance at academic conferences, including one international conference;
• Support for academic and professional development both internally (Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development and GRADskills, as well as University social sciences research modules) and externally (Scottish Graduate School of Social Science);
• All students funded from this call will be expected to contribute to teaching within the School, typically taking on tutoring and marking duties (to be paid separately via a graduate teaching assistantship contract). There will also be an opportunity to complete a Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice.

About the Business School

Founded in 2023, the Business School comprises the Departments of Economics, Finance, and Management. Based within the Department of Management, the successful applicant will join a vibrant international community focused on research and teaching excellence from the perspective of “responsible management”. Adopting a collaborative research approach, the School is a world-leading centre for intellectual scholarship and engagement with policy and practice. Read more about our research, and the broad range of research interests of the School’s faculty.

Management at St Andrews was ranked overall first in Scotland by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023, which named the University of St Andrews the top university in Scotland and Scottish University of the Year. The School of Management was also ranked first in Scotland for business, management and marketing by the Guardian University Guide 2023, and first in Scotland for business and management studies by the Complete University Guide 2023.

About the PhD Programme:

PhD students are situated in a stimulating, developmental, and collegial environment. Working closely with supervisors, doctoral candidates undertake a focused piece of original research over the three-year programme. Students showcase their research and progress annually, receiving developmental feedback from leading experts in their field. Candidates will engage with diverse disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and methodologies through research seminars, workshops, reading groups, and developmental activities organised by thematic groups and research centres. Students are expected to participate in academic conferences, contribute to the School’s teaching provision, and may submit papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals by PhD completion.

The School’s PhD graduates are held in high esteem and have pursued careers in academia, research and policy institutions, and a range of private, public and third sector professions. 

The School is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. PhD students have extensive support mechanisms and, through student representation, multiple opportunities to shape their doctoral studies and School initiatives.

Affiliation with the St Leonard’s Postgraduate College offers PhD students opportunities to participate in the University’s wider intellectual and social community. You can read more here about the University and its beautiful surroundings, as well as postgraduate perspectives on doctoral study.

How to apply:

Applicants should have completed (or expect to complete) their Masters degree with distinction, and are expected to have undertaken a significant component of advanced study in the intended specialist research area.

Interested candidates should demonstrate their commitment to research, knowledge Exchange, and teaching activities. The research proposal should build upon the project outline list above. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact relevant supervisor(s) to discuss their proposal before making a formal application.

Additional entry requirements and further details about the PhD proposal, application procedures and supporting documentation is available at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/management/prospective/pgr

Your application must include:

• A research proposal, which must be no longer than 1,500 words excluding references.
• The proposal should demonstrate your knowledge of the literature, methods, and approach to the proposed project.
• Covering letter stating research area, motivation for the project and its relevance to the specified research group and Schools research strategy.
• Up-to-date curriculum vitae.
• Details of two academic referees, including email addresses.
• Academic transcripts, which must be certified copies.
• A piece of coursework by you, in the area in which you intend to study. This must be different from your research proposal and no longer than 3,000 words.
• IELTS or TOEFL certificate if English is not your first language. The School requires an IELTS score of 7.0 or above, with a minimum score of 6.5 in every section of the test.

Applications should be made online by 15^th March 2024. Incomplete applications will not be processed. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview and give a presentation of their research. Online interviews are expected to be held in March/April 2024.

For further queries, please contact the Postgraduate Research Administrator at phdres@standrews.ac.uk.

About the projects:

• 1) Foundation Governance and Leadership: Investigating Governance Structures and Leadership Dynamics in Philanthropic Foundations

Philanthropy plays a prominent part in advancing societal change: from supporting healthcare and education, to tackling environmental challenges and humanitarian crises, or advocating for social justice, equality, and empowerment. Here, foundations, as the institutional expressions of philanthropy, wield particular power. Despite the global growth in foundation numbers and assets, knowledge and understanding of these organisational forms, particularly their governance structures and leadership dynamics, remains limited. Taking a qualitative approach, this PhD project will contribute to academic and practice understanding of the area by: (i) examining Scottish foundations’ governance structures and board compositions, including questions of diversity, expertise, and representation; (ii) considering the role of boards, trustees, and executive leadership in shaping foundations’ strategic initiatives, and; (iii) exploring how leadership dynamics between trustees and executive leadership relate to foundations’ overall governance and mission fulfilment. The outcomes are expected to both strengthen theory on foundations and offer practical insights for foundation governance.

The successful applicant will be supervised by Professor Tobias Jung and Prof. John Ferguson.

• 2) The Craft Imaginary: Shaping a Better Future for Work.

Craft has been posited as an alternative way of thinking about work in contemporary society (Bell et al 2019), particularly in the face of rapid change. Craft is not only the product of skilled handwork, but also a technology that can organise work practices in different ways exposing contradictory dynamics and challenging dominant norms (Bell et al 2021; Gasparin & Neyland 2022).

The craft imaginary seeks to expand notions of craft as a type of work (Kroezen et al 2021), by developing an understanding of craft as a way of being-in-the-world that can generate alternative modes of living for a better future.  Central to this endeavour is exploring what craft can reveal about how work and organisational practices find expression and are held together in material and bodily ways. Proposals could focus on a variety of work contexts  and explore craft’s intersection e.g with identity, gender, sustainability, or technology.

Bell E, Dacin T and Toraldo M.L (2021) Craft imaginaries – Past, Present and Future. Organisation Theory 2: 1-18.

Bell E, Mangia G, Taylor S and Toraldo M. L (2019) The Organization of Craft Work: Identities, meanings, and materiality. London: Routledge, 1-19.

Gasparin, M., & Neyland, D. (2022). Organizing Tekhnē: Configuring processes and politics through craft. Organization Studies, 43(7), 1137-1160.

Kroezen, J., Ravasi, D., Sasaki, I., Żebrowska, M. and Suddaby, R., 2021. Configurations of craft: Alternative models for organizing work. Academy of Management Annals, 15(2): 502-536

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Anna Brown and Prof. Kirstie Ball.

• 3) Business Ethics and the History of Philosophy

This project seeks to advance philosophy in business ethics by drawing upon the history of moral, political, or legal thought. It might explore the implications of an established philosophy (e.g., Aristotelian or Kantian ethics) or of an intellectual tradition neglected in business ethics (e.g., Gandhian or Islamic moral thought) for a contemporary business ethics issue (e.g., corporate responsibility for modern slavery, or AI and the future of work). The project might instead research business ethics in the history of philosophy: e.g., in the works of Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Smith, and Mill, all of whom wrote on the ethics of commerce or the corporation. The project could also be approached genealogically, by researching how moral questions were resolved, or avoided, in the intellectual history of business ethics as a field of study, or in the history of institutional forms such as the modern corporation or the stock exchange.

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Samuel Mansell and Dr. Cailean Gallagher

• 4) Social Value and Organisation(s) in the Circular Economy

This PhD project seeks to bring an organisational perspective to scholarship of the circular economy (CE). The definition of CE is unsettled and debates continue whether the concept presents as an “empty signifier” to perpetuate the continuation of unsustainable production and consumption (Corvellec et al. 2020). From a management perspective, much research has focused on circular business models with an emphasis on the potential environmental and economic contributions of a CE.  The social value arising from more circular systems of resource use and the role of organisations therein, remain, however less well understood.

We envisage the project to be flexible according to the interests of the PhD candidate. It will appeal to those who enjoy qualitative methodologies, e.g., case study, ethnography, and potential avenues of inquiry could explore issues of knowledge, work, responsibility and social value in the CE.

Corvellec, H., Böhm, S., Stowell, A. and Valenzuela, F., 2020. Introduction to the special issue on the contested realities of the circular economy. Culture and Organization, 26(2), pp.97-102

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr Lucy Wishart and Dr Alina Baluch

• 5) Examining the Emotional Impact of Knowledge Translation

Over the past decades there has been a proliferation of specialist roles concerned with knowledge translation (the processes through which knowledges coalesce and are used to inform decision-making and action). They may be known as knowledge brokers, knowledge mobilisers, knowledge exchange officers or knowledge transfer specialists, but their common focus is on breaking down barriers between different knowledge domains and facilitating connections and communication between those who are situated in those domains.

Much has been written about those who operate in these in-between spaces, but there has been limited critical examination of these roles or the emotional impact on those who perform them. This PhD project will address this gap, drawing on the sociology of knowledge translation (Kitto et al., 2012). The concept of emotional labour is likely to play a significant role in the project, but other relevant concepts and theories are likely to be identified during the research.

Kitto, S.C., Sargeant, J., Reeves, S. et al. Towards a sociology of knowledge translation: the importance of being dis-interested in knowledge translation. Adv in Health Sci Educ 17, 289–299 (2012). doi.org/10.1007/s10459-011-9303-6

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Vicky Ward and Dr. Shona Russell