PhD Studentship: How does a 4 day working week support employee inclusivity?

Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD position in the School of Psychology, supervised by Dr Charlotte Rae. This post is funded by an EU Horizon grant as part of an international team studying working time reduction.

Working time reduction – such as a ‘4 day week’ – is increasingly of interest to employers as a way to improve access to flexible work options for their staff, recruit more diverse employees, and enhance staff wellbeing. Our research group has led the UK’s largest interdisciplinary trial of the 4 day week, collaborating with employers to study the effects of shorter working weeks on their staff. Our new grant funding will extend this programme to study how working time reduction could support employee inclusivity at work.

In this grant-funded studentship, the PhD researcher will play a central role in collecting and analysing quantitative data from employees trialling shorter working weeks. They will examine how working time reduction affects wellbeing and perceptions of work in diverse groups such as women, caregivers, older workers, migrants, people with disabilities, and neurodiverse employees. The PhD researcher will also support interviews and surveys on barriers and enablers to working time reduction amongst stakeholders, such as business leaders and trade union representatives. Throughout the programme, they will attend to inclusive study design and research accessibility for participants.

Given the practical and societal relevance of the project, this studentship is well suited to applicants who are motivated by research with real-world impact, but with strong statistical and research methods training, as research design and statistical analysis will be core features of the project.

The project is funded for 3 years, providing a tax-free maintenance stipend to cover living costs at the standard UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27), and tuition fees at Home (UK) rate. International fees are not covered and so only students with UK Home status are eligible.

Eligibility

• Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a First or a high Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree, and/or a Master’s degree, in Psychology or a related discipline.
• This award will only pay fees at the UK Home rate. International students without UK Home status are not eligible.

How to apply

• Please read our Psychology PhD FAQS before you start your application.
• Please submit your application online for 'PhD in Psychology' for entry in September 2026.

• In the Supervisor suggested by applicant section of your application, put the name of the supervisor named on the advert.
• In the Proposed source of funding section of your application, please put Psychology Research Grant Studentship – Charlotte Rae

Candidates should provide: 

• A research proposal that outlines your knowledge of the research area, hypotheses that could be addressed in your PhD, and an outline of potential methods. The scope of the proposed work should be appropriate for a 3-year PhD research programme. The research proposal should be approximately 1,000 to 1,500 words in length and not exceed 3 pages, including references. It should be set at a minimum of 10 font type with margins a minimum of 1cm.
• Current degree transcript(s) with full details of performance on all completed courses. 
• Two academic references.
• An up-to-date CV.

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