SENSS Collaborative studentships: launch of supervisor-led phase
The South and East Network for Social Sciences (SENSS) DTP (a consortium of the Universities of Essex, East Anglia, City St George’s, Cranfield, Lincoln, Middlesex, Roehampton, and Goldsmiths College) is pleased to announce the launch of its supervisor-led collaborative studentship competition.
SENSS is calling for the submission of research project proposals developed by a supervisor at a SENSS-member institution in conjunction with an external, non-HEI partner. This competition is held in two phases:
Phase 1: Supervisors develop a research project they would like to undertake with a collaborative partner and submit an application for a studentship to work on this project. The deadline for this competition is 12:00 (noon) on Friday 3 October. Each application must include a primary and second supervisor, and a collaborative partner from a non-HEI, and must fit within one of the SENSS interdisciplinary themes (https://www.senss.ac.uk/about) within their home university.
Phase 2: SENSS will advertise the successful projects to recruit prospective doctoral researchers to work on them. This phase will be launched later in the autumn.
There are two documents attached to this message:
• The first explains what interested supervisors should start thinking about and working on if they are interested in submitting an application, as well as the timeline for this competition: https://doctoralschool.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2025/07/SENSS-Collaborative-Partner-Studentship-Opportunities-2025.pdf
• The second is a one-page information sheet for interested supervisors to share with prospective collaborative partners to start the conversation about working together on a research project: https://doctoralschool.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2025/07/SENSS-DTP-Call-for-supervisor-led-collaborative-studentship-research-project-proposals-2025.pdf
In addition, the SENSS Director is offering two webinars, which will take supervisors through the application process, and answer any questions they might have. To register for the webinars, which will cover similar material, please use the following links:
Tuesday 19 August at 1pm – https://essex-university.zoom.us/meeting/register/o5stTrrdQmesanBwP8asAA#/registration
Wednesday 10 September at 12pm – https://essex-university.zoom.us/meeting/register/-o4_–87QbW0J-n0MwHBqw#/registration
Later in August, SENSS will open its online application platform, HEIapply, for the submission of formal applications. At this point, further information will be shared, including how to use the HEIapply system and the assessment criteria to be used to select the successful applications.
For any queries, please email senss@lincoln.ac.uk.
Story submitted by Lauren Blackwell
lblackwell@lincoln.ac.uk