SEDarc
SEDarc
South-East Doctoral Training Arc for the Social Sciences
About SEDarc
The University of Kent is partnered with Royal Holloway University of London (Doctoral Training Partnership lead institution), University of Reading, University of Surrey, University of Sussex and Kingston University to make up the South-East Doctoral Training Arc (SEDarc). SEDarc is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
SEDarc will develop world-class social science researchers from all backgrounds who thrive in challenge-led, collaborative and interdisciplinary contexts. Kent is proud to be one of the six partner research-intensive institutions supporting future leaders of social science in academia, public services and industry.
About the studentship
SEDarc are offering fully-funded 3.5 year PhD studentships and a limited number of 1 year Masters + 3.5 year PhD studentships. Each awarded student will benefit from a broad range of research skills training across the lifetime of their PhD. It also offers opportunities to use research in practice through a placement in academia, public sector, or industry. Placement travel expenses of up to £1,000 is available to all. Research skills training and research in practice (not including the placement) will comprise approximately 200 study hours per year.
Research projects will be developed around five interdisciplinary thematic pathways:
- Living sustainably
- Healthy thriving communities
- Inclusive economic growth
- Secure, effective and trusted institutions
- Transformative technologies for society
Each partner institution can nominate up to 18 candidates for consideration. Due to the nature of the PhD, students who have already started their PhD will not be eligible.
The scholarship will cover full tuition fees and an annual stipend at the UKRI minimum rate. Please note that funding does not cover additional costs associated with relocation to, and living in, the UK, such as visa costs or the health surcharge.
SEDarc studentships may be undertaken on a part-time or full-time basis, visa requirements notwithstanding.
All applications will be assessed using the same assessment criteria. Full details can be found on the SEDarc website.
Your initial application will be submitted to the University of Kent, and your personal data will be processed in accordance with the University of Kent's Privacy Notice. If you are invited to apply directly to SEDarc, you will be asked to submit your application and personal data through the SEDarc portal. Any information you provide at that stage will be processed and stored securely in accordance with Royal Holloway, Univerity of London's privacy policies. Your personal data will only be used for the purpose of managing your SEDarc application.
How to apply
To be considered for a SEDarc studentship at Kent you must follow the below steps carefully. You will only be considered for a studentship if you complete each step by the Kent deadline of Sunday 22 November 2026, 23:59 GMT:
Step 1: Apply for a PhD at Kent through one of the eligible disciplines. Consult with a primary supervisor when applying. If you have already applied to Kent and hold a deferred offer move to step 2. If you are applying for a Masters + PhD, you must apply to both the Master's programme and PhD programme.
Step 2: Download the Kent/SEDarc application and complete the form with the support of your potential primary supervisor. You will need to ask the supervisor to complete Section 8 of the application form before submitting.
Step 3: Submit the Kent/SEDarc application form to the Graduate and Researcher College by emailing your form to dtpenquiries@kent.ac.uk by the deadline. You MUST complete this step to be considered for a SEDarc studentship at Kent. Please enclose the following information in your email submission:
- Kent/SEDarc application form
- Full Name
- KentVision applicant ID number
If you are considering applying for the SEDarc studentship at the University of Kent, join our SEDarc Academic Lead for an online briefing, where you’ll learn more about the studentship and gain a clear overview of the application process. For dates and times, visit our 2027 Competition Timeline for details.
PhD Training Programme
SEDarc offers a standard 3.5 year PhD. If required, a candidate can apply for a + 1 year Masters if no previous social science Masters degree has been obtained.
The individual research project is estimated to take 2.75 years. The remaining time will be made up of 200 hours per year of digital, data skills and advanced method training. Each student will also have the opportunity to undertake a 3-month placement in academia, public, private sector or industry.
The Placement
Total duration of the placement is 3 months (if full-time), and can be spread out to a
longer duration for part-time and flexible arrangements. Placements partners can be from public, private, or academic sectors. Students are encouraged to source their own placement so that it best serves their career goals.
The Training
It is expected that PGR students graduating from SEDarc universities must be able to
demonstrate, through relevant training, practical experience and/or submission of their
thesis, that they possess the following knowledge, skills and attributes:
- Conceptual skills
- principles of research design and strategy, research methods, data generation, analytical approaches, ethical practice, Open Science principles and practices.
- General research skills
- project management, data management and analysis, ethical and legal issues, digital and bibliography skills, language skills, research impact, Intellectual Proport Rights (IPR).
- Specialist skills
- subject/field knowledge, specialist qualitative and quantitative skills.
For more details visit the SEDarc Training Requirement webpage.
The Thesis
The PhD thesis is the product that demonstrates competencies acquired from the general and specialist skills training. The PhD thesis must include:
- A section on project management
- A data management plan
- A chapter on knowledge exchange, perhaps reflecting learning from the placement (e.g policy report, industry solution, accessible science communication)
- Reflections in appropriate chapters as to how the training journey influenced the
research - Archiving of study materials, data, and reproducible analysis code (as
appropriate) on the Open Science Framework.