{"word_count": 594, "character_count": 4058}
The University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute will be offering fully funded PhD studentships to outstanding candidates wishing to commence their doctoral studies in September 2014. The Sustainable Consumption Institute aims to bring insight and clarity to a key part of the sustainability challenge: the role of consumption. It takes original insights from across the Social Sciences and subjects them to critical empirical scrutiny in order to advance fundamental understandings about processes of consumption and innovation for more sustainable societies. The studentships will need to be closely aligned with the research agenda and ongoing activities of the SCI, and so will focus on one or more of the following areas: Everyday Practices: Understanding consumer choices, habits and routines, and how they can become more sustainable.Innovation: Accelerating sustainable innovation in products, services and systems.Visions and politics: Exploring alternative framings of sustainable consumption and the politics underpinning them.Evidence: Developing novel methodologies to advance the evidence base on sustainable consumption. Successful candidates will be funded by the SCI, supervised by at least one member of SCI research staff, and located within a host School. The exact location of the studentship will depend on the applicant’s project, their interests and their supervisor. We anticipate that most candidates will be based in either the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) or Manchester Business School (MBS).Candidates are invited to write a research proposal for a PhD project that complements and/or extends current SCI research projects. Proposals should be c.1500 words long and include a title, the background to the project, the research design and methodology and, a bibliography.  Alternatively, we have proposed a number of PhD projects for candidates to consider. In these cases, applicants are required to write a statement (c.1500) detailing their suitability and motivation for their preferred project, and the ways in which they would approach (theoretically and/or methodologically) the research.Either way, candidates are encouraged to learn more about the SCI and to get in touch with potential supervisors to discuss their ideas in advance of making an application.Studentship details - The studentships comprise an annual stipend of £13,729, payment of fees up to the level charged for UK/EU students (currently £3,900, non-UK/EU students would need to pay the balance in fees themselves) and £1,000 for fieldwork and conference expenses. The studentship will be for direct entry onto the three year (+3) PhD programme.  The programme will commence in September 2014. Continuation of the award is subject to satisfactory performance.Entry Requirements - Applicants must hold a Bachelors degree equivalent to a First Class or Upper Second Class Honours UK degree. They must also have (or expect to gain) a UK Masters degree (or overseas equivalent) at Merit level (with a coursework/examination average of 60% or more AND a dissertation mark of 60% or more, with no mark below 50%) or above in a relevant social science discipline. Preference will be given to candidates whose Masters degree involves a significant element of social science research methods training, and those who performed at distinction leve! l (70% or higher) or equivalent.How to apply - Applicants should email david.evans-2@manchester.ac.uk a full CV together with a covering letter and either a research proposal (for their own project) or personal statement (if applying for a specified project). The successful candidate will be required to submit a full University of Manchester on-line application, plus supporting documents (two academic references and degree transcripts) to fulfill the normal admissions procedures for the school in which they will be based.Further information – see http://www.sci.manchester.ac.uk/study or e-mail david.evans-2@manchester.ac.uk Deadline - The deadline for applications is 31st January, 2014.