What proportion of PhDs are ESRC studentships?

by Allan Williams

Nine out of ten social science PhDs are not ESRC-funded, as the Review of ESRC Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) noted in 2015. So how has the proportion of PhDs arising from ESRC studentships varied between disciplines in recent years?

Reflections on 2018

by Jennifer Rubin

As we come to the end of a busy year in the research landscape, it’s been an exciting and challenging time to take up the role of Executive Chair of the ESRC. The year has brought organisational changes, numerous societal challenges with which social science can help, and the advent of large new funds in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support research across disciplines and sectors to facilitate this.

“Social science can be key to turning much research and innovation into effective action that improves outcomes”

by Martin Ince

Professor Jennifer Rubin, ESRC’s new Chief Executive and Executive Chair Designate, explains her goals for the ESRC, her research background and how social science can help address global problems to improve outcomes.

Professor Jennifer Rubin has just become the ESRC’s Chief Executive and Executive Chair Designate. In April, the post will transform into Executive Chair of ESRC, one of the nine constituent bodies of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

She joins from King’s College London, where she is professor of public policy and was director of the Policy Institute at King’s.

Application and award success rates – what the data tells us

Alex Hulkes is Strategic Lead for Insights at the ESRC, and is responsible for developing our ability to evaluate and carry out data-informed analysis of ESRC investments, policy and operation.

Here he highlights why we publish our application and award data, and what conclusions we might be able to draw from it.

You may have noticed that we’ve just published a new set of application and award data showing the number of applications and awards from each research organisation (RO) that has applied for ESRC funding in the last five financial years. The set also contains similar data on numbers of applications and awards based on the research disciplines used to classify grants.

Picture of the week: Former ESRC council and committee members

This week we mark the 50th anniversary of the Social Science Research Council, which later became the Economic and Social Research Council. You can find out more about our history on our website.

Here are a few of the faces who have helped to shape the Council over the last five decades.