Understanding Society offers the opportunity to examine siblings from the same family as adults and follow different generations in parallel over time.
We are looking for candidates interested in pursuing a PhD in Sociology or Economics conducting research on family dynamics using Understanding Society data.
Over the course of this studentship the successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop their own research agenda focused on family dynamics across households using Understanding Society data.
One of the unique and exciting features of Understanding Society is its household longitudinal design which allows us follow people as they leave one household and start their own, and how over time families relate to each other across households. For example, we can compare the different circumstances and behaviours of adult siblings over time or the changing inter-dependencies between adult children and their parents as they both age.
Currently, Understanding Society is collecting data from approximately 19,000 two generation families and 3,000 three generation families within and across households. The focus of this PhD should be to develop novel research questions that explore the rich data on families across households and generations in Understanding Society. For example, the kinds of questions such a PhD could address include:
- How do the life trajectories of the adult children reflect their parents and/or their siblings?
- As parents age, how does this change intergenerational reciprocity with adult children living elsewhere?
- Do the behaviours of adult siblings converge or diverge as time from the family of origin progresses? Is this influenced by factors in the family of origin or their new living arrangements?
More information about Understanding Society, which should be reviewed in developing your proposal can be found here.
Please note we have another studentship that focuses on dependent children, so they should not the focus of this PhD.
Applications
About the studentship
- The families across households studentship is funded by the host institution contribution linked to the Understanding Society grant from Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and will be part of the sociology or economics pathway within the SeNSS DTP, full details of the SeNSS Doctoral Training Partnership can be found on the SeNSS website.
- The successful candidate will be based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex.
- Data collected by Understanding Society must be used in all chapters of the thesis dissertation.
- Applicants must have a degree in an appropriate area of sociology, economics or other social science, statistics, health sciences and have strong quantitative skills and an appropriate research training Masters degree or equivalent assessed training or demonstrably equivalent professional experience.
- The studentship covers tuition fees and provides a tax free stipend to cover your living costs, this is set at £17,668 per year for three years for a full time student.
- Studentships also provide access to research training funds.
- International students are eligible to apply for this studentship. International fees will be waived for this studentship for the duration of the studentship. Visa costs are not covered by the studentship.
Please apply through the University of Essex online portal application system stating this ISER studentship in your application.
As well as your application form and CV, you will need to include a research proposal of around 2000 words setting out your ideas for analysing Understanding Society data to better understand families across households.
The closing date for applications is 28 February 2023, interviews will take place in March with a decision notified to you in April.