SeNSS Director's Bulletin - October 2022

Dear SeNSS community,

 

Welcome back to our returning doctoral researchers and their supervisors! And a warm welcome to our new doctoral researchers and their supervisors!

 

SeNSS core team

Our core team has gone through extensive changes over the past academic year with the departure of the Training Manager, Abigail Shirley, and the Co-ordinator, Paul Newman. However, we are very happy to announce the recruitment of our new Co-ordinator Rachel Leighton-Jones, who started in post on 26 September 2022. Welcome, Rachel!

 

2022-23 Post-Doctoral Fellows

We are delighted to welcome our six new Fellows, including our first SeNSS alumni Fellow (Paul Shuttleworth), who have just started their year-long contracts!

  • Yen Ne Wong, University of Kent, Sociology

  • Carla Ibled, University of East Anglia, Politics and International Relations

  • Barbora Cernusakova, Goldsmiths, University of London, Sociology

  • Grace Tillyard, Goldsmiths, University of London, Sociology

  • Paul Shuttleworth, University of Sussex, Education

  • Matthew Barnfield, University of Essex, Politics and International Relations.

 

Induction event for the new 2022-23 cohort of doctoral researchers

We will hold our face-to-face Induction Event on 19 October at Roehampton, which is mandatory for all new researchers. This will include the launch of the fourth edition of Sentio, the SeNSS student-led journal, during the closing reception. Those unable to attend the reception can attend virtually, via Zoom. The event will start at 4.45pm.

 

This year’s journal theme is Resilience. In the past few years, there have been some very creative innovations undertaken to adapt to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the global effort to tackle the ‘code red climate emergency’. These serve as just some of the many examples of responses to the difficult challenges currently facing the international community. Challenges such as these reveal the adaptability of governments, communities, and individuals. The authors of this issue reflect on, and interpret, these responses. We would love to see you there!

 

COVID-19 linked funded extension information for existing cohorts of researchers  

The next call for applications was issued earlier this week (noting that calls will continue to be made bi-annually - in October and April - for as long as is necessary), based on researchers’ funding award end dates. Those researchers whose current funding end date (as far as SeNSS is aware) falls into the date range identified for this call (between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, although, for part-time researchers, their funding end dates may be further into the future) will have already received emails in this regard. Before deciding whether to apply for an extension, we strongly recommend that you read the Phase 3 COVID-19 linked extensions policy.docx.

If you are a current student whose work has been impacted on by COVID-19, but your funding award end date does not fall within the date range mentioned, you can nevertheless apply for a funding extension. Please talk to your supervisor and, if they are supportive, get in touch with SeNSS. We will send you the link to the form you need to submit to be considered for an extension.

 

The deadline for both researchers and their supervisors to complete the extension application form is 4pm GMT on Monday 7 November 2022.

 

Manager’s weekly office hour  

Each week on a Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm), commencing 25 October, the Manager will hold a virtual office hour via Zoom. As with previous years, this offers researchers and their supervisors an opportunity to raise concerns and queries directly with Felicity as, sometimes, it might be easier talk directly to someone from the SeNSS core team, rather than email back and forth. This weekly meeting is being held in addition to emailing the core team whenever helpful.  

  

Increase in maximum amount doctoral researchers can apply for (OIV, OFW, and placements)

Given the cost-of-living increases both nationally and internationally, SeNSS has decided to increase the maximum amounts doctoral researchers can apply for as follows:

  • Overseas institutional visits: increased from £3,000 to £4,000;

  • Placements/internships: increased from £1,500 to £2,500 (travel costs only); and,

  • Overseas fieldwork: increased from £6,000 to £8,000.

 

Just a reminder that all costs must continue to be fully justified in funding applications.

 

2022/23 studentship competitions

 

  • Collaborative studentship competition

    • The supervisor phases of both the collaborative studentship and the SeNSS-ARIES studentship competition have closed. This year’s successful supervisors in both competitions will be publicised on the SeNSS website by 1 November 2022.

 

  • Student-led competition

    • This competition is now open. Please visit the SeNSS website for details, and re-tweet our recruitment announcement tweets as widely as possible. Our online application portal will be open for applications in mid-October 2022.

 

    • A reminder that all studentships are fully funded, regardless of residential eligibility. However, we are limited by UKRI rules to awarding 30% of the total number of studentships awarded to international candidates (~12 studentships p.a.).

 

    • A new innovation this year is the introduction of a research methods compliance “calculator.” This calculator, which is available here, aims to guide applicants and their supervisors in identifying – before they start their SeNSS application – which studentship structure they should be applying for (+3, 1+3 etc). Completing the form will result in applicants being advised immediately which structure to apply for. They are asked to download a copy of the form and their results, and to share this with their supervisor as soon as possible. This is to ensure that the applicant has completed the form correctly, but also that the supervisor is aware of the advice the applicant has been given. The calculator is for guidance only. The final decision will still lie with SeNSS, and candidates and their supervisors can raise concerns with SeNSS if they feel that the advice generated by the calculator is not suitable.

 

    • SeNSS institutions will once again be encouraged to put forward additional applications where these meet certain criteria, as this scheme proved to be very successful last year. This year, however, institutions can nominate up to two additional candidates per Pathway. All institutions may nominate an additional (fourth) candidate where this candidate is a Home student and meets certain equality and diversity (E&D) criteria (available here). This is regardless of structure of studies - 1+3, +3 etc). Institutions can also put up a fifth candidate, but only where this candidate is a Home student and a BAME student. Pathway Groups will not be told which candidates have been nominated due to meeting these criteria, and these candidates’ applications will be reviewed in the same way as any other nominated candidate.

 

    • SeNSS will once again ring-fence one studentship for the best Advanced Quantitative Methods application and, as part of our E&D strategy, ring-fence 12 four-year studentships for applicants who do not hold a Masters degree of any kind.

 

    • SeNSS requires all academics involved in SeNSS sift panels to have completed their HEI’s standard training in diversity and/or unconscious bias awareness. Please ensure you undertake this training before these panels sit early next year.

 

    • SeNSS will once again run studentship recruitment webinars for potential applicants. We particularly encourage those with little or no knowledge of postgraduate studies to attend and would like to see as many participants attend as possible from diverse backgrounds. Applicants will learn what a SeNSS studentship is, and what funding is available, as well as how to identify a suitable supervisor and write a strong application. Dates for these webinars are as follows:

 

 

    • There will also be a webinar for supervisors, to support them to, in turn, support their candidates in the student-led competition. This will take place on Wednesday 16 November from 12:00-2:00pm (https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/92951798917).

 

 

  • SeNSS Post-Doctoral Fellowship competition

This competition will be running again this year. This week, the ESRC announced the timeline: the competition will open on 1 November 2022, and close at 4pm on 23 March 2023. We will shortly be updating the SeNSS website with this year’s information.

 

With best wishes for 2022-23,

The SeNSS core team

SeNSS Consortium