Sociology PhD

The University of Brighton fosters a range of research associated with Sociology and related social sciences and is also well-placed to develop cross-disciplinary projects with subjects that make use of sociological practices and methodologies.

Our Sociology PhD students are based within the School of Applied Social Science (SASS) at the University of Brighton’s Falmer campus. Sociology is a vibrant and stimulating programme of study, with lecturers engaged with diverse sociological issues such as health, mobilities, teenage pregnancy and parenthood, the life course, gender, migration, outer space, and classed identities.

Our expertise also covers areas of research into Social policy and Social work, both of which welcome approaches for supervision.

As a Sociology PhD student you will become a member of one or more of the university’s Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs) or Research and Enterprise Groups (REGs), with opportunities for support and networking beyond your primary supervision.

Employment opportunities with a Sociology PhD include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at the University of Brighton and elsewhere, as well as roles in central and local government, non-governmental organisations, social research, teaching, journalism and the media.

Apply to 'Applied social Science' in the applicant portal

Key information

As a sociology student at Brighton, you will benefit from:

a supervisory team comprising 2-3 members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional supervisor from another School, another research institution, or an external partner from government or industry. 
desk space and access to a computer in a space specifically designed for research students. There are a range of facilities on the Falmer site include various catering options.
access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Falmer Library and other campus libraries. 
SASS has state-of-the-art research facilities in Watson Building and you will have access to the Creative Methods Lab on the first floor, including access to specialist technical support.

Academic environment

The School of Applied Social Science (SASS) provides a vibrant environment for doctoral study, with opportunities to work with leading researchers in your field and to make use of our excellent research facilities. It has a range of expertise in co-designed and creative research methodologies and methods, including work with older people, children, LGBT communities, Afghan migrants and those affected by chronic health conditions. We also carry out renowned research on social movements, gun control, sexualities and complexity in public policy.

We have nurtured partnerships with a range of organisations, locally nationally and internationally. For example, collaborative research into emotional and mental health is carried out with Sussex Partnership Trust and work on digital healthcare with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and clinical sites across five European countries. International collaborations include the Ageing and Communication Technologies International Partnership (ACT) on generational engagements with digital technologies and research on sensory engagements with space with universities in Finland and Slovenia (SENSOTRA). Our research attracts funding from AHRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, ERC Horizon 2020, Alzheimer’s Society, the Independent Social Research Foundation and others.

As a Sociology PhD student, you will become an integral member of SASS, contributing to the school’s research culture as well as joining its rapidly expanding and active group of research students. The school offers a range of social and research events and activities, including the Social Science Forum, a fortnightly opportunity for researchers to share their work and contribute to the development of each other’s research, an annual ‘Festival of Social Science’ for social scientists and their collaborators across the university, and an annual Social Science Public Lecture which is included in the Brighton Festival Fringe programme.

SASS is an interdisciplinary school of over 75 academic and research staff. Researchers work collaboratively across three research groups in addressing challenges of social, health, psychological, spatial, and environmental injustice, seeking to transform policy and practice on global and more local scales.

Academic staff in SASS have expertise in a range of research topics and research methodologies. Within the school we work primarily in these Research and Enterprise Groups:

In addition, researchers in SASS work in the cross-university Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (CORES) including:

Supervisory interests

Dr Matthew Adams

I supervise PhD students on a range of topics broadly relating to identity, ecology and mental health. I am especially interested in supervising students adopting qualitative methodological and critical theoretical approaches. Interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome. Recent/current projects I have supervised address the following:

Terror Management Theory approaches to climate change communicationEthnography of place in the AnthropoceneEmpirical application of social practice theory to no-fly holidaysFoucauldian analysis of ecotourism practicesPractices of contemporary fatherhoodEthnography of mental health interventions in lifestyle TV

Dr Daniel Burdsey

I am interested in supervising doctoral students in all areas related to my current research interests (please see above), as well as those focusing on broader issues linked to sport and popular culture, in/equality, identity and social justice.

My current PhD students are undertaking research on the experiences of bisexual women in sport, the use of trauma-sensitive yoga with refugee women, and gentrification at the English seaside.

Dr Apurv Chauhan

My research is guided by my overarching intersts in meaning making, communication, identities, and social inequalities. In my ongoing project - in collaboration with University of Guelph (Canada) - I am looking at how people perceive and make subjective assessments of risk when making vaccine related decisions (including hesitancy and outright refusal). I also continue to work on poverty and social exclusion in developing country settings, especially India, where I have extensive experience of conducting ethnographic work.

I invite applications in any of the following areas:

Risk, trust, and healthcare decisionsPerspectives on vaccines (including hesitancy and refusal)Public understanding of science; social representations; mediated realitiesExperiences of poverty, deprivation, and social exclusionQualitative and ethnographic research

I am happy to discuss ideas (over emails) with interested students.

Dr Mark Doidge

Mark is interested in supervising anyone with a passion for critically examining sport or fandom. This can be through the mobilisation of football fans around the world, challenging discrimination in and through sport, understanding sport governance and corruption or the role sport can play with refugees and asylum seekers.

Dr Kyla Ellis-Sloan

I am currently on the supervision team for Vanessa Stone De Guzman on her thesis, 'Out and about with my disabled child: The lived experience of parents of children with Down Syndrome'.

I would be interested in supervising projects on motherhood, teenage pregnancy, fatherhood, parenting or related areas.

Dr Rebecca Elmhirst

I am currently supervising three PhD students, two of whom are part of a Marie Curie Sklodowska Innovative Training Network programme on which she is Principal Investigator. I am interested in supervising doctoral projects relating to (feminist) political ecology, and in particular, projects that relate to social and environmental justice, agrarian resource extractivism, decolonial thinking and critical approaches to sustainable development.

Dr Mark Erickson

I supervise students across a range of social science disciplines, although my main discipline is sociology. I am interested in supervising projects in sociology of science and technology / science and technology studies, sociology of work and employment, social theory. Projects I currently supervise are researching science and technology, work and employment, climate change / emergency, communing / the commons, trade union studies, gender and design, children and migration, and mental health.

Applications to the following proposal are very welcome: Managing science: workers and management in the replication and reproduction of scientific knowledge

Despite Wajcman’s exhortation for management studies and science studies to combine to understand science and technology better (1) there has been very little collaboration or cross fertilization between these two areas of social science in the past two decades. Studies of the working practices of professional, academic scientists are rare, despite the importance of these workers in the knowledge economy, and there is little understanding of the relationship between HR practices, labour process and scientific knowledge production and reproduction.

This project will use a management studies perspective to consider a contemporary ‘crisis’ in formal science. The crisis of reproducibility – the inability for one research team to replicate the results obtained by another research team – has received considerable attention in the scientific press in recent years (2, 3). A recent survey in Nature found that 50% of scientists have failed to reproduce one of their own experiments (4).

This problem threatens to undermine public confidence in scientific expertise and opinion, a very major problem given the legitimised discourse of climate change denial (5). The project will investigate the management of scientists involved in knowledge production work, and will examine the labour process surrounding knowledge production (6, 7). It will consider whether it is constraints of work, managerial and institutional imperatives (8), an instrumental orientation to career (9), and a ‘publish or perish’ culture (10) that are barriers to replication and factors in low reproducibility rates.

This research will address these issues from a combined management studies and sociology of work perspective. In particular the research will consider the relationship between the construction of occupational identities, managerial control of work time and the decision making processes that take place inside work teams regarding identification of experiments to replicated and / or reproduced (10). The project will adopt a qualitative approach, including semi-structured interviews and an ethnography, and documentary analysis deployed across a range of disciplines and trans-disciplines.

Research questions

1. How is the academic science labour process organised, managed and resisted?

2. How do teams of scientists in different disciplines decide on replication experiments and how is this work allocated?

3. What is the role of reproducibility/ replication in the formation of occupational identities by academic scientists?

References

1. Wajcman, J. (2006) 'New connections: social studies of science and technology and studies of work', Work, Employment and Society, 20, 4, 773-786. 2. Harris, R. (2017) Rigor Mortis. How sloppy science, worthless cures, crushes hope and wastes billions, New York: Basic Books. 3. Freedman, L.P., et al (2015) 'The Economics of Reproducibility in Preclinical Research', PLoS Biol, 13, 6. 4. Baker, M. (2016) ‘Is there a reproducibility crisis? Nature 533, 452–454 (26 May 2016) 5. Makri, A. (2017) ‘Give the public the tools to trust scientists’ Nature 541, 261 (19 January 2017) 6. Thompson, P. (1983) The Nature of Work. An introduction to debates on the labour process, London: Macmillan. 7. Thompson, P. and Ackroyd, P. (1995) 'All quiet on the workplace front?', Sociology, 29, 4, 615-633. 8. Bradley, H., Erickson, M., Stephenson, C. and Williams, S. (2000) Myths at work, Cambridge: Polity. 9. Erickson, M., Bradley, H., Stephenson, C. and Williams, S. (2009) Business in society: people, work and organizations, Cambridge: Polity 10. Erickson, M. (2015) Science, culture and society: understanding science in the twenty-first century. 2nd edition, Cambridge: Polity.

Prof Angie Hart

Students drawn to studying with me are generally people with a commitment to social change. All of them share my passion for researching resilience-related topics and most of their studies involve some form of co-production with communities, policymakers or practitioners. Many of them also volunteer for our social enterprise Boingboing and there are loads of opportunities in our Centre for students to get involved in some fabulous personal development activities, for example attending conferences on behalf of our Centre, being on the Management Group, staffing a stand etc.

Prospective supervisory topics I get excited about include:

Co-productive and resilience-based approaches to tackling social and environmental issues including:

Child, family and adult mental health

Practitioner stress and burnout

Schools practices

Higher Education community-university partnership practices.

Dr Laura Harvey

I have supervised two PhDs to completion and regularly supervise undergraduate dissertation projects. I welcome applications for PhD research from students interested in gender, sexuality, youth cultures, media representations, the place of media in everyday life, discourse analysis, diary research and creative methodologies.

Sarah Leaney

I am interested in supervising doctoral students in classed inequalities, urban sociology, social housing and ethnographic methodologies.

I am currently supervising the following projects:

Social and cultural exclusion through seaside gentrification on the south coast Bethan Prosser

Precarious practices and policies in the divided ‘smart city’ Matthew Smith

Dr Lesley Murray

I am interested in supervising doctoral students on a range of topics including transport and mobilities, urban sociology, visual sociology and gender and generation. In addiiton, I welcome proposals from students seeking to adopt creative and inventive methodologies and methods. I am currently supervising projects on: non-flying holidays; lived experiences of the anthropocene; urban place-attachment across generations; sequential art in architectural practice; urban seaside gentrification; the datafication of cycling; and precarious mobile employment in the ‘smart city’.

Dr James Ormrod

I am interested in supervising doctoral research in the areas of outer space studies, environmental sociology and social movement studies, as well as work more broadly situated within psychosocial studies.

Natalie Pitimson

I am interested in supervising doctoral students in the areas of death, dying and grief, as well as the sociology of the internet and online methodologies.

Dr Raphael Schlembach

Raphael is interested in receiving proposals for doctoral studies in his areas of expertise, including critical approaches to:

protest and social movementscriminal justice and social policymigration and citizenshippolicing and securitynationalism and the far rightcritical and democratic theory

For current funding opportunities see: http://www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

Dr Laetitia Zeeman

Supervision support can be provided to PhD students who are interested in queer theory, poststructuralism, the application of critical social theory, new materialism, intersectionality and feminist theory in health-related research. Focus areas include LGBTQ+ health and healthcare, resilience, trans health and mental health promotion. PhD students that she has supervised to completion worked on studies employing critical social theory and qualitative creative methods. She has examined more than 10 PhD/Professional Doctorate studies in the UK and/or abroad.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Entry requirements

The normal entry requirements for registration for the degree of MPhil and EngD are:

A first or second class honours degree, or other qualification which is regarded by the University of Brighton as being equivalent, and which is normally relevant to the programme of study.
Appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level. An application made by someone with this experience will be considered on its own merits and will normally require independent academic references

All EngD students require an industrial partner for the professional placement.

The normal entry requirements for registration for the degree of PhD are:

We require candidates to have a recognised Masters degree or other qualification which is regarded by the University of Brighton as being equivalent, and which is normally relevant to the programme of study proposed
Substantial appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level which resulted in published work, written reports or other appropriate evidence of accomplishment. An application made by someone with this experience will be considered on its merits and will normally require independent academic references
Exceptionally, a first class honours degree, or other qualification which is regarded by the University of Brighton as being equivalent, and which is normally relevant to the programme of study proposed, where there is clear evidence of work at postgraduate level. An application made by someone with this experience will be considered on its merits and will normally require independent academic references

The normal entry requirements for the EdD (Professional Doctorate) are:

A qualification, normally at Masters level in a relevant subject or appropriate research experience. An application made by someone with research experience but with no Masters level qualification will be considered on its merits and will normally require independent academic references.
Applicants will normally have at least four years of appropriate professional experiences.

English language requirements

For applicants whose first language is not English, the minimum standard of English competence accepted is normally equivalent to the following International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores:

Normally we require an overall score of 6.5 with 6.5 in reading and writing, 6.0 in listening and speaking. There are exceptions to this and they are as follows:

Research degrees in Arts and Humanities and Health Professions require 7.0 overall, 7 for writing, and none below 6.5.
Research degrees in Brighton Business School and the School of Sport and Service Management: 7.0 overall, 7 for writing, and none below 6.0.
Research degrees in Engineering, and Environment and Technology requires a minimum of 6.0 in each component

All SELT (Secure English language tests) must have been obtained within the preceding two years of the course start date.

Important information regarding changes to the approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) list:

The University of Brighton will continue to accept non-SELT tests such as ‘IELTS Academic’ and ‘Pearson Test of English Academic’, as long as your test results meet the course requirements.

If you are concerned that you might not reach the required level for the course, and therefore may need to take an English Language course, we would recommend that you take the ‘IELTS for UKVI Academic’ at an approved test centre details of which can be found on the government website.

If you have taken an English language test not listed here, please contact the Doctoral College for advice at Brighton-Doctoral-College@brighton.ac.uk.

Before you apply

We encourage potential applicants to look at the research currently taking place within the university and to find a suitable supervisor to support the proposal and assist with the application

If you are in doubt about whether we can offer the appropriate supervision, please contact the Doctoral College.

Application Deadlines

We operate a rolling intake so students can make applications at any time throughout the year. Start dates will always be on the first working day of the month and will normally be determined as follows:

UK/EU students: Normally one month after an offer is made

International students: Normally three months after an offer is made

Professional Doctorates and programmes with a taught component usually have one intake a year, which is normally at the start of October.

The university cannot guarantee that you can start at your requested date

Making an online application

All applications are made online and for most disciplines an approach to a lead supervisor is recommended, following which you will have help and support with. The RSAs can provide you with advice from your initial enquiry through to when a decision is made on your application, so help is always at hand.

The research proposal
Some areas recruit students to specific research projects, but in these instances you would still be expected to take ownership and shape it into an independent piece of work which would normally make an original contribution to knowledge. Other areas expect applicants to propose a research topic of their own prior to considering for them for admission.

We advertise PhD projects on our Funding and Opportunities page, so unless you are applying to an advertised project you would normally need to apply with a research topic of your own choosing.

Guidance for writing a research proposal – General or Arts specific.

If you are unsure if we can supervise your research topic, please get in touch with Brighton Doctoral College. In some instances we may have to tell you that we cannot supervise as it would not be in your best interests to accept you if we are unable to provide the necessary facilities and supervision.

Online applications can be made via our online portal.

Documents to include with your application
When you make your application please make sure you include the following:

Evidence of your degree(s) – you need to provide copies of your degree certificates and transcripts. Official translations should be provided where appropriate. If your degree has not yet been awarded please note this on your application form.
Evidence of English language (EU/International applicants) – this is normally an IELTS or Pearsons certificate. All language tests must have been obtained within the preceding two years of the course start date. If you cannot provide a language test, please contact us for advice.
References - you need to provide two references and one of these must be from your most recent period of study. All references must have been written within the last 12 months and need to be signed, dated and stamped with the organisation's stamp or on headed paper. Alternatively, you can provide contact details for your referees as part of the application process and we will contact them on your behalf.
Passport – please provide a copy of the photo page and where applicable a copy of your current visa. These documents can be uploaded to the ‘Education’ tab.

After you apply

Your Research Student Administrator (RSA) will assess your application to make sure you meet our entry requirements and you have provided all of the required documentation.

The complete application will be reviewed by the appropriate Director of Postgraduate Studies who will assess if we can offer supervision. If we can identify potential supervisors, your application will be sent to them for consideration. If we are not able to supervise you we will notify you of this as soon as possible.

It normally takes around four–six weeks to reach a decision on postgraduate research applications. However, this can be delayed if your application is incomplete and we require additional information from you. If you have not had a decision on your application within eight weeks please contact your RSA via the application portal.

If we have supervisors who are interested in supervising your project, you will be invited to attend an admissions interview. This can be held via Skype if you are not in the UK.

Types of offer

Conditional

If we have made you a conditional offer, the conditions will be stated in your offer letter. When you have met these conditions you should provide this to your RSA. When you have met all the conditions of your offer, we will provide you with a new offer letter.

Except where indicated in the offer letter, there are no specific deadlines for meeting the conditions of your offer. However make sure you leave enough time after meeting the conditions to make arrangements to start your course, for example if you need to arrange accommodation or a visa.

Unconditional offers

An unconditional offer has no conditions. You just need to let us know whether or not you wish to accept or decline our offer of a study place and you do this by accepting/rejecting the offer via the new applicant area.

Deferring your offer

If you have been made an offer of study, and for unforeseen circumstances you cannot attend at the start of your course, you may ask to defer your place to the next admission point.

To request a deferral you should contact your RSA via the new applicant area. Please note that a change of start date is at the discretion of your supervisors and Director of Postgraduate Studies. It is not automatically given and you may be asked to apply again.

Normally applicants are only permitted to defer their start date a maximum of two times.

Withdrawing your application

If you wish to withdraw your application please notify your research student administrator via the new applicant area and they will update your application for you.

Post offer

CAS number
International students who require a Tier 4 to study in the UK will need to apply for a CAS number. A CAS is a unique reference number that is 14 digits long that is given to you by the University of Brighton. It confirms to the Home Office that you have accepted an unconditional offer and met with the Home Office requirements regarding length of study in the UK and academic progression.

As part of your unconditional offer you will be asked to complete a visa questionnaire. Our visa compliance team will then review your eligibility and issue a CAS number as appropriate.

More information is available on our international pages.

Tuition fee deposit

If you are self-funded we cannot issue you with a CAS until you have paid your tuition fee deposit. We would advise that you pay this as soon as possible so that you are able to make your visa application in plenty of time.

More information about the tuition fee deposit and how to pay it is available international student fees page.

If you are a funded student you will need to provide proof of your sponsorship before the tuition fee deposit can be waived.

See more information on visa applications.

ATAS statement

You will need to obtain an ATAS certificate every time you make a Tier 4 Student application if you are studying or going to study one of the following research degree programmes:

Pharmacy
Biomedical Sciences
Healthcare Professions
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Engineering
Environment
Civil Engineering
Built Environment
Computing
Mathematical and Information Sciences
Information Technology.

Where an ATAS statement is required, the process of how to apply for this will be provided in your offer letter so do read your offer letter carefully.

For details about the scheme and how to apply for your ATAS certificate visit the Foreign and Commonwealth Office information about ATAS.

ATAS Certificates can take up to two months to be issued so you must apply for your certificate in plenty of time. The process of applying for an ATAS statement will be detailed in your offer letter.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking a research degree requires an intellectual and financial commitment. The majority of students are self-funded; some are funded by their employer, through industrial partners, Research Councils and University studentships.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2018–19

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables, this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK/EU and international students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD

Full-time	Part-time
£4,260 (UK/EU)	£2,130 (UK/EU)
£14,400 (international)	N/A
£12,690 (international tuition fee for those students registered in the School of Humanities or in the Brighton Business School)	N/A

Professional doctorate

Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,672.50 (UK/EU)

EngD UK/EU only

EngD
Full-time	Part-time
£5,520 (UK/EU)	N/A
£15,830 (international)	N/A

PhD by Publication

Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2139 (UK/EU)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

Email the team at Brighton-Doctoral-College@brighton.ac.uk detailing your enquiry. Please provide as much detail as possible as this will help us address your questions promptly and thoroughly.