Sixteen social science research students will be funded to study at Essex each year for the next five years following the University’s accreditation as a prestigious Doctoral Training Centre.

Essex is one of a network of just 21 centres across the UK funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to support postgraduate training.

Essex’s 16 fully-funded studentships, worth £18,000 a year each, cover 21 different subject areas, grouped around the University’s research strengths. These include politics, sociology and criminology, economics, language and linguistics, finance and management, human rights and psychoanalytic studies. The funding will cover the students’ fees and provide help towards their living costs.

The ESRC accreditation is recognition of the high quality postgraduate training provided by Essex’s internationally renowned social science researchers. Essex’s studentships represent three per cent of the total available nationally each year.

Dean of the Graduate School Dr Pam Cox said: “This is a great result for Essex. Our bid to become a DTC involved 12 of our Departments working together with the Graduate School.”

For more information, see ttp://www.essex.ac.uk/studentfinance/pg/government_support/esrc.aspx