The Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) is looking to recruit a postgraduate researcher to fill significant research gaps on the child sexual abuse experiences of Asian, African, and Caribbean heritage children and young people. Applicants should submit proposals for research projects that relate to one of the following:    

• Bringing through the voices of Asian, African, and Caribbean heritage children and young people, particularly those of African, South East Asian and East Asian heritage.   
• Generating a large database on the Asian, African, and Caribbean experience to produce a systematic analysis of patterns of racialisation, service responses, the impact of diasporic networks and immigration controls, and pathways into services.    
• Developing community awareness-raising interventions and evaluating these.    
• A specific focus on child sexual abuse within minoritised religious settings.    
• A specific focus on online harms, and one that takes an interdisciplinary approach.   

The researcher will be based at CWASU and will be funded for four years through the University’s Vice Chancellor PhD studentships. We positively encourage applications from Asian, African and Caribbean heritage people.     

Further details of the VC scholarships can be found here: https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/applying/funding-your-studies/scholarships/the-vice-chancellors-postgraduate-pgr-scholarships/ 

The Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate (PGR) Scholarships – London Metropolitan University A scholarship open to students looking to study a PhD with us. www.londonmet.ac.uk

There are 17 projects across all six schools (including 6 interdisciplinary projects) to which students can apply and we will fully fund 10 projects (fee waiver + a stipend of £23,000 per annum). 

The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, 9 June. 

All successful candidates should have an excellent degree in a subject relevant to the topic applied for. An excellent master’s degree will be considered highly desirable. Those with alternative professional or occupational experience will also be considered in lieu of master’s level qualifications. 

Benefits 

• The successful candidates will be supported to achieve Associate Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy and will have access to the necessary teaching experience to achieve this. 
• The Vice-Chancellor’s scholars are expected to undertake the in-house Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education module entitled Facilitating Student Learning (FSL) which typically runs from the end of October to the middle of February. The aim of this requirement is to enhance scholarship outcomes for the candidates by providing a foundation in contemporary practice in learning and teaching in higher education. 
• Successful completion of this module will enable students to qualify for the Associate Fellowship at Advance HE (AFHEA). As part of the requirements for the AFHE award, students need to be engaged in teaching or learning support sessions for at least 20 hours. Typically, this will be two hours per week with at least some of the hours running concurrently with the FSL module. The teaching/ learning support allocation will be arranged at a school level, as appropriate. 

• Those who are offered a post will also be given support to attend conferences and publish papers. 
• Successful candidates will also be given the opportunity to gain experience supporting various research fora and committees and be involved in University-wide research activity, initiatives and events. 

Application process 

The application process consists of two stages, the initial competition with a short research proposal and the official application through our usual system with a full research proposal for Autumn 2023 start. Successful candidates must pass both stages. 

Stage 1 

All candidates must provide: 

• A short cover letter outlining the motivation for applying 
• A 300-500 word proposal that directly addresses the contribution they will make to the particular project. Candidates may only apply for one project. 
• A 200-word statement describing their values in relation to race equity agenda and the University values 
• A PDF/scanned proof of their qualifications 
• Proof of eligibility to study in the UK (eg passport scan) 

Please submit your application by email to [email protected] by Friday 9 June 2023. Please insert all elements of the application as attachments. Applicants should mention the project they are applying for in their proposal and save ALL documents with their name included (eg: EDI Statement_FIRST NAME_SURNAME). 

Shortlisted candidates will be informed the week commencing 12 June. 

Interviews of shortlisted candidates will take place during the week of 19-23 June. Places will be offered for the autumn 2023 start. 

Stage 2 

The successful candidates of Stage 1 will submit a full application via our website for Autumn 2023 start by 1 September 2023. The application must contain a full research proposal. 

Funding 

Each scholarship will come with a fee waiver and a stipend of £23,000 per annum, a figure that is based on a London Living Wage rate of £11.95 per hour for 37 hours per week and 52 weeks per year net. This funding will be available for a maximum of four years. 

You can find projects listed by academic school on scholarship pages. Six projects are led by multidisciplinary supervisory teams and are also listed separately. 

The deadline for submitting applications is Friday 9 June 2023.