Student-led General Competition

The Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences is delighted to announce the launch of the 2025 WGSSS General Competition. Prospective students looking to apply for ESRC studentship funding to undertake a PhD research project of their own design (starting in the academic year 2025/26) are invited to submit an application by the deadline of 11 December 2024. Please note: institutions may have earlier deadlines, these will be detailed in the individual General Competition adverts.

As part of the assessment of applicants, WGSSS are very interested in you as a whole person. What this means is that rather than solely looking at your academic achievements (for example, it is not necessary to have a first-class degree to be assessed as an excellent PhD student and to receive funding), we will consider what you can bring to a PhD through your work and diverse life experiences, as well as the challenges that you have faced (which should be detailed in your application in your application form and CV).  

The General Competition is applicant-generated; you must propose your own PhD project. This differs from the Collaborative Competition. The Collaborative Competition is supervisor generated; you choose from an existing catalogue of projects. 


2025 General Studentship Competition Timeline

16/09/2024  General Competition Applications Open  
11/12/2024 Application Deadline for Students
– Applications are assessed by schools and pathways
– Shortlisted applicants are invited to interview
28/02/2025 Shortlisted applications are sent to WGSSS
– Nominated applicants complete the Initial DNA Form
– Applications are reviewed by the WGSSS Management Board Sub-group
20-21/03/2025 Awards agreed
– Successful applicants are sent an Award in Principle
– Reserve list applicants are contacted
– Rejections are processed for unsuccessful applicants
April 2025Full DNA Completed
– The Full DNA form is completed by the student and reviewed by the supervisor and WGSSS Training Lead
– Training and award length confirmed and sent to universities
16/05/2025Formal offers processed
Formal awards and offer letters are processed by universities


Co-funded studentship with Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol 

WGSSS are offering 1 co-funded studentship with Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. Applicants wishing to apply for this studentship must conduct their research and complete the PhD in Welsh. The PhD can be in any subject covered by WGSSS pathways. Coleg Cymraeg Branch Officers can assist you with finding an appropriate Welsh-speaking supervisor in a WGSSS pathway. 


Advert links

Awaiting links, this page will be updated shortly.

General Studentship Competition
Application Deadline: 11:55pm 11-12-2024
PathwayAberystwyth UniversityBangor UniversityCardiff Metropolitan UniversityCardiff UniversitySwansea UniversityUniversity of GloucestershireUniversity of South Wales
Criminology and LawN/ATBCN/ATBCN/A
Digital Economy and SocietyN/AN/AN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
EconomicsN/ATBCN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
EducationN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
Environmental PlanningTBCN/ATBCTBCN/A
Health and Well-Being and Data ScienceTBCN/AN/ATBCN/AN/A
Human GeographyN/AN/ATBCN/AN/A
Journalism, Digital Media and DemocracyN/AN/AN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
Linguistics and BilingualismN/ATBCN/ATBCN/AN/A
Management and BusinessN/ATBCN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
Politics, International Relations and Global Language Based Area StudiesN/AN/ATBCN/AN/A
PsychologyN/ATBCTBCN/AN/A
Social Care, Social Work and Social Policy   N/ATBCN/ATBCN/A
Sociology / Science and Technology Studies  N/ATBCN/ATBCN/AN/A
Sport and Exercise ScienceN/ATBCN/ATBCN/AN/A