University of Strathclyde PhD Studentship

Fully funded PhD opportunity at the University of Strathclyde in the Strathclyde Business School / Department of Work, Employment and Organisation.

The project is titled Do Educational Pathways Mitigate Social Class Inequalities in Early Labour Market Outcomes? Evidence from Growing Up in Scotland. It sits at the intersection of social mobility, social stratification, education, labour market transitions, and quantitative methods. The successful candidate will use data from Growing Up in Scotland to study how educational attainment and pathways shape early labour market outcomes and whether education reduces inequalities linked to social class background.

Supervision is led by Dr Michael Vallely, with Professor Patricia Findlay and Professor Markus Klein as additional supervisors.

This is a fully funded PhD studentship for 3 years, covering all university tuition fees at UK level plus an annual tax-free stipend. International applicants are welcome, but they must find additional funding for the difference between home and international tuition fees; exceptional international candidates may receive support for this gap.

Eligibility highlights include a first-class or upper second-class Honours degree and a Masters degree in a social science-related discipline, plus demonstrated competence in applied quantitative methods such as regression analysis. Desirable experience includes longitudinal datasets and software such as Stata or R. If English is not your first language, an IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) with no element below 5.5 is required.

Applications open on 2026-03-12 and the deadline is 2026-04-30. Applicants should apply online and upload the required documents only: covering letter, CV, two academic referees’ contact details, certified transcripts, and English language evidence if applicable. Remember to include the scholarship title in the Field of Study section.