Human Resources, Work and Employment research group

The College of Business and Law at the University of the West of England, Bristol invites applications for a fully funded PhD studentship with the Human Resources, Work and Employment research group.

Reference: 2526-JAN-CBL06

The expected start date of this studentship is 1 January 2026.

Closing date for applications is 12 October 2025.

The College of Business and Law is a host to lively and challenging PhD programme. Students benefit from its modern facilities and a welcoming research environment comprising diverse research groups and centres.

Doctoral students at the College benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from the Doctoral Academy, including extensive professional development programme, research skills training and careers advice.

Human Resources, Work and Employment (HRWE) research group invites expressions of interest for PhD topics framed within its equality, diversity and inclusion approach from an intersectional perspective. This should apply a critical academic lens examining intersectional disadvantages based upon any (or a combination of) the nine protected characteristics in the Equality Act (2010) plus socio-economic disadvantage.

Projects can be across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, on a regional, national or international basis and focus on any level of work, e.g. employees, voluntary workers, migrant workers, professionals, managers/leaders or a combination of these.

Topics should be timely and in line with the UWE RISE agenda. All methodological approaches are welcome provided they are practical for the proposed project.

Indicative topics

Projects should be framed around Working Lives and Careers. Indicative topics may include but are not limited to:

• Working lives/fair work, for example, working hours, ‘invisible work’, reproductive health and work, working conditions, pay, progression.
• Pay gaps, for example developing ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting mechanisms and the challenges to this approach.
• Workplace bullying, victimisation and discrimination, for example workplace sexual harassment and strategies for applying recent legislation to prevent this.
• The role of external bodies in supporting employees and marginalised groups, including trade unions, networks, professional bodies, women-led organisations and community groups.
• Employer support for employee volunteers involved in social enterprises and ‘disaster management.

For a list of our members, potential supervisors and research activities, visit Human Resources, Work and Employment (HRWE) research group.

For general enquiries about the project proposal please contact Professor Sue Durbin at sue.durbin@uwe.ac.uk.

For an informal discussion about the studentship please contact College Director of Doctoral Research, Dr Paweł Capik at pawel.capik@uwe.ac.uk.

The studentship is available from 1 January 2026 for a period of three years subject to satisfactory progress.  It includes a tax-exempt stipend of £20,780 per annum (2025/26 academic year), and full-time home or international fees.

Applicants must have at least 2.1 degree in human resources management, labour studies or a cognate discipline, and preferably a master's degree with an average programme mark of no less than 65%, UK grading scale or international equivalent.

We require a recognised English language qualification with an IELTS score of 7.0 overall or equivalent.

Please submit your application online. When prompted use the reference number 2526-JAN-CBL06.

You will need to upload your research proposal, all your degree certificates and transcripts and your proof of English language proficiency as attachments to your application.

Apply online

Research proposal

Your research proposal should be-no more than five pages all-inclusive and formatted with font size 11, 1.5 line spacing and 2-inch margins.

Indicative contents:

• research context and rationale
• brief literature review
• research focus (objectives/research questions)
• proposed methodology and expected contribution of the project.

Development of research proposal should happen in consultation with the potential supervisor. You should contact the potential supervisor with an advanced draft of the proposal to confirm they are willing to support your application. 

References

You will need to provide details of two referees as part of your application. At least one referee must be an academic referee from the institution that conferred your highest degree.

Your referee will be asked for a reference at the time you submit your application, so please ensure that your nominated referees are willing and able to provide references within 14 days of your application being submitted.

The closing date for applications is 12 October 2025 at 18:00.

Interviews will take place online in November. If you have not heard from us by 30 November 2025, we thank you for your application but you have not been successful.