South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP)

The South West Doctoral Training Partnership funds postgraduate students across multiple universities to carry out social science research. This matters because the UK needs a steady pipeline of skilled researchers who can tackle complex social and economic challenges—from inequality and public health to climate adaptation and digital transformation. Without coordinated training infrastructure, individual universities struggle to provide the breadth of expertise, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and professional development that high-quality doctoral education demands. The partnership addresses this gap by pooling resources and supervision capacity across institutions. If successful, the programme will produce a generation of social scientists equipped to inform evidence-based policy and practice. Their work could reshape how public services are delivered, how businesses adapt to technological change, or how communities respond to demographic shifts. The immediate impact is on the training system itself: more efficient use of funding, reduced duplication, and stronger networks between researchers and non-academic partners. This is primarily a capacity-building investment in fundamental social science skills. While individual projects within the partnership may have direct applications, the core purpose is to sustain the research ecosystem that makes those applications possible.