London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership

The UK Research Councils are funding a network of doctoral training partnerships to produce the next generation of social scientists. This matters because the UK needs a steady pipeline of researchers who can tackle complex social and economic challenges—from inequality to digital transformation to climate adaptation. The London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS DTP) specifically trains PhD students to work across traditional academic boundaries, combining insights from economics, sociology, political science, geography, and other fields. Without such structured training, early-career researchers often remain siloed in single disciplines, limiting their ability to address problems that don't fit neatly into one box. If this succeeds, the UK gains a cohort of researchers who can design better public policy, improve how public services work, and help businesses and governments make evidence-based decisions. The impact is indirect but systemic: stronger social science capacity means smarter decisions on housing, healthcare, education, and transport. This is primarily a training infrastructure investment rather than a specific research project—it builds the human capital that makes future discoveries possible.