Review promised after post-92 PhDs ‘excluded’ from UK postdocs

A UK research council is to review its eligibility rules for postdoctoral funding following complaints that it was unfairly “closing the door” on PhD graduates from modern universities not affiliated to doctoral training partnerships.

In its latest funding call for postdoctoral fellowships, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) stated that applicants must have “completed [a] PhD at a research organisation that is part of a doctoral training partnership (DTP)” and that “fellowships must be held at a research organisation that is part of a DTP”.

While ESRC-funded PhD students are expected to be based in one of 73 institutions that form the council’s 14 DTPs, it is unusual for a research council to stipulate that those seeking postdoctoral funding must be educated in, or based in, a DTP-linked institution.

In practice, it meant that PhD graduates from most post-92 universities could not apply for the fellowships as just 14 modern institutions belong to ESRC training networks – a rule branded “truly terrible” and “awful” by academics on Twitter.

Edda Nicolson, a doctoral researcher at the University of Wolverhampton working on early 20th-century trade union history, told Times Higher Education that she was disappointed by the rule as it “closes a door on many fantastic researchers that just happen to be at other institutions”.

“The message that research is ‘not for the likes of me’ is everywhere,” she said, adding it was “sadly indicative of the many barriers researchers experience at universities like mine”.

Ms Nicolson, who has taught social science modules at Wolverhampton, added that this kind of career impediment was not likely to be known by many PhD candidates when they began their studies.

“It is hard to be accepted for a PhD in the first place, so most would-be researchers will go wherever they get their first offer,” she said, adding: “Complicated rules around postdoc funding are not usually much of a consideration at that stage.”

The outcry over the rule follows concerns about the relatively low numbers of fellowships won by researchers at post-92 universities. According to ESRC figures, analysed by THE, only three out of 128 fellowships went to applicants based at modern universities in 2020-21, although there were just three applications. For the Arts and Humanities Research Council, nine out of 56 fellowships went to post-92 universities and none of the 67 fellowships awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council went to modern institutions.

Frances Burstow, deputy director for skills and methods at the ESRC, said the fellowship scheme was run by its DTPs, providing support for recent graduates to develop their careers, but “as part of our response to ESRC’s review of the PhD we will be taking a fresh look at our support for doctoral students and recent graduates”.

“We will publish our response to the review next month. As part of this, we will commit to revisiting the postdoctoral fellowship scheme, including looking at the eligibility for the scheme,” she added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com