VC PhD Studentship Awards and Thematic Doctoral Programme Awards 2023/24

LJMU has awarded 21 VC PhD Studentship awards to exceptional students at the university.

Our ninth annual programme attracted 154 applications from across all schools and faculties, all of which were assessed in a rigorous and objective process.

You can find the full list of successful candidates and supervisory teams here.

A great honour

Finlay Gordon (APSS) said of his successful application: “It is a great honour to be awarded an LJMU VC PhD Studentship, giving me the opportunity to research the ongoing music outreach work that Liverpool Cathedral conducts across Merseyside and its impacts on young people in some of our most disadvantaged areas.

“Having worked in cathedral outreach for the last two years, it is a privilege to be supported by the university, demonstrating the importance of outreach work taking place every day across the country.”

Widening access

For the second year running, two of the successful candidates are to be supported for part-time study and some are international applicants.  Four awards have also been made to the positive action programme supporting UK students from under-represented ethnic minority backgrounds. 

Recipient Diane Garrison said: “Winning this scholarship means so much to me: firstly, because higher education was not something that I thought was an option for me growing up as a mixed heritage child, to a white Scouse mum and Jamaican dad, through the ‘60s and ‘70s.

“The scholarship will allow me to continue and expand the work I have been involved in since 2018 in a rural community in Ghana, impacting the lives of a currently under-resourced community and creating opportunities that will hopefully have long-term consequences for the young women and children in the village.”

Thematic Doctoral Programme Awards

LJMU has also granted two Thematic Doctoral Programme Awards.

They will support Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her team on their project Towards enhancing inclusion and diversity in forensic research and Professor Trung Thanh Nguyen with his group-based project, Freeport Thematic Doctoral Pathways.

Professor Wilkinson said “This TDP will enhance the Forensic Research Institute (FORRI) postgraduate community and provide timely research around the diversity and inclusivity of forensic research as applied to the criminal justice system. This TDP will include collaboration between three faculties and six schools within LJMU and will advance our international partnerships through research visits and co-supervision.”

Students will enrol for the February 2024 cycle and will be invited to a welcome event, scheduled for March 2024. In the meantime, congratulations to our awardees and their supervisory teams for another exceptional round of applicants in both programmes.