Applications are invited for a 3-year full-time Research Studentship in Sustainability, to the value of £12,940pa plus tuition fees. The Studentship will be associated with the International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS) at the University of Gloucestershire but can be held at any department within the University.
IRIS promotes excellence in research, education and social learning for sustainability. The Institute supports research which will result in change outcomes and makes a contribution to social and institutional progress. In the context of sustainability, progress is defined as an improved quality of life for all which does not endanger biodiversity or productivity of ecosystems. IRIS has expertise across a range of areas including: leadership, governance and organisational change; professional practice; and measuring progress towards sustainable development. IRIS offers annual PhD studentships and opportunities for research students to contribute through participatory inquiry, critical action research and other innovative methodologies for creating real change towards sustainability.
Further information about IRIS is available at International Research Institute in Sustainability
This year, IRIS is seeking researchers who can make a contribution to one of the areas listed below:
- Leadership for change including studies into the development and support needs of existing leaders in the area of sustainability; studies into the mainstreaming sustainability within executive education programmes and models; studies into management of change processes for sustainability in educational institutions.
- Professional practice and education including studies into how to mainstream sustainability into professional training and accreditation; studies into workplace mentoring and learning in sustainability; studies which seek to document and learn from the opportunities and experiences of professionals from specific areas (e.g. design, construction, education, financial services) seeking to make sense of sustainability.
- Monitoring and Evaluation in Education for Sustainable Development including studies into the impact of UN Decade in ESD; the contribution of UNU Regional Centres of Expertise to ESD at the regional level; the development of ESD indicator frameworks for assessing formal and informal learning in higher education.
- Organisational Change including studies which seek to support, document and learn from the experiences of organisational change for sustainability in further and higher education or government agencies.
- Wellbeing including studies into the relationships between well being and sustainable development and how the public perceives such relationships; the characteristics of individuals and the correlates of organisations exhibiting sustainability and high levels of ‘Well Being’ indices; and the introduction of ‘Well Being’ concepts in curricula of the health and social care higher education programmes and courses.
It is expected that the successful applicant will register for a PhD degree, and so will already have or be undertaking a relevant Masters degree. Candidates with no prior research methods training at Masters level will need to participate in the Certificate stage of the Masters in Research (Cert MRes).
Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Daniella Tilbury via email: dtilbury@glos.ac.uk or Glenn Strachan via email gstrachan@glos.ac.uk. If you are interested in applying for research into Wellbeing please contact Professor Walid El Ansari via email walidansari@glos.ac.uk
An application form may be obtained from:
Postgraduate Research Centre: University of Gloucestershire, Francis Close Hall Campus, Swindon Road, Cheltenham GL50 4A Tel: 01242 714157 Email: researchadmin@glos.ac.uk
or downloaded Preliminary Application for a Research Degree
Closing date for applications: Monday 24 November 2008
Interviews are expected to take place during the week beginning 8 December 2008
The successful candidate will be expected to commence their studies in February 2009.