Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR)
White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership opportunities at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Have you for a great idea? Are you interested in conducting PhD research that contributes to positive social change?
The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR), at Sheffield Hallam University welcomes applications for PhD scholarships funded by the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP).
We are looking for applications from prospective doctoral researchers with the curiosity and enthusiasm to explore important and original research ideas. Whether your interests lie in poverty and inequality, housing and homelessness, community connectedness, labour markets, or the transition to a net-zero future, you will have the opportunity to develop research that informs policy, influences practice and contributes to positive social change.
We value diversity and encourage applications from candidates with different academic, professional and lived experiences.
About the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
CRESR is a leading UK applied policy research centre, comprising around 40 academic and professional services staff, with an international reputation for research excellence on social, economic and environmental change. The Centre also hosts the ESRC-funded Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness (C4), a major UK research initiative exploring how communities, relationships and social connections contribute to resilience, wellbeing and opportunity.
Our research examines the causes and consequences of disadvantage, inequality and exclusion, and seeks to inform policy and practice. From homelessness, poverty and welfare reform to the transition to a net-zero economy, we address complex societal challenges that affect people, places and communities. Over the past 40 years, our work has made significant contributions to policy and practice at regional, national and international levels.
CRESR’s post-graduate research community
CRESR provides an excellent environment for doctoral research. Our postgraduate research community currently includes around 30 doctoral researchers working on projects across the breadth of our research expertise. Many of these projects are undertaken in collaboration with partners from the public, voluntary and community sectors, providing opportunities for research that has real-world relevance.
As a doctoral researcher at CRESR, you will be co-located with academic staff and become part of a vibrant, friendly and collegiate research community. You will benefit from high-quality supervision, tailored training and development opportunities, and a supportive environment in which to develop your research career. Students also benefit from the extensive training programme, interdisciplinary learning opportunities and UK-wide networks provided by the WRDTP.
CRESR’s Research themes
We offer multi-disciplinary research expertise covering a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods organised into five broad research themes.
Housing and Place
Our Housing and Place research theme builds on CRESR's long-standing track record of housing research and evaluation. We seek to advance understanding of how housing markets operate; the affordability, availability and quality of housing; experiences of housing insecurity and homelessness; and the relationship between housing and other domains, including welfare, health and social care. Through our work, we aim to generate evidence and analysis that informs policy and practice and supports greater social justice and fairness.
Key questions include: How can we ensure access to affordable, secure and good-quality housing? What are the causes and consequences of housing precarity and homelessness? How do housing circumstances shape people's health, wellbeing and life trajectories?
Theme lead: Dr Jonathan Webb
Inclusive Economy
Understanding how social and spatial inequalities are shaped through economic life is critical to addressing the defining challenges of our time, such as the rise of in-work poverty and how to address regional disparities in prosperity. CRESR’s Inclusive Economy theme develops this research agenda by asking:
What are the processes contributing to labour market vulnerability and economic insecurity?
and, how might we create more inclusive economies that promote economic security, wellbeing and opportunity?
Theme lead: Dr Richard Crisp
Sustainable Futures
CRESR's Sustainable Futures research theme explores the implications and experiences of the transition to a low-carbon society from social, economic, socio-technical and policy perspectives, and from the standpoint of citizens, communities and stakeholders. We are particularly interested in how these transitions play out in the energy and transport sectors, especially within urban environments. Our research places a strong emphasis on understanding the experiences of groups whose voices and perspectives are often underrepresented in policy debates.
Key questions include: How can the transition to a net-zero future be achieved in ways that are socially just and inclusive? Who benefits from, and who bears the costs of, low-carbon transitions?
Theme lead: Prof. Aimee Ambrose
Voluntary and Community Sector
In the UK alone, the voluntary and community sector (VCS) accounts for nearly 1% of GDP and generates more than £50 billion in income each year. However, the value of the VCS cannot be understood solely in economic terms. CRESR's VCS research theme explores the contribution that voluntary action makes to public discourse, civil society and collective wellbeing, and examines the changing relationship between the voluntary sector, the state and communities. Through this work, we seek to deepen understanding of the role of voluntary action and inform debates about the future of civil society and welfare provision.
Key questions include: What contribution does the VCS make to building stronger communities and improving wellbeing? How is the role of the VCS changing in response to social, economic and political change?
Theme leads: Cathy Harris and Dr Rob Macmillan.
Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) Awards
CRESR has significant methodological expertise as well as access to quantitative datasets to support applications for AQM awards. Applications are welcomed from students who wish to apply advanced, cutting-edge quantitative research methods to either primary or secondary quantitative data to facilitate impactful research that answers research questions aligned to one or more of our research clusters. We particularly welcome proposals in the following areas:
- the societal impacts of policies and programmes designed to encourage more sustainable transport
- how place and/or place-based policy effects the lives and outcomes of residents
- the development and nature of new housing supply and/or whether it addresses need
the outcomes and effects of new housing supply for residents and on neighbourhoods
AQM award lead: Prof Ian Wilson
How to apply
Applications for the WRDTP awards are not submitted directly to the WRDTP but to Sheffield Hallam University.
1. Pre-application stage:
Please contact Dr Sadie Parr s.parr@shu.ac.uk if you are interested in applying. Sadie will be able to support you in identifying a suitable supervisor, but you must provide a proposal using the WRDTP Studentship Application Form which includes details of your research proposal in SECTION 2 – About Your Project.
Please ensure that you allow yourself sufficient time for this process. Due to high demand, colleagues may not be able to respond to enquiries received close to the final submission deadline.
We have academic staff working across each of the research clusters who are interested in supervising new PhD students, and you can read more about their areas of research interest and expertise here.
2. Application stage:
You will need to make a formal application for a PhD at Sheffield Hallam University.
Key date: The closing date for Sheffield Hallam Applications is 12:00 pm GMT on 13 November 2026.
No late applications will be accepted.
Full details about the application process are located here: Sheffield Hallam WRDTP and the WRDTP website pages.
To make an application please visit our application page for full-time study or part-time study.