Pioneering in Education PhD Scholarship (Psychology)

The School of Social Sciences seeks to recruit a PhD candidate to work under the supervision of Prof. Deborah Hall and Dr Kerstin Meier Barcroft.

Project overview:

The university’s Pioneering in Education strategic theme aims to support all our students to acquire not only subject-specific knowledge, skills and behaviours, but also self-leadership competencies that are essential for future career success. Self-leadership can protect students while they are studying at university by enhancing their self-awareness and self-management. Self-leadership is actively nurtured in a professional skills course that is one of the university’s most distinctive innovations in global curriculum design (1, 2). A major component of this course is a series of workshops in which students are guided to create a personal impact statement comprising three sentences “I am a … . My purpose is … . I will … ”. At its heart, this course fosters future-oriented and goal-seeking attitudes.

There is a paucity of high-quality applied research in higher education evaluating this kind of holistic education (3). One important research gap concerns how personal resources can be effectively deployed via intentional activities to achieve optimal functioning in higher education and beyond, and what the personal journey to self-actualisation might look like. Another research gap concerns the Western bias towards individuals as sole, autonomous agents where thriving or failing is one’s own personal responsibility, whereas other societies maintain a view of the individual as a member of the community.

Heriot-Watt as a global university is ideally placed to examine these questions using our teaching environment as a ‘living laboratory’. Versions of the course are delivered at our campuses in UK, United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, with more than 1,000 enrolled students every year. This provides an exciting opportunity to examine cross-cultural perspectives on higher education. The successful PhD student will analyse and interpret two of the rich datasets that we have already collected (UK and Malaysia), take responsibility for new research in the upcoming academic year 2025-26, and lead a longitudinal study of students across their university journey. The successful candidate will be enrolled in a PhD Psychology and will have an opportunity to be part of the teaching team for this course at the Edinburgh campus.

1. Gan, T. Y., Beevi, Z., Low, J., et al. (2022) Developing future-ready university graduates: Nurturing wellbeing and life skills as well as academic talent. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 827517.
2. Hall, D.A., Rangunathan, T., Tan, Y.S et al. (2023) Impact of defining ikigai in developing future-ready university graduates with self-leadership skills: A whole university mixed-methods study during Covid-19. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 43:3, 660-691.
3. Hall, D.A., Juliana, J., Manickam, M. et al. (2024) Contributions of positive psychology to higher education across Asia: A scoping review and unifying thematic framework. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00798-y

Essential criteria

• At minimum, a 2:1-honours degree in Psychology, Human Resource Management or Education, including a relevant research dissertation.
• Passionate and curious about lifelong learning.
• Strong academic writing skills, as there is an expectation that the PhD thesis will incorporate published papers.
• Proven ability to work independently and autonomously while juggling multiple competing demands.
• Good numeracy skills.
• Candidates for whom English is a second language should meet the University’s minimum English-language requirements. If you have not already studied a degree programme that was taught and examined in the medium of English, the minimum overall IELTS score is 6.5 with no score lower than 6.0 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.

Desirable criteria

• Masters-level degree at Merit level or equivalent in Psychology, Human Resource Management or Education, including a relevant research dissertation.
• Knowledge and experience of mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) research in the social sciences.

Please note that possession of the minimum qualifications does not guarantee shortlisting for interview.

Applicants should submit their application via https://www.hw.ac.uk/study/how-to-apply/postgraduate-programmes

When completing the online application form, please indicate that you are applying to the ‘SoSS Pioneering in Education PhD scholarship’ in the field that asks how you will fund your studies, and include Prof. Hall’s name in the field that asks who your supervisor will be.

How to apply

Applicants should supply:

1. A full Curriculum Vitae.
2. Copies of full academic transcripts from all previous academic degree courses and copies of degree certificates for degrees already awarded. If you are currently pursuing a degree course please provide all available marks to date. If your degree is from a non-UK institution, please provide evidence of the UK equivalency of your qualification.
3. A brief covering letter outlining why you want to study for a PhD at Heriot-Watt University, and what makes you an excellent candidate.
4. An outline research proposal (max. 1500 words). This should clearly identify how the proposed research question and modes of inquiry align with the project brief. Applicants are encouraged to contact Prof. Hall for an informal discussion about their proposal (deborah.hall@hw.ac.uk).

Interviews will be conducted via video conferencing (e.g. Zoom or similar). Interview support for those with disabilities will be available where required (e.g. a BSL interpreter).

If you have any general queries about the applications process, please contact soss.pgradmissions@hw.ac.uk

At Heriot-Watt University we understand that being diverse makes us better which is why we support a culture of respect and equal opportunity, and value diversity at the heart of what we do. We want to increase the diversity of our workplace to underpin a dynamic and creative environment and welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Heriot-Watt is committed to giving access and opportunities to student carers, and received the Going Higher for Student Carers Recognition Award from Carers Trust Scotland in 2020.