Renewed funding to train social scientists in tackling complex global challenges

Imperial College London is part of a newly funded partnership that will receive £15m to train social scientists to tackle complex global challenges.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS DTP), led by King’s College London in partnership with Imperial and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), was first launched in 2016. It aims to equip doctoral students with social science skills and a deeper understanding of how societies function in order to tackle world challenges, such as climate change and global health. 

I am very excited by what the future holds for this partnership and Imperial’s contribution to it. Professor Arnab Majumdar LISS DTP Deputy Director, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

This new funding, worth more than £15 million, will enable the partnership to continue to train the next generation of research leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. 

Building on the successful LISS DTP launched in 2016, this new award will support five additional cohorts of more than 270 talented PhD students across the three partner institutions. Combined with the current DTP, this flagship doctoral research and training programme will support and work with more than 670 PhD researchers.   

To date, 48 Imperial students from across 12 departments across the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine and Natural Sciences, as well as the Business School, have been supported by the original training grant.  Studentship support includes fees, stipend, funds towards research training costs, overseas field work and more. 

The new grant will introduce a bespoke placements program available to all students with partners from government, the private sector, and civil society. 

LISS DTP Deputy Director Professor Arnab Majumdar, from Imperial’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said: “I am very excited by what the future holds for this partnership and Imperial’s contribution to it. The LISS DTP has provided Imperial with a wonderful opportunity to research the interface of social sciences and STEM, medicine, and business to enhance societal impact. This broad reach across Imperial has enabled an ever-growing academic community to develop cutting-edge research methodologies and impact, while providing PhD students with methods and academic training which has been recognised by the ESRC as being amongst the best in their DTPs. 

Doctoral training partnerships can play a crucial role in developing the research abilities and enhancing their skills-base and delivering a unique student experience. Professor Mary Ryan Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise)

"With this new round of funding, we look to further build upon the achievements of the partnership, not only with the PhD studentships on offer, but also with a greater emphasis on training for employability and research in practice placements.”

Professor Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial, said: "Doctoral training partnerships can play a crucial role in developing the research abilities and enhancing their skills-base and delivering a unique student experience. Congratulations to Professor Majumdar and the LISS DTP team on successfully securing renewed funding for this important interdisciplinary programme. The joint programme with Kings College London has already shown significant achievements, and I am eager to see the outcomes in the upcoming years."

LISS DTP Director Professor Pietro Panzarasa from QMUL said: “On behalf of the entire DTP leadership, we are delighted with this outcome and thank the ESRC for their endorsement of our programme. We are very grateful to all partner institutions for their matching support, which the ESRC clearly saw as a strength of our bid. We now look forward to working with students and our partners to play to our many strengths and train future generations of research leaders.”