Dear SCDTP Students, PGRs, and Supervisors,

Welcome to the second SCDTP and Network Update of 2025! We hope your year is off to a great start.

This newsletter keeps you connected with the latest events, opportunities, and updates across our partnership. Your involvement shapes our community, and we’re excited to continue growing together this year.

Check out the updates below, and feel free to share your ideas—we’d love to hear from you!

Here’s to a successful 2025.

Take a moment to reconnect and refresh with our upcoming Instinctive Meditation sessions, led by Sabrina, sponsored by SCDTP for all SCDTP cohort students, staff, PDF and supervisors.

The meditation session is thoughtfully designed to help you engage your natural healing responses, process recent events, and align with what truly matters to you. Led by Sabrina, these guided sessions blend traditional techniques with modern science, offering tools to manage stress, anxiety, and achieve better work-life balance.

Join us via Zoom on these dates:
• Jan 22, 2025 | 13:00
• Jan 27, 2025 | 09:30
• Jan 29, 2025 | 13:00
• Feb 3, 2025 | 09:30

Zoom Meeting Details:

• Join Zoom Meeting
• Meeting ID: 811 9372 5618
• Passcode: a0p5q0

In these sessions, you’ll learn techniques to:

• Visualize your goals and aspirations
• Manage anxiety with practical tools
• Incorporate movement to restore balance
• Integrate meditation into busy days

Participants have shared:
“Sabrina explains concepts in a way that deepens self-awareness. I feel more grounded and connected after each session.” – Callum
“Incorporating movement has been a game-changer for me. I’m more relaxed, and my body feels calmer.” – Georgia
“Sabrina’s knowledge and personal approach gave me the confidence to explore practices I might have dismissed.” – Jess

For more information:

• www.tailoredmeditation.com
• Instagram: @Tailored_Meditation
• Meditation questions: tailoredmeditation@protonmail.com

Join us and create a moment of calm in your day!

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

Click the link below to read the latest blog by our student Isaac Thornton (UoB).

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

The SCDTP is now live on multiple social media platforms, making it easier than ever to stay connected with our community. 

We’re expanding our digital presence! 🎓✨

• Bluesky: Our new primary platform for live updates, event highlights, and insights from our vibrant community.
• LinkedIn: A space to connect professionally, celebrate achievements, and engage in meaningful discussions.
• X (formerly Twitter): While we’re shifting focus, we’ll still maintain a presence here for important updates.

Follow us to stay informed, inspired, and connected across platforms!

🌐 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scdtp.bsky.social

🌐 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scdtp

🌐 X: https://twitter.com/SouthCoastDTP

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

Join Us for the SCDTP Final Year Conference 2025

The SCDTP Final Year Conference 2025 is happening this Friday, 24th January, at Portsmouth Guildhall. This exciting event brings together doctoral researchers from our partner institutions to explore the theme ‘Embracing Challenges.’

It’s a day filled with collaboration, learning, and opportunities to engage with keynotes, workshops, and interdisciplinary presentations.

For full details on the schedule, keynote speakers, and participation, visit our event page:
👉 Event Page

We’ll also be live posting updates on our Bluesky account using the hashtag #SCDTPCon2025. Follow along to stay connected and catch the highlights!

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with a vibrant research community and tackle important challenges together! 🎓

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

Restarting the SCDTP Decolonial Reading Group for 2025

We’re thrilled to invite you to the first session of the SCDTP Decolonial Reading Group in the new year! Open to students, supervisors, and staff from all partner institutions, this initiative offers a collaborative space to explore how decolonial theories influence research and perspectives.

This student-led group, facilitated by Patricia, Sixtus, and Patience (SCDTP Postdoctoral Fellow), fosters shared leadership and participation. Together, we’ll delve into thought-provoking articles and book chapters, building a deeper understanding of decoloniality and its global impact.

Next Meeting Details:

• Date: Thursday, 30th January 2025
• Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
• Platform: Microsoft Teams (Join Here)

Reading for This Session:

We’ll discuss Aníbal Quijano’s “Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality,” a seminal paper that explores the enduring impact of coloniality on global power structures, knowledge production, and cultural hierarchies. This reading expands on our prior discussions about decolonizing research methodologies by addressing the colonial roots of modernity and rationality.

Discussion Topics:

• How does Quijano define the relationship between coloniality and modernity/rationality?
• In what ways do colonial power structures shape today’s global hierarchies?
• What implications does Quijano’s critique have for understanding global crises and inequalities?
• How does this paper challenge our perceptions of knowledge, culture, and power?

We encourage you to reflect on these questions and come ready to share your insights.

As always, your suggestions for future readings and topics are warmly welcomed. Let’s continue this vital journey together in 2025!

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

Dear SCDTP Staff, Students and Supervisors,

As announced in our previous newsletter, we’re excited to share that the SCDTP Hub is in development and progressing well! This central platform will provide access to key resources, guidelines, and updates on events and opportunities within our community.

While the Hub is still in its development stage, registration remains open, and we encourage you to sign up. This will help us test the platform and ensure everything is ready for the full launch. Once your login is set up, we’ll email you with access details.

Don’t forget, we’ve also introduced a Help Form where you can send us your feedback or report any issues with the SCDTP website.

Thank you for your patience and support as we work to make the SCDTP Hub a valuable resource for everyone!

Your input is invaluable as we move forward, and we appreciate your support in helping us shape this platform to better serve the community.

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

🌟 Explore Exciting ESRC Fellowship and Placement Opportunities! 🌟

As part of the SCDTP network, we’re thrilled to highlight an excellent ESRC Fellowship and two placement opportunities available to SCDTP students (excluding first-year PhD and Master's students).

These opportunities are designed to enhance your research experience and expand your professional skills. Don’t miss out on the chance to gain valuable expertise and make impactful connections!

This scheme offers early-career researchers, along with AHRC-funded and ESRC-funded doctoral students, exclusive access to the world-renowned collections, programs, and expertise at prestigious host institutions. Its goal is to enrich research by enhancing its depth, diversity, and range, including studies on underrepresented and under-researched cultures and histories.

ESRC-funded PhD students are invited to apply for a fellowship to visit the Library of Congress for 3 to 6 months. To learn more about this exciting opportunity, join a webinar on January 23 at 2:00 PM, where further details will be shared, and you will have the chance to ask questions.

Please find attached details of a placement opportunity being offered by The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, which is a non-ministerial government department.

The project offers an opportunity to improve the way OSR regulates official statistics across the UK statistical system, by creating greater accountability for government departments to comply with the intelligent transparency principles.

The project seeks to develop a monitoring and reporting approach for intelligent transparency, which will be summarised in a report.

The application deadline is the 24 January 2025 16:00 GMT. Details on how to apply can be found within the opportunity attached in the links above.

Please find attached details of a placement opportunity being offered by Ipsos UK, in collaboration with The Market Research Society (MRS). The lead host organisation Ipsos UK is a leading market research company specialising in delivering insights into consumer behaviour and public opinion. The collaborating host organisation is The Market Research Society (MRS), a professional body, trade association and regulator for individuals and organisations involved in market, social, and opinion research.

The project seeks to understand how to better engage Generation Z (15-to-24-year-olds) in market research surveys by using behavioural science (or other applied social science approaches) to address barriers to participation in face-to-face fieldwork. 

The application deadline is the 7 February 2025 at 23:59 (GMT). Details on how to apply can be found within the opportunity attached. 

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

This free online drop-in is for anyone working or thinking of working with secondary survey data who are looking for help and advice with their project or research. It is targeted at academic and non-academic researchers, as well as students, and anyone with an interest in survey data, whether absolute beginners or more seasoned users.

Come along to discuss any questions you might have with experts from the UK Data Service training team during this one hour session.

We can help with topics such as:

• deciding which surveys could be useful for your project and how to find them
• finding variables that match your needs
• understanding survey documentation
• population inference: using weights and survey design variables
• working with longitudinal data
• things to consider when using secondary survey data
• software related questions: R, Stata or SPSS
• any other queries you might have

More information and booking

🔝 Back to top of the newsletter

As we share the latest edition of the SCDTP and Network Update, we want to thank you for your continued dedication and contributions to our community. Your engagement and support make this network a thriving hub of collaboration, innovation, and shared learning.

This edition highlights some of the exciting opportunities, events, and resources available to you in the coming weeks. We hope it provides valuable insights and inspires you to stay actively involved.

Remember, we’re always here to hear from you! Whether you have feedback, questions, or suggestions, don’t hesitate to reach out at scdtp@soton.ac.uk—your input helps shape the future of our community.

Thank you for being an essential part of the SCDTP network. We’re looking forward to all we can accomplish together this year.

Warm regards,
The SCDTP Team

Follow us on X (Twitter), LinkedIn &  Bluesky

South Coast DTP | R2043/B58, Murray Building, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, Southampton