“A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in Haryana, India”

The successful candidate will:

• Build on previously conducted research in the state of Haryana, India in a way that develops understanding of how a gendered understanding of a right to education can be implemented; and produce a PhD thesis. The thesis project will be located within the larger Fair Chance Foundation funded project, “A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in Haryana, India”.
• Contribute to the research project as a whole, including maintaining connections with relevant parties in Haryana, and disseminating findings within the project.
• Work in collaboration with the project’s Indian partners.

Funding

This studentship is funded for 3.5 years and will cover full tuition fees (including international fees if required), an annual standard RCUK stipend of provisional £14,800* (2018 - 2019) per annum and support for fieldwork costs.

* Please note this is a RCUK provisional predicted figure and is subject to change.

Registration and location

The successful candidate will be registered in the Law School at Warwick University. Thesis completion is expected within 3.5 years. The successful candidate will be located at the University of Warwick (Coventry, UK) for the first year, to receive research training and supervised project development. There will be a suitable period of research in Haryana in the second year, followed by a write-up period at Warwick for the remaining duration of the project.

Entry requirements

Applicants will meet the University of Warwick’s standard entry requirements and the additional requirements associated with this project. The successful candidate will also apply for the appropriate visa (if necessary) in a timely manner and be available to start the studentship at the beginning of October 2018.

Essential:

• A first degree of at least an upper second class UK honours or the equivalent, and/or a Master’s degree or its equivalent in a relevant subject area. The Master’s qualification must be completed before the start of the studentship.
• English language qualifications: if your first language is not English, you will be expected to obtain the recognised English Language qualification IELTS (International English Language Testing System) at level 7.0 with no more than two elements at 6.5/6.0 (and none below 6.0). If you are unsure whether this requirement applies to you, please contact us (FCFHaryana@warwick.ac.uk).
• It is essential that you are fluent in Hindi (written and spoken) so that you can conduct research in Hindi without assistance

Desirable:

• Prior knowledge and/or experience of the state of Haryana and/or Northern India.
• Existing knowledge in the areas of gender and socio legal studies/human rights.
• Experience of working with civil society/advocacy/human rights groups.

Project background

The larger research project within which this studentship is embedded is a five-year action research project which aims to produce useful and impactful evidence on factors that contribute to educational success for young people in Haryana, India. It has been developed in collaboration with a core group of Indian partners and Fair Chance Foundation. The project in particular takes a gender perspective, focusing on gendered social relations and gender differences in choices, obstacles and opportunities for young people as they progress through the education system. The first stage of the project gathers evidence about the gendered educational trajectories of students who are in their first year of higher education in the state of Haryana, and the factors which influenced entry to and choice of higher education. This evidence, including the findings from an existing doctoral student’s research, will be used to design and implement a small-scale targeted intervention. The intervention will be conducted in collaboration with local partners and will be designed to produce social change in areas that have been identified by the baseline research. In later stages of the project, research will be conducted to evaluate the process and results of the intervention. The successful candidate will research the intervention and evaluation stages of the project.

Research partners

The doctoral project will be jointly supervised by Professor Ann Stewart (School of law) and Emily Henderson (Assistant Professor) in the Centre for Education Studies (CES). The project’s partners at Ambedkar University, Delhi; National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), Delhi; Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai will also contribute as appropriate. The doctoral project will be linked with Warwick’s interdisciplinary research network, the International Development GRP and Warwick Law School's Centre for Human Rights in Practice.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please submit the following materials through the online form, no later than 12 noon UK time on Friday 1st December 2017:

• A personal statement document of no more than 1500 words to include an explanation of your interest in this research area, outlining your relevant experience and existing knowledge of this research area (Personal statement advice)
• An up-to-date CV (no more than 3 pages)
• Two references, at least one of which should be an academic reference. If the second reference is not also an academic reference, it should be a professional (not personal) reference that is relevant to the project. Referees may send references separately by email to FCFHaryana@warwick.ac.uk, but they must be received no later than 12 noon UK time on Friday 1st December 2017.
• Evidence of Hindi qualifications (eg. Hindi A-level equivalent, i.e. in the Indian education system Hindi taken as a subject until class 10. Alternative evidence of fluency may be accepted).