Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Space
At the Social Policy Association, we are committed to nurturing, networking, and providing opportunities for Postgraduate Researchers (PGR) and Early Career Researchers (ECR). Our aim is to create a supportive environment where early career academics can thrive. We do this by offering spaces for networking, sharing research, and developing professional skills through a variety of activities, such as our opportunity grants, pre-conference events, and dedicated networking opportunities.
Whether you are looking to meet fellow researchers, gain feedback on your work, or explore funding opportunities, we are here to help build connections and offer valuable platforms to advance your academic career.
If you’d like to receive updates on events, funding opportunities, and other relevant communications, please fill out the form here (Google Forms link).
Meet Our PGR/ECR Portfolio holders
Sade Ajose is a PhD student at Swansea University, focusing on racism in education. Her research examines the disproportionate exclusion of Black Caribbean girls from secondary schools using Critical Race Theory (CRT). As an active PhD student, Sade brings firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced by PGRs, ensuring that our events and initiatives are relevant and tailored to the evolving needs of fellow researchers. Contact email.
Clementine Hill O’Connor – Clemmie is a Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow in the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy and an Affiliated Researcher at the Centre for Public Policy. Her research focus is on the role of citizens and citizen voices in policy-making processes, public engagement as evidence and gendered responses to welfare conditionality.
Current PGR/ECR Support
We are committed to supporting Postgraduate Researchers (PGR) and Early Career Researchers (ECR) through a range of activities, including pre-conference workshops, networking events, and community-building opportunities. These events provide valuable chances to connect, share ideas, and gain insights from peers and experienced professionals.
Our most recent PGR/ECR event was held in conjunction with our 2024 annual conference. It included a social visit to Flight Club, offering a fun and relaxed environment to network, followed by a dedicated pre-conference event, where we had a designated PGR/ECR headshot photographer, and held a career development workshop with a range of guest speakers from academia and policy.
ECR Membership Rate
For early career academics, the SPA offers a reduced Early Career Transition Band membership rate (applicable for two years after a members’ PhD graduation date). For more information about our membership rates and categories, please click here.
Excellence in Doctoral Research Award
We continue to celebrate outstanding doctoral research through our Excellence in Doctoral Research Award, recognizing the groundbreaking contributions of our members. For more information please visit the following webpages.
SPA Career-Launch Research Grants for Early Career Scholars
The SPA is pleased to be introducing a new funding scheme specifically aimed at Early Career Researchers (ECRs). This scheme is dedicated to the facilitation of research.
Its aim is to create space for ECR SPA members to sustain their research momentum and secure concrete achievements at a stage in their career when these things can be especially challenging, due to other pressures and demands, and an increasingly competitive research funding environment.
The funding call closed in June 2025 – watch this space for future rounds!
Current Recipient of the SPA Career Launch Research Grant
Dr Arvind Kumar
Dr. Arvind Kumar is a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. He is also an associate research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Earlier, he worked as a lecturer in criminology and sociology at the Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway, University of London, where he was the module convenor of ‘Social Policy and Social Problems in the UK’.
Recognised as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Dr Kumar holds PhD in Politics from Royal Holloway. His research interests include caste/ethnic inequalities, candidate nomination, comparative politics, social policy, political economy, political behaviour, rights and representation, social justice, political and legal theory, judicial politics, South Asian Politics, and mixed-method research.
He has been awarded an SPA Early Career Small Research Grant for his project titled ‘Ethnic Discrimination in the Indian Civil Service Examination’, which seeks to examine how caste-based discrimination operates in the recruitment of India’s civil service examination, as a result of which candidates belonging to historically marginalised communities (Dalits and Tribes) receive lower marks in its interview.
Image supplied by Arvind Kumar.
Future events
Our future events are shaped and directed by our members. If you have an idea or would like to get more involved, please do get in touch with the Exec members holding the PGR and ECR portfolios: Caz Snell and Sade Ajose.