Welcome to the Faculty of Social Sciences!
Postgraduate Taught Master’s Induction 2015
Dr Tim Hopthrow
Associate Dean (Graduate Studies)
The Graduate
School
The Faculty of Social Sciences and You
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Community and Diversity in the Faculty of Social Sciences
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Broadening your horizons
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Your contribution
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Life beyond the Masters degree
Community and diversity
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Faculty of Social Sciences is the largest in the University, with
more postgraduate students than the other two faculties
combined
Comprises 9 Schools/Centres: Anthropology & Conservation;
Economics; KBS; KLS; Politics & IR; Psychology; SSPSSR;
Centre for Journalism; Centre for Professional Practice
Incredibly diverse; at first sight you might wonder what these
divergent Schools could possibly have in common
But what unites this community is the shared interest of its
members in social relations
Community and diversity
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That could be social relations in the animal kingdom, e.g.
Anthropology project on male-female aggression & sexual
coercion in chimpanzees
Or human relations in all their complexity:
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violence & war
collective bargaining & social networking
child development
management of drug offenders
corruption in financial institutions
community based micro-finance arrangements
the psychology of the highest performing athletes
the impacts of obesity on the local and global economy
Often research on these themes is conducted collectively by
colleagues from different Schools in the Faculty
Community and diversity
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Projects currently underway in the Faculty include:
 Gender management strategies adopted by female
entrepreneurs
 The impact of cannabis use on career, relationships &
health
 Water pollution protection regimes in Ethiopia
 The economic psychology of giving, public goods &
leadership
 Polygraph testing for sex offenders
 The social psychology of conspiracy theories
 Equipping athletes with the correct mindset to recover
from injury
 The impact of gender imbalances on peace &
democratisation in China and India
Community and Diversity
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Projects are diverse, so are the methods
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Develop theories of the social world
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Consider
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Philosophy – ethics
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Commitment to better understanding social relations
 Metaphysical and philosophical questions
 Applied studies
 Experiments or mass data collection
Broadening your horizons
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Broad range of research & and diversity of methods
Competing perspectives on methods
But we would encourage you to seek out more
Why?
Employers
Wider appreciation
Contribution
Broadening your horizons
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Acquired many skills
Cutting edge research
Engage with a rich research community right on your doorstep
Research seminars and guest lectures
Inaugural and open lectures
Conferences, workshops & reading groups
Broadening your horizons
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Unique opportunity
Sports clubs or Societies
Travel
Meeting people
Careers service
http://www.kent.ac.uk/ces/index.html
Life beyond the Masters degree
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Advanced research & analytical skills
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Transferable skills
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Non-academic career
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Academic career
Funding for PhD Research
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Economic and Social Research Council
University Scholarships and School Scholarships
Deadlines for applications is late January
Highly competitive
Begin work on a proposal and application in the Autumn term
Identify prospective original research question and prospective
PhD supervisor, and work closely with them as soon as you
can.
Finally
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Inclusive research community
 REF 2014
• THE Kent ranked 17th for research intensity
• 85% of research staff submitted
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Independent study
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Feedback
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Make the most of your time here
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Good luck!
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