University College London (UCL) is inviting applications for two fully funded four-year PhD studentships focusing on social networks, stereotypes and social inequalities, offering an exceptional research opportunity for quantitatively oriented social scientists interested in understanding how stereotypes can shape educational experiences, peer relationships, well-being and inequality.

The studentships form part of an European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant project titled “Applied stereotypes, social networks, and self-fulfilling prophecies: How stereotypes reinforce social inequalities.” The project is led by Dr Zsófia Boda and will investigate how stereotypes are applied between individuals, particularly among pupils, and how these interpersonal perceptions may contribute to unequal outcomes.

Successful candidates will be based at the Quantitative Social Science centre within UCL’s Social Research Institute, Institute of Education, in London. The advertised studentships are fully funded for four years and explicitly cover either home or international tuition fees, making the opportunity accessible to applicants from outside the United Kingdom as well as UK candidates.

The official closing date is 1 September 2026, while applications for the planned 1 October 2026 start are being considered on a rolling basis. Candidates interested in the positions should therefore apply as early as possible rather than waiting until the final deadline.

UCL PhD Studentships 2026 at a Glance

University: University College London
Department: School of Education / Social Research Institute
Research Centre: Quantitative Social Science
Location: London, United Kingdom
Reference Number: B16-02225
Number of Studentships: Two
Study Pattern: Full-time
Funding Period: Four years
Funding Status: Fully funded, including home or international tuition fees
Research Area: Social networks, stereotypes, education and social inequalities
Project: Applied stereotypes, social networks, and self-fulfilling prophecies: How stereotypes reinforce social inequalities
Principal Investigator: Dr Zsófia Boda
Expected Start Date: 1 October 2026
Application Deadline: 1 September 2026
Applications: Considered on a rolling basis.

About University College London

University College London is a major research-intensive university based in London and has a substantial international community of students and researchers.

The PhD candidates will become part of UCL’s Social Research Institute, an interdisciplinary centre bringing together researchers from sociology, psychology, social science, economics and related disciplines. Its areas of research include social inequalities, education, employment, migration, gender, families, cultural and social psychology, longitudinal research, advanced quantitative methods and social mobility.

UCL states that its Social Research Institute provides doctoral students with a multidisciplinary and multi-method research environment, comprehensive research training and opportunities to engage with researchers across UCL’s wider academic community.

The Institute of Education also provides an extensive doctoral research environment, including research seminars, doctoral training, methodological courses, workshops and opportunities for students to develop specialist research skills.

About the ERC-Funded Research Project

The two studentships are connected to an ERC Starting Grant examining the relationship between stereotypes, interpersonal perceptions, social networks and persistent social inequalities.

The project’s central focus is the concept of “applied stereotypes.”

Stereotypes are commonly understood as beliefs or assumptions about social groups. These beliefs may relate to ethnicity, gender, social class or other social categories.

However, the project moves beyond examining stereotypes simply as general beliefs about groups.

Instead, it asks an important question:

What happens when one individual actually applies a stereotype to another specific person?

The project therefore seeks to understand how stereotypes operate within real social relationships and whether those perceptions can affect educational achievement, motivation, well-being, aspirations and social connections.

According to the research framing, two particularly important dimensions of stereotypes are warmth and competence. Warmth can relate to perceptions such as whether someone is kind, trustworthy or generous, while competence can involve perceptions of whether someone is capable, knowledgeable, confident or intelligent.

Why Applied Stereotypes Matter

The project begins from the concern that members of minority or disadvantaged groups may sometimes be perceived as less warm, less competent or both compared with members of socially dominant groups.

Such perceptions may influence expectations.

For example, if peers consistently perceive a pupil as less capable because of assumptions associated with that person’s social background, those perceptions may potentially affect:

• The pupil’s friendships and peer relationships;
• How other students interact with them;
• Academic motivation;
• Aspirations;
• Confidence;
• Psychological well-being;
• Educational performance; and
• Opportunities to participate fully in school social networks.

Over time, these processes may contribute to self-fulfilling prophecies, whereby expectations influence interactions and those interactions subsequently contribute to outcomes that appear to confirm the original stereotype.

The wider ERC project therefore seeks to understand how stereotypes may help reproduce social inequalities and, crucially, under what circumstances harmful stereotyping can be weakened or avoided.

A Social Network Approach to Stereotyping

One of the most distinctive aspects of the project is its use of social network analysis.

Rather than treating perceptions as characteristics belonging to only one individual, the researchers will conceptualize applied stereotypes as relationships between two people.

For example:

Pupil A may consider Pupil B highly competent, while Pupil C may perceive the same Pupil B very differently.

This means that perceptions are not necessarily uniform.

By examining who perceives whom as warm or competent, researchers can construct networks of interpersonal judgments across entire classrooms.

These networks can then be analysed alongside friendship networks and other peer relationships to investigate how stereotypes are formed, transmitted and potentially reinforced within social environments.

Main Research Aims

The PhD students will contribute to two major empirical objectives within the project.

1. Understanding How Group Stereotypes Are Applied to Individuals

Researchers will investigate whether general stereotypes associated with particular social groups are systematically applied to specific pupils.

The project will examine questions such as:

• Are students from different social backgrounds perceived differently by their classmates?
• Who is most likely to apply stereotypes to other students?
• Under what circumstances are stereotypes more or less likely to influence interpersonal judgments?
• Do friendship and other peer relationships reduce or reinforce stereotyping?
• How do perceptions of warmth and competence develop across classroom networks?

2. Investigating Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

The second major objective is to determine whether applied stereotypes ultimately affect pupil outcomes.

Researchers will explore whether other people’s perceptions can influence areas such as:

• Well-being;
• Motivation;
• Educational aspirations;
• Academic performance;
• Peer relationships; and
• Social integration.

The project’s broader goal is to understand whether these interpersonal processes contribute to persistent inequalities between social groups.

Potential Research Questions for PhD Candidates

The studentships provide room for candidates to shape their individual research according to their disciplinary background, interests and methodological expertise.

Questions highlighted in the advertised project include:

1. Are pupils from different backgrounds systematically perceived differently by their peers?
2. What role do friendships and other peer relationships play in determining how stereotypes are applied?
3. How do judgments about warmth and competence spread through social networks?
4. How do applied stereotypes affect pupil well-being?
5. Can peer perceptions influence motivation?
6. Can perceptions of competence affect academic achievement?
7. Under what circumstances can pupils avoid being subjected to harmful group stereotypes?

Candidates are therefore not expected simply to execute a completely predetermined PhD topic. The project team specifically welcomes students bringing their own research interests and ideas within the overall scope of the ERC project.

Research Methods and Quantitative Training

Advanced quantitative analysis will be central to the studentships.

PhD researchers will use sophisticated statistical and social-network methods to investigate relationships between individuals and changes in those relationships over time.

A particularly important methodology will be longitudinal social network analysis, including stochastic actor-oriented models.

Applicants are not required to already be experts in social network analysis.

The advertisement states that students will receive training in social network analysis, with hands-on support available from the supervisor and senior members of the research team throughout the PhD.

This makes the studentships potentially suitable for candidates who already have strong general quantitative skills but have not previously specialized in network modelling.

Data Collection in English Secondary Schools

The successful PhD candidates will not work exclusively with existing datasets.

They will also contribute to the development and implementation of a major panel data collection in English secondary schools.

This data collection is particularly significant because the project aims to directly measure applied stereotypes among pupils.

The PhD students may contribute to several stages of the research process, including:

• Measurement development;
• Questionnaire design;
• Sample selection;
• Communication and coordination with schools;
• Organization and administration of data collection;
• Data coding;
• Data cleaning; and
• Preparation of datasets for statistical analysis.

This provides candidates with extensive practical experience across the research lifecycle rather than limiting doctoral training to secondary data analysis.

Academic Publications and Research Outputs

Successful students will also be expected to contribute to academic publications resulting from the research.

Candidates may prepare academic manuscripts both:

• As a lead author; and
• As a contributing co-author with other members of the project team.

This collaborative structure can provide valuable experience in academic publishing and team-based research during the doctorate.

Who Should Consider Applying?

The opportunity is intended for highly motivated candidates from the social sciences, broadly defined.

A particularly strong candidate would combine:

• Genuine interest in social inequalities;
• Interest in education;
• Interest in interpersonal and social networks;
• Strong quantitative research skills;
• Curiosity about stereotypes and social psychology;
• Ability to work with complex data;
• Willingness to collaborate across disciplines; and
• Enthusiasm for conducting original empirical research.

Applicants from backgrounds such as sociology, psychology and education are explicitly encouraged, although candidates from other related disciplines may also be considered.

Academic Qualification Requirements

Applicants are preferred to have, or be close to obtaining, a first-class Master’s degree or equivalent in an appropriate discipline.

Relevant fields include:

• Sociology;
• Psychology;
• Education; or
• A closely related social-science discipline.

Candidates must also satisfy UCL’s standard admission requirements for postgraduate research study.

UCL’s Social Science MPhil/PhD normally requires a Master’s degree from a UK university in an appropriate subject, or an equivalent qualification from a recognized institution outside the UK. UCL notes that the majority of successful applicants to the broader programme hold at least a Merit at Master’s level, although this particular studentship advert expresses a preference for a first-class Master’s or equivalent.

Quantitative Skills Requirement

Strong quantitative skills are essential.

Applicants should be comfortable using statistical techniques and should preferably already understand commonly used regression methods.

The advertisement specifically gives examples including:

• Linear regression; and
• Logistic regression.

Candidates should therefore be able to demonstrate that they understand quantitative research rather than simply expressing a willingness to learn statistics from the beginning.

Is Previous Social Network Analysis Experience Required?

No.

Existing experience with social network analysis is considered an advantage, but it is not an essential requirement.

This distinction is important for applicants who have strong statistical backgrounds but have not previously worked with network data.

Training in relevant network-analysis techniques will be provided as part of the PhD.

R Programming Requirements

Experience using R for statistical analysis is desirable.

Applicants who do not already have extensive experience with R may still be considered, but they must demonstrate a clear willingness to learn and use R during the doctorate.

Candidates with existing experience in R, statistical programming, quantitative data management or computational social science should therefore highlight this clearly in their application.

Interdisciplinary Research

A willingness to undertake interdisciplinary research is explicitly required.

The project brings together concepts and methods from fields including:

• Sociology;
• Social psychology;
• Education;
• Quantitative social science;
• Network science; and
• Inequality research.

Applicants should therefore be comfortable engaging with theories and literature from disciplines beyond their original academic specialization.

Personal and Professional Skills Required

The successful candidates should demonstrate strong:

• Organizational skills;
• Interpersonal skills;
• Time-management skills;
• Independent working ability;
• Team-working ability; and
• Communication skills.

These qualities will be particularly important because students will participate in a collaborative research project involving schools, research participants, supervisors and other members of the project team.

English Language Requirements

Candidates must possess fluency and clarity in spoken English together with strong written English.

Applicants are also required to meet UCL’s formal English-language requirements for the relevant doctoral programme.

The UCL Social Science MPhil/PhD currently lists English Language Level 4 as the applicable standard. International applicants should consult UCL’s official English-language guidance to determine the accepted tests and scores corresponding to this level.

Funding: What Does “Fully Funded” Mean?

The advertised positions are described as fully funded four-year PhD studentships.

Importantly, the advertisement explicitly states that the funding covers home or international tuition fees.

This means international applicants do not have to be eligible for UK “home” fee status in order to compete for the studentships.

Applicants should rely on the formal studentship offer for the exact financial package applicable to the successful candidate. The advertisement confirms full funding and tuition-fee coverage but does not provide a specific stipend figure in the indexed vacancy text, so applicants should avoid relying on unofficial third-party estimates of annual living support.

International Applicants Are Eligible

A major advantage of the opportunity is that it is open to both home and international candidates.

UCL’s wider Social Research Institute similarly welcomes postgraduate researchers from around the world, and its research-degree information provides country-specific guidance for applicants holding international qualifications.

There is therefore no requirement in the advertised studentship that applicants must be UK citizens.

Duration and Start Date

Each studentship is funded for four years.

Applications are currently being considered for a planned start date of:

1 October 2026

The advertisement states that applications for this start date will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Applicants who meet the criteria should therefore submit their expression of interest promptly.

Application Deadline

The official UCL vacancy lists the closing date as:

1 September 2026

Because applications are also being considered on a rolling basis for the October start, candidates are strongly advised not to wait until the deadline.

How to Apply

The vacancy instructs candidates to send an expression of interest directly to Dr Zsófia Boda.

The email should be sent to:

info@zsofiaboda.com

The subject line must be:

ERC PhD Studentship

Applicants should attach three separate PDF documents to the email.

Required Application Documents

1. Short CV

Candidates must submit a concise CV with a maximum length of two pages.

Any academic publications can be included.

However, applicants should note that having published academic papers is not a requirement.

The PDF should be named:

LASTNAME_CV.pdf

2. Research Statement

Candidates must submit a research statement of approximately one to two pages.

This statement should explain:

• Why the applicant is a strong fit for the project;
• How their academic and methodological background aligns with the studentship;
• Their substantive research interests;
• Relevant quantitative research experience; and
• A potential research idea they would be interested in developing within the overall project.

The file should be titled:

LASTNAME_STATEMENT.pdf

3. Writing Sample

Applicants must also provide a piece of written academic work demonstrating their capacity to conduct original research.

Suitable examples include:

• A published research article;
• An unpublished research paper;
• A chapter from a Master’s thesis;
• A dissertation chapter; or
• Another piece of work containing original research.

The PDF should be titled:

LASTNAME_WRITING_SAMPLE.pdf.

What Should You Put in the Research Statement?

The research statement is likely to be one of the most important components of the application.

Applicants should avoid writing a generic motivation statement.

Instead, they should demonstrate a clear connection between their own profile and the project’s substantive and methodological objectives.

A strong statement should explain:

1. Why you are interested in stereotypes and social inequalities.
2. Why peer relationships or social networks are relevant to your interests.
3. Which substantive outcome interests you most, such as educational performance, motivation, well-being or social integration.
4. Your previous quantitative research training.
5. Which statistical methods you already know.
6. Your experience with R or other statistical software.
7. Any previous exposure to survey design, longitudinal analysis or network analysis.
8. A focused research question that could be investigated within the broader ERC project.
9. Why UCL’s Quantitative Social Science environment is particularly suitable for your doctoral development.

The advert explicitly welcomes candidates bringing their own ideas to the project, so the statement should demonstrate intellectual independence while remaining closely aligned with the project’s overall objectives.

Why the Quantitative Social Science Centre Matters

The students will work within UCL’s Quantitative Social Science research environment in the Social Research Institute.

The wider institute has expertise in areas including:

• Social inequalities;
• Social mobility;
• Education;
• Longitudinal analysis;
• Gender;
• Cultural and social psychology;
• Migration and ethnicity;
• Labour-market behaviour;
• Advanced quantitative research methods; and
• Mixed-method social research.

Doctoral students also have access to research seminars, methodological training and wider doctoral-skills development opportunities across UCL.

The Wider Significance of the Research

The project addresses an important challenge within contemporary social science: understanding why social inequalities can persist even where formal institutions seek to provide equal opportunities.

Stereotypes can operate through everyday interpersonal interactions rather than only through explicit discriminatory decisions.

School peer networks provide an especially valuable environment for studying these processes because adolescence is a period when:

• Social identities develop;
• Peer relationships become increasingly important;
• Academic aspirations are shaped;
• Friendship networks evolve;
• Students compare themselves with others; and
• Perceptions formed by peers may affect confidence and behaviour.

The ERC-funded project aims to develop new evidence on these interpersonal mechanisms and ultimately improve understanding of the conditions under which harmful stereotyping can be reduced.

The broader project has received approximately €1.5 million in ERC Starting Grant support and is designed to investigate stereotyping among pupils in English secondary schools, with research examining how perceptions may contribute to social inequalities.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

UCL states that it is committed to equality of opportunity and to creating a fair and inclusive academic community.

The studentship advertisement particularly encourages applications from groups that may be underrepresented within UCL, including candidates from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled candidates and LGBTQI+ candidates.

This is an encouragement to apply rather than an eligibility restriction: applicants are not required to belong to any particular racial, ethnic or demographic group.

Tips for Preparing a Competitive Application

Candidates should treat the expression of interest as a competitive doctoral-research application rather than a standard employment application.

To strengthen an application:

• Keep the CV focused on research, methods, education and relevant professional experience.
• Highlight Master’s dissertation work involving quantitative analysis.
• Specify statistical techniques you can already use.
• Mention experience with R, Stata, Python, SPSS or other analytical software where relevant.
• Clearly identify experience with linear or logistic regression.
• Highlight any work involving longitudinal, relational or network data.
• Demonstrate a genuine substantive interest in inequality, education and social relationships.
• Propose a realistic and analytically interesting research idea.
• Show evidence of independent research capability in the writing sample.
• Demonstrate that you can contribute effectively to collaborative data collection in schools.
• Submit well before the final deadline because applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Important Dates

Applications currently open: Yes
Application review: Rolling basis
Final closing date: 1 September 2026
Expected PhD start: 1 October 2026

Conclusion

The UCL PhD studentships on social networks, stereotypes and social inequalities provide an outstanding opportunity for quantitatively skilled social-science graduates who want to investigate some of the mechanisms through which inequality can be reproduced in educational environments.

Two candidates will join an ambitious ERC-funded research project examining how pupils perceive one another, how stereotypes are applied within social networks and whether those perceptions can produce self-fulfilling consequences for academic performance, motivation, well-being and social relationships.

The studentships are particularly attractive because they combine theoretical social-science research with advanced quantitative methodology, original longitudinal data collection, social network analysis and opportunities to publish collaboratively.

Both UK and international candidates are eligible, and the four-year studentships are described as fully funded, including home or international tuition fees. Applicants should ideally hold or be completing a first-class Master’s degree in sociology, psychology, education or a related discipline and must demonstrate strong quantitative skills, interdisciplinary interest and the ability to meet UCL’s doctoral admission requirements.

Candidates must submit a two-page CV, a one-to-two-page research statement and a research writing sample as separate PDFs by email, using the subject line “ERC PhD Studentship.”

The final deadline is 1 September 2026, but applications for the 1 October 2026 start are being considered on a rolling basis, making early submission advisable.

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