Our website is currently being modified, therefore, you may experience some faults while using it. 

If you’d like to join the network, please send us an email at vawgrn@uos.ac.uk

Fully-funded PhD Studentship in the Institute for Social Justice and Crime at the University of Suffolk

Fully-funded PhD Studentship in the Institute for Social Justice and Crime at the University of Suffolk 

‘Specialism in Policing Rape and Serious Sexual Offences.’ 


Supervised by Professor Miranda Horvath, Dr Mark Manning and Dr Kari Davies.

Application deadline 16th December 2021, interviews on 5th January 2022. 



Applications are invited for an exciting and innovative three-year, full time PhD studentship aligned to the work of Professor Miranda Horvath, Dr Kari Davies and Project Bluestone. Project Bluestone (NOTE – the operational name for this project is Operation Soteria) was created as a way of using administrative police data to identify challenges, good practice, and areas for improvement in the way that Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) investigations are currently being conducted. The aim from this research is to produce iterative good practice, data led products, as well as ways of working using evidence informed practice, the project’s findings will be shared with all police forces in England and Wales with the aspiration to improve the policing of RASSO across the board. One element of Project Bluestone which will not be able to be fully considered in the funded project is in relation to specialist RASSO investigation units which are the focus of this PhD studentship.


This PhD studentship is open to UK candidates only owing to funding restrictions and will be available from January 2022 for three years (full time study). An annual stipend of PhD fees at current UKRI rates is offered.  The total cost of supporting this work over three years, including academic fees, doctoral stipend and research expenses (i.e. equipment and conference attendance) is £75,523 (a total per annum funding of £25,174.33). 


This PhD will use mixed methods to explore, assess and measure specialist RASSO investigation units in the police in comparison to non-specialist units and specialised investigation units for other crimes.

The successful candidate will need to be passionate about improving the policing response to RASSO. The candidate will also need to be committed to working sensitively and be able to demonstrate creative problem-solving abilities. They will also need a good understanding of safeguarding, ethics and quality assurance in research and a willingness to develop this throughout the PhD. The successful candidate would be expected to present at scientific meetings and publish. 


All details can be found Specialism in Policing Rape and Serious Sexual Offences: PhD studentship | University of Suffolk (uos.ac.uk)


More To Explore