The Friendship Project: Supporting Friendships and Social Participation for Children with Down Syndrome in Mainstream Primary Schools

This PhD offers an exciting and unique opportunity to conduct a collaborative project that will have a direct impact on social and emotional development and educational inclusion of children with Down syndrome in mainstream primary schools in the UK. Developing friendships and social participation is often challenging for pupils with Down Syndrome; as a consequence, those pupils are at risk of social exclusion (e.g. Oates et al., 2011) which can have significant negative consequences for children’s emotional and cognitive development, behaviour, and health (Timeo et al., 2019) and, for pupils with additional needs, undermines effective educational inclusion (Faragher et al., 2019). This project entails a feasibility randomised controlled trial of a novel school-based intervention to support social inclusion and friendships, designed by experts in Down syndrome specifically for this population. The project will evaluate the feasibility of a definitive randomised controlled trial and explore initial evidence of the intervention’s potential to support friendship development and social participation. Key project activities include securing ethical approval; recruiting children and schools to take part; training and supporting school staff to implement the intervention; monitoring fidelity; collecting data from school staff and children using surveys, interviews, and observations; data coding and analysis; preparing articles reporting the findings; other dissemination activities e.g. conference presentations and webinars for the Down syndrome community. You will be supported throughout the PhD by the supervision team: Dr Kelly Burgoyne and Prof Pamela Qualter in the Manchester Institute of Education and Dr Rebecca Baxter from Down Syndrome UK, a national charity for individuals with Down syndrome and their families. The successful applicant will join the Education and Psychology research group and have access to a range of research training opportunities in the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED), the Faculty of Humanities and the University of Manchester. 

Eligibility

Desirable criteria

Demonstrable experience of the following would be advantageous for this studentship:

• Collecting research data in schools
• Conducting research with the Down syndrome community
• Delivering training to school staff and/or parents

Academic requirements

• Bachelor’s (Honours) degree at 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and
• Master’s degree in a relevant subject – with an overall average of 60% or above, a minimum mark of 60% in your dissertation (or overseas equivalent)
• Applicants with only a Bachelor’s degree will be considered for 1+3 funding to cover both a Master’s and PhD programme.

English language

All applicants must provide evidence of English language proficiency:

• IELTS test minimum score – 7.0 overall, 7.0 in writing, 6.0 in other sections.
• TOEFL (internet based) test minimum score – 100 overall, 25 in all sections.
• Pearson Test of English (PTE) UKVI/SELT or PTE Academic minimum score – 76 overall, 76 in writing, 70 in other sections.
• To demonstrate that you have taken an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in a majority English speaking nation within the last 5 years.
• Other tests may be considered.

Application procedure

The application deadline will be Midnight (GMT) on 28/02/2025. Apply online for PhD Education at the University of Manchester.

Under Section 6 Research Details select ‘Yes’ to Are you applying for an advertised project. Insert the project title as stated at the top of the advert. It is recommended when entering the name of the supervisor to simply enter this and not use the supervisor search function.

Please indicate in Section 9 Funding Sources your intention to apply for the ESRC CASE Studentship.

Please ensure all required supporting documents are included at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered. Your application must include the following:

• A copy of your Bachelor’s academic transcript and certificate.
• A copy of your Master’s academic transcript and certificate. If your Master’s degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript.
• If you have completed more than one Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, please provide evidence for each. If your transcripts are in a language other than English, you must provide an official English translation. If your weighted average mark or GPA is not included on these documents, please also include an official document from your university verifying this information.
• An academic CV, summarising your employment history, publications and highlighting experience demonstrating your research potential.
• Supporting statement of a maximum of 700 words indicating why you would like to undertake this studentship and explaining how your focus, experience, and skills link to the research outlined above
• Example of a piece of academic writing produced by you of up to 5,000 words (you may consider submitting two shorter pieces if these deal separately with conceptual and empirical analyses). This may be an academic essay or chapter(s) from a dissertation, in which case, an abstract or introduction outlining the context/aims/research questions of the study must also be included. In Section 12, upload the Writing Sample under Research Statement/Proposal and label it clearly as “Writing Sample.”
• You must nominate two academic referees (including one from your most recent institution). Your referees will be contacted directly via the Referee Portal following the submission of your application form. You may wish to contact your referees to request they submit your reference in a reasonable timeframe as this forms part of the review process.
• Please submit a complete copy of the ESRC NWSSDTP Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.
• A PhD Proposal is not required.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please contact Dr Kelly Burgoyne (kelly.burgoyne@manchester.ac.uk).

Formal interviews: Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 17th March 2025.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and are at the heart of all of our activities. We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact.

We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status.