Skip to main content
What types of page to search?

Popular pages: Undergraduate Postgraduate PhD Accommodation Research International students

Alternatively use our A-Z index.

AHRC-funded ‘Crafting Care for a Healthy People, Place and Planet’ Doctoral Focal College

We are very excited to announce the launch of a new AHRC-funded ‘Crafting Care for a Healthy People, Place and Planet’ Doctoral Focal College, which will fund and train 30 PhD researchers between 2026 and 2029.

The ‘Crafting Care’ Doctoral Focal College is a consortium of three universities in the North West of England:

In early October 2025, a series of Project Areas will be announced here, and prospective PhD students will be invited to submit an Expression of Interest in becoming a part of our exciting college!

Expressions of Interest will be due by the 1st December 2025, after which a shortlisted number of promising candidates will be supported to work with prospective PhD supervisors to develop a full PhD proposal by the 1st April 2026. Nine of those candidates will be selected to become the first cohort of Crafting Care PhD students in October 2026.

A full AHRC Crafting Care Doctoral Focal College Studentship will include:

  • payment of tuition fees for the duration of the studentship - typically three and a half years - at the home tuition fee rate
  • an annual maintenance stipend (£20,780 in 2025/26 – 2026/27 rate TBC)
  • reimbursement of research expenses via the Research Training Support Grant
  • opportunities to apply for additional funding e.g. for placements and fieldwork

The Crafting Care Doctoral Focal College will be delivered in partnership with ten non-HEI Partners who represent a range of health, environment and arts/culture organisations:

  • Liverpool Philharmonic
  • National Museums Liverpool
  • DadaFest
  • Liverpool Biennial
  • The Mersey Forest
  • Canal and River Trust
  • Mersey Care
  • Wirral Public Health
  • Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
  • Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

A small number of prospective PhD researchers will be invited to work with one of these non-HEI partners throughout their doctoral project, with formal co-supervision from the partner throughout the programme. All PhD researchers recruited to the college will have the opportunity to work with one of more of these partners through a placement during the course of their programme or by working alongside them in training and networking events.

While the specific project areas will be identified in October, please note that all activity will be centred on four broad interdisciplinary themes, each coordinated by a theme co-lead with extensive relevant expertise:

  • Care-as-Craft: Understanding traditions of medical and indigenous care practices, and care for ecosystems (histories/philosophies of environmental protection, ethics, activism) central to human/more-than-human health.
  • Ecologies of Care: Using place-led approaches to explore the health-environment nexus, from impacts of ecosystem change on chronic/infectious disease, to effects of community groups on human/more-than-human health.
  • Creativity and Care: Exploring how artistic modes of attention shape behaviour and understanding, alongside interrogating phenomenological experiences of care and environments.
  • Curating the Future: Addressing socio-environmental inequalities by drawing on our world-leading (medical-history/science-fiction) collections, and co-curating artistic initiatives that re-examine the past to reimagine possible futures, widening access/contribution to health-environmental care.

The Crafting Care Doctoral Focal College will be an interdisciplinary and diverse initiative with Equity, Diversity and Inclusion integrated into all key areas of activity.

Building on the exemplary work of our partners, both HEI and non-HEI, the college will strive to actively break down barriers related to race, gender, age, socio-economic, and health-related status (e.g. ableism and neuro-normativity).

We prioritise expertise-by-experience, whether that is living with illness, encountering exclusion, or working as an established professional or practitioner. Our partners are united in their commitment to forging non-traditional pathways to PhD study, vitally enriching a research culture with care at its centre.

In alignment with the 2022-2025 AHRC action plan, we will:

  1. Increase access to doctoral studies for underrepresented groups and communities.
  2. Ensure recruitment across a broad spectrum of prospective PGRs irrespective of age, gender, race, socio-economic status, and disability.
  3. Promote positive and EDI-friendly working practices, including pluralistic and bespoke employability support for our PGRs in collaboration with non-HEI partners.
  4. Encourage diverse and supportive supervision and supervisory teams, that are equipped to prioritise PGRs’ mental health and wellbeing.

Contact Us

Please direct any queries about the ‘Crafting Care for a Healthy People, Place and Planet’ Doctoral Focal College to craftingcare@liverpool.ac.uk