We aim to widen participation to higher education from low participation groups by showcasing university as a real opportunity for everyone.

Our fellows support us by developing and delivering presentations and workshops promoting HE study to pupils in high priority Widening Participation schools and colleges.

Over the past year we’ve evolved our output to support schools and colleges unable to attend campus or receive visitors and have built up a bank of online resources that covers a wide range of disciplines.

We are looking for PhD students in the following disciplines to join our existing team of WP Fellows:

• Engineering
• Medicine
• Psychology

Applicants will be flexible and creative with a willingness to create academic enrichment resources that can be provided virtually as well as face-to-face in a classroom.

Positions are open to non-final year PhD students in the relevant discipline areas and intercalating medics.

Roles and Responsibilities

WP Fellows are expected to contribute in various ways to the development and delivery of a wide range of events and resources for young people, their parents, carers and teachers including:

• Subject taster workshops and lectures;
• Academic Study Skills e.g. essay writing, research skills;
• Student Life activities, teaching and learning at university;
• School and college careers events;
• Delivering “Why Study” talks in Schools/Colleges
• Developing resources and delivering online sessions.

Posts Available 2020/21 Academic Year:

Roles are available in the following subject areas:

• Engineering
• Medicine
• Psychology

WP Fellows are managed by the Academic Enrichment Officers for their Faculty (listed below):

• Faculty of Science and Engineering (elk@manchester.ac.uk)
• Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (sophie.flieshman@manchester.ac.uk)

Applications

The online application form is here.

Before applying please ensure you have read the further information about the role and the application process here: Widening Participation Fellow 2021 Further Information (pdf)

Interviews will be conducted online via zoom.

Application deadline:

Applicants will need to submit a completed online application form and a video of them delivering a two minute elevator pitch for secondary school pupils by midnight Sunday 24 October.

FAQs

• What is Widening Participation?  Gain a deeper understanding of what we mean by Widening Participation (WP) by visiting https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/social-responsibility/widening-participation/, where you’ll find our WP annual report and our Access and Participation Plan.

• Will I need to be a technology whizz to support virtual delivery of session No. Many of the tools we are using to deliver virtual content are tools you will have already used during the campus lockdown to communicate with your supervisors, students and peers. We also have guides to support with using these tools.

• What is the time commitment for these roles? We’ll typically be offering successful applicants the opportunity to complete between 15 and 50 hours over the 2021/22 academic year, dependant on upon requests made by schools and colleges. Work is allocated to fellows based upon their availability logged via email request and doodle-polls.

• Is training provided for this role? Yes, we will providing access to training on development and delivery of resources and activities, facilitation techniques, and producing virtual content.

• Do I need a reference? If you are successfully appointed after interview, we will need confirmation from your PhD supervisor that they are happy for you take on this position.

• Do I need to have a valid DBS check? A DBS check allows us to find out if there are any criminal reasons you should not be allowed to work with young people. If successfully appointed, we will ask you to go through a DBS check. International appointees will also be asked for a reference or certificate of good conduct from their home country. Existing DBS checks you may have already undertaken through the University of Manchester may be valid and your AEO will discuss this at the time of appointment to the role.