| Qualification Type: | PhD |
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| Location: | Sheffield |
| Funding for: | UK Students, International Students |
| Funding amount: | £20,780 annual stipend at the UKRI rate plus full tuition fees. A Research and Training Support Grant will also be provided. |
| Hours: | Full Time |
| Placed On: | 13th February 2026 |
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The ESRC-WRDTP is pleased to offer a PhD studentship based at the University of Sheffield’s School of Economics. The student will work in close partnership with the UK’s energy regulator (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, Ofgem) and the UK’s national fuel poverty charity (National Energy Action, NEA). A 3-month Research in Practice placement will be provided at Ofgem’s Headquarters (London).
This WRDTP collaborative studentship will focus on affordability and debt in the UK energy sector. The research will draw on theoretical and econometric methods to investigate the welfare effects and distributional makeup of household energy-debt/arrears. The research could further explore whether/which households take up support to install “win-win” technologies, ensuring more affordable and sustainable energy consumption. It will use data sources such as Understanding Society and the Smart Energy Research Lab. Its findings will provide policymakers and practitioners with evidence to design policies optimally to address the dual challenge of energy-affordability and energy-debt/arrears.
The student will be supervised by Dr Andrew Burlinson, Dr Eleni Stathopoulou, Professor Karl Taylor (UoS), Dr Daire McCoy (Ofgem, LSE) and Matt Copeland (NEA). Interested candidates should contact Dr Burlinson (a.c.burlinson@sheffield.ac.uk).