Applications are invited for one of three PhD studentships to commence in October 2015. The studentship is funded by the University of Glasgow and will be based within the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC). It offers an excellent opportunity for outstanding candidates to join a world-leading interdisciplinary research group. 

The overall aim of this PhD is to exploit the opportunities created by access to linked administrative datasets in order to shed light to investigate the links between schools and the housing market in West Central Scotland. Methodologically, the PhD will be aiming to use cutting-edge techniques in data linkage and analysis. Particular attention will be paid to causal inference. Specific questions could assess the extent to which neighbourhood choice within urban housing markets is influenced by schools in terms of households seeking neighbourhoods with ‘good schools’ or avoiding neighbourhoods with ‘poor schools’; making estimates of the price premium paid for ‘good schools’, depicting the geography of school-related housing and neighbourhood choice behaviour in West Central Scotland, identifying the household profiles of those making active school related housing market decisions, estimating the impacts on student composition on schools of school-related housing choice behaviour, and drawing out the implications for public policy on school catchment areas, planning for housing, and urban regeneration. 

A demonstrable interest in and aptitude for quantitative methods is a pre-requisite for the studentship. 

For more information go to http://www.findaphd.com/search/projectDetails.aspx?PJID=61183