Social Policy Student Profiles

Antell, Jessica

Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
Gender Health and Sustainability in Using Natural Resources A Case Study in Two National Parks in Wales
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Sara MacBride Stewart and Dr Yi Gong
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
External Sponsor:
National Parks Wales

There is evidence that natural environments are healthy environments. Additionally, there is evidence that there are gendered differences in the understanding and usage of public space. While interrogating this evidence, this research intends to bridge the gap between these two bodies of research.

The research project is heavily driven by the Well-being of Future Generations act (2015) as a framework for exploring how the key stakeholders of (including those who manage and those who use) the National Parks in Wales are delivering a ‘Healthier Wales’ along with how the National Parks are used as a resource for health.

This research project aims to explore

  1. the relationships between gender and use of the natural environment for health;
  2. how policy (including the Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015) and practice, is influencing gendered understandings, ownership and health-related activities.

In order to explore these aims a mixed methods approach will be adopted; including both visitor surveys and ethnographic interviews with stakeholders in the national parks (those that use, and those that manage the national parks). This will provide in-depth data in order to build a case study of both Brecon Beacons National Park and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Barrow, Emma Louise

Barrow, Emma Louise
Start date:
October 2022
Research Topic:
Street Sexual Harassment and Bystander Intervention
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Rachel Swann and Melissa Mendez
Supervising school:
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ; ; ; ; ;

This research aims to understand the benefits and shortcomings of bystander intervention techniques within the context of street sexual harassment. It will investigate the interplay between the online and offline worlds, and critically testing the ‘Elisian’ theory of the civilising process. In doing so, it will contribute theoretically to the literature, and methodologically, by using online methods to augment analyses of traditional methods.

The proposed study could potentially inform BI programmes and promote prosocial behaviour as a strategy of combatting sexual harassment in public spaces and virtual spaces, by reconceptualising street harassment as an abnormality, rather than an expected event (Garland, 1994). Bystander Intervention has the potential to inform policy regarding education and the promotion of prosocial behaviours in incidents of sexual harassment in public spaces (Fileborn, 2017).

By understanding the barriers faced by men preventing them from engaging in BI, we can start to tackle these issues and contribute to a community responsibility approach to street harassment prevention, rather than a personal one. This is in line with the Welsh Assembly Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWGDASV) national strategy for 2022- 2026; reducing the acceptability of street harassment will impact society as a whole and reduce the prevalence of VAWGDASV (WG, 2021).

I propose to use a qualitative, phenomenological research design using a mixed methods approach:
1. Ethnographic observations of street sexual harassment in public spaces.
2. Mix-gendered focus group interviews, facilitating photo elicitation techniques.
3. A content analysis of counter-hegemonic speech within digital spaces that facilitate discussions of VAWGDASV.
4. Individual walking interviews.

Indicative Research Questions:
1. Why do bystanders of street harassment intervene/not intervene?
2. How do they intervene/not intervene?
3. How can barriers that may be inhibiting prosocial behaviour towards street harassment incidents
be irradicated?
4. How can men contribute to a ‘whole society’ approach to tackling VAWGDASV?

Blake, Joanne

Start date:
October 2011
Research Topic:
The impact of rationalisation in the third sector on the experiences and values of its employees
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Prof R Fevre
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

My research will endeavour to understand the impact of organisational change on people working and volunteering in the third sector, as well as the implications such changes have for the role and the ethos of the sector in wider society.

Dal Gobbo, Alice

Alice Dal Gobbo
Start date:
October 2013
Research Topic:
Environmental Sustainability
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Karen Henwood, Bella Dicks
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

The aim of my research is (a) to explore the way in which neoliberal policies and initiatives in the field of environmental sustainability ideologically maintain the status quo. These policies will be problematised through the use of ideas ranging from Social to Psychoanalytic Theory as well as Social Policy. (b) I will also attempt to investigate what social and political alternatives (if any) are opened up by the environmental crisis.

Davies, Philippa

Philippa Davies
Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
A critical exploration of the promotion of gender equality in sport in postdevolution Wales
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor Paul Chaney Professor Daniel Wincott and Professor Howard Davis
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

Sport has been a core activity and representation of cultural power and prestige in most human societies for millennia, however, participation in sport re-enforces traditional and often negative, culturally created gender-based roles. Sport is a forum of cultural and prestige in modern day Wales. My research seeks to explore how social policy has promoted gender equality in sport since devolution in Wales. I am interested in the relationships and impact of different actors in the policy making process with a focus on the third sector.

Dearing, Kim

Start date:
October 2017
Research Topic:
The impact of paid employment for people with learning disabilities
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor Ralph Fevre and Dr Gareth Thomas
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC
Research keywords:
; ; ; ;

Using qualitative research methods, this research will explore how people with learning disabilities feel about paid work and how employment can impact upon their lives. The UK employment rate for working aged adults who have a learning disability and are in receipt of social care is at 5.2% (Hatton, 2017). To tackle low participation rates, policy (Valuing Employment Now 2009) emphasised and encouraged the use of Supported Employment programmes, yet funding for such services has declined significantly over the last 5 years and impacted negatively on employment rates (Humber 2014). At the same time, evidence also shows that a mainstream approach to accessing employment support and supported employment (such as job centres) are not addressing the needs of the ‘customer’ appropriately for people who often have complex barriers to securing open employment (Goodley and Runswick-Cole 2015).

In response, a ground up approach to increase the presence of people with learning disabilities within the paid labour workforce has emerged. Smaller organisations are beginning to utilise their position in the community to facilitate their own employment programmes (Lin et al. 2012).

This project aims to understand the impact of paid employment for people with learning disabilities by tracking the journey that participants make when they begin to engage with paid work opportunities. It will have a key focus on how people’s citizenship status may evolve from a passive role to active citizenship and the impact this can have on their identity individually as well as their perceived identity to others (such as service providers, employers, colleagues, family, friends, the local community and commissioners). The overarching research objective is to understand multiple perspectives on a common story with the narratives filling the gaps between the reality of the lived experience and theoretical concepts (Young 2010).

Dunne, Thomas

Dunne, Thomas
Start date:
October 2019
Research Topic:
An investigation into the effects of music service funding reforms on children from low-income families in Wales
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Mark Connolly
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ; ;

Historically, the majority of music services in Wales relied on Local Authority funding to provide subsidised musical instrument tuition in schools. However, following a ÂŁ1.2 billion Welsh Block Grant reduction in 2010, Local Authority reforms have resulted in a substantial reduction to music service funding provision. Subsequently, costs have increasingly being placed on parents, with tuition fees being widely introduced since 2011. High deprivation levels across Wales means that many families are unable to afford such tuition fees, with children subsequently unable to experience the widely acknowledged educational benefits of instrumental tuition. Furthermore, Welsh Government reports have noted that action is required to ensure that learning musical instruments does not become solely available to those of a social class who can afford to pay for lessons, and that Welsh culture does not suffer as a result.

As empirical research into the effects of these funding reforms is sparse, my project will aim to:

  • Investigate the extent of the changes in the music service funding structure across Wales;
  • Gauge the degree to which children from socioeconomically deprived families are currently able (or unable) to access music service tuition;
  • Explore policy initiatives that could be implemented to ensure equitable access to music education for all socio-demographic groups.
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasdunne94/

Evans, Sian

Start date:
October 2015
Research Topic:
The relationship of social network structure with social participation in midlife.
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Prof. Ian Rees Jones and Dr Sin Yi Cheung
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

The central goal of my research is to identify the interrelationships between social participation and social networks in mid- to later life.  Specifically I aims to assess the external factors that influence these relationships, including class, ethnicity, place, and sense of belonging.  I will use a mixed methods approach by quantitatively analysing longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and qualitatively analysing data from the Social Participation and Identity Project; a sub-sample qualitative study of NCDS participants.  Currently, my research questions are as follows:

  • How is social participation defined?
  • How are social networks structured?

In what ways are the structure of social networks related to patterns of social participation, and what external factors influence these relationships?

Furness, Ella

Ella Furness
Start date:
October 2013
Research Topic:
A study of integrated socio-ecological restoration initiatives at community level in Great Britain
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Karen Henwood & Susan Baker
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences, ; Sustainable Places Research Institute,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

I completed a degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at Sussex University, (1998) then trained and worked as a community worker and managed a social enterprise (community wood recycling) project in Bristol (2000-2010). After which I completed a two year research based MSc at the University of British Columbia (Climate Change: Assessing the Adaptive Capacity of Community Forests, 2012).

At Cardiff I am funded by the ESRC 1+3 scheme and the Scottish Forestry Trust. This has enabled me to do an MSc in Social Science Research Methods at Cardiff University and I am now working on my doctorate.

My research is about community participation in ecological restoration. We have seen that restoration is more successful if it engages local people and is embedded in local history, society and culture, and there is substantial evidence that participation in activities like restoration can improve human wellbeing. However, in addition to these well supported areas of knowledge, there is a premise that participation in ecological restoration can create long term, durable relationships between people and ecosystems; which once established, can provide an underpinning to a change in the way humans relate to nature: from a way based on the consumption of nature to one based on reciprocity. Thus, restoration is thought to have the potential to contribute towards sustainability. Within the literature these ideas are influential; but evidence to suggest that those engaged in restoration have a different relationship with nature or ‘the land’, or that communities involved in or hosting restoration are more sustainable is sparse. My research aims to look at the impacts of participation in restoration to see what role, if any, it could play in building sustainable communities.

Wider research interests

I have trained in aspects of both natural and social sciences, and drawn to interdisciplinary working, particularly in multidisciplinary teams where perspectives are shared and built upon.  I think that in land management, climate change adaptation and conservation (to name a few areas) this way of working is essential: both to society and the environment.  I blog on the Sustainable Places Research Institute website.

Publications

Furness, E. and Nelson, H. 2015. Are human values and community participation key to climate adaptation? The case of community forest organisations in British Columbia. Climatic Change, pp. 1-17.

Furness, E., Harshaw, H. and Nelson, H. 2015. Community forestry in British Columbia: Policy progression and public participation. Forest Policy and Economics 58, pp. 85-91.

Furness, E., and Nelson, H. (2012) Community forest organizations and adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The Forestry Chronicle. 88:5

Furness, E.  (2012) Adapting to Climate Change: Are British Columbia’s Community Forests Meeting the Challenge? British Columbia Community Forest Association, Extension Note 6.

Furness, E.  (2012) The Adaptive Capacity of Community Forests to Climate Change. Report commissioned by Natural Resources Canada for the Canadian Forest Service.

Mulkey, S., Day, J. K., Rau, M., Koot, C.E., Furness, E., (2013) The Community Forestry Guidebook II: Leadership Governance and Forest Management. FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources

Conference presentations

Furness, E.  Royal Geographic Society-IBG: International Conference 2015 Ecological restoration in the Anthropocene: What is the place of human values in restoring environments? Exeter, UK.

Furness, E. Society for Ecological Restoration International: Conference 2015 Human values and restoration, Manchester, UK.

Furness, E.  Community Forests and Adaptation to Climate Change in British Columbia, Canada New Challenges in Community Forestry Sharing Scientific Knowledge in a South- North perspective 2013 Conference. Remscheid, Germany

Furness, E.  Community Forests and their Adaptation to Climate Change. British Columbia Community Forest Association, 2012 Conference and AGM. Kaslo, BC.

Furness, E., Community Forests and Adaptation to Climate Change: A proposal. British Columbia Community Forest Association, 2011 Conference and AGM. 100 Mile House, BC

Academia.edu:
https://cardiff.academia.edu/EFurness
ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ella_Furness

Hibbs, Leah

Leah Hibbs
Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
The Impact of Gender on the Substantive Representation of Women in Local Government in Wales
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor Paul Chaney and Dr Dawn Mannay
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

Local government is often asserted as being more accessible to women than national politics, however, a House of Commons report has found that women still constitute only 32% of local authority councillors in England, and only 26% in Wales. As local councils, according to the Fawcett Society, benefit from ¼ of the UK’s entire public spending budget, a figure approximated to be around £100bn, and following the recent favouring of further decentralisation giving local governments more power, it is extremely worrying that women are still underrepresented at this level of governance and representation.

Influenced by ideas surrounding gender performativity (‘doing gender’ – West and Zimmerman) and the literature of feminist institutionalism, including debates between critical actor theory and critical mass theory, I will be exploring ways in which the nature of local government settings fetters or facilitates the full substantive representation of women. My research aims to use in-depth qualitative methods which, in my opinion, have been previously under-utilised in this field, to further understand the relationship between gender and the experiences of elected councillors, uncovering how gender inequalities are reproduced in council meetings, and the setting as a whole.

Website:
http://asociologistsparadise.blogspot.co.uk/

Howell, Matthew

Matthew Howell
Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
Exploring the Impact of Crime on Young Homeless People
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Robin Smith
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

When young people become homeless, they are often placed in temporary accommodation where they reside until they can live independently. During this time, they can sometimes become a victim of crime or become involved in negative behaviours such as criminality and drug use.

This research will explore how crime impacts the lives of young people when they become homeless and are placed in temporary accommodation in Wales. The research shall be done through examining the development of sub-cultures within temporary accommodation in south Wales.

Through gaining a better understanding about how crime impacts the lives of young people living in temporary accommodation, we can provide safer and more nurturing environments that increases young people’s life chances, enabling them to pursue positive pathways into independent living.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-e-howell-a2a4a154?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

Isisal, Gulsun

Gulsun Isisal
Start date:
October 2014
Research Topic:
Evaluation of Welfare Regime Types of Cyprus and Turkey’
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Rod Hick, Prof Susan Baker
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

The aim of the thesis research is describing, evaluating and analysing different cultural, historical, geopolitical and traditional contexts of Cyprus and Turkey which cause different type of welfare regimes.

Lar, Luret

Lar, Luret
Start date:
September 2022
Research Topic:
Violence against migrant women and girls with no recourse to public funds
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Prof Sin Yi Cheung, Prof Amanda Robinson
Supervising school:
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
External Sponsor:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ;

I will explore the experiences of migrant women and girls in Wales regarding violence, which
could range from domestic abuse to sexual violence. In collaboration with BAWSO and Wales
Strategic Migration Partnership, this study aims to map strategies that will co create a gender
sensitive and comprehensive plan of support services.
Mixed methods will be used to document these experiences.
Key questions to be addressed by the research include:

1. What are the experiences of domestic abuse and sexual violence among migrant women
and girls in Wales?
2. To what extent does violence against migrant women and girls vary with age, ethnicity,
sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status in Wales?
3. What solutions can tackle these experiences? What recommendations do at risk or
affected women and girls have?

Academia.edu:
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/
ResearchGate:
Luret
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/luret-shown-34785116/

Long, Fiona

Start date:
October 2019
Research Topic:
Barriers to exiting homelessness
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Jennifer Hoolachan and Dr Robin Smith
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

This ethnographic study aims to understand why some people are unable to exit homelessness once they enter temporary forms of accommodation despite having access to support. The existing literature on exiting homelessness is sparse and has the tendency to examine macro-level barriers (e.g. poverty) and micro-level barriers (e.g. poor mental health) in isolation (Somerville, 2013). In search of a more holistic understanding of these barriers, this study will uniquely focus on the interaction order of the hostel (Goffman, 1983); shifting attention from structure and agency to the hostel setting itself and the interactions which take place within. By focusing on interactions in situ, this study will be able to pick up on barriers which are mundane, bureaucratic, relational, spatial, temporal, and often imperceptible to other studies.

A participant observation will initially take place within a large, male-only homelessness hostel and will be used to explore: the everyday experiences of its vulnerably accommodated residents; the daily challenges faced by these individuals; and how barriers to exiting homelessness are constructed, maintained, perceived, and negotiated. The use of additional research methods will develop naturally over time and will be guided by my findings.

Lowthian, Emily

Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
Secondary Effects of Alcohol on Young Peoples wellbeing
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Graham and Simon Moore
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

PhD student at Cardiff University; within DECIPHer. Currently undertaking a Social Research Methods Masters (MSc) programme (+1 phase) at Cardiff’s School of Social Sciences. My research interests are parental behaviours, and how these interact with young peoples’ health and well-being; by the use of quantitative/statistical methods.

Marston, Kate

Kate Marston
Start date:
October 2015
Research Topic:
Exploring the relationship between UK young people’s digital cultures and sexual and gender subjectivities
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Emma Renold, Dawn Mannay
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

The aim of my research is to explore the negotiation of gender and sexual subjectivities in young people’s digitally mediated peer cultures.

Young people’s ‘digital mediated peer cultures’ are understood in this context to be the ways in which digital technologies, including the internet, mobile communication technologies and social media, are shaping the lives of young people and their relationships. ‘Sexual/gender subjectivities’ refers to young people’s understanding of themselves as sexual and gendered beings.

I will employ creative and participatory methodologies in order to map young people’s digitally mediated peer cultures in new and potentially rich ways. Key aims of the project are to:

  1. Understand digitally mediated peer cultures from young people’s own perspectives and experiences in the context of their everyday lives
  2. Enable young people to identify what kinds of knowledge and support they need (if any) in negotiating digitally mediated peer cultures
  3. Explore young people’s digitally-mediated performances of sexual/gendered subjectivities?
  4. Critically examine the processes, challenges and opportunities of creative and participatory research with young people

My research draws on the conceptual tools offered by posthumanist, new materialist and feminist theory including Deleuze and Guattari, Braidotti and Karen Barad.

McAlister-wilson, Samantha

McAlister-wilson, Samantha
Start date:
October 2018
Research Topic:
Class, education and discrimination
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor David James and Dr Dawn Mannay
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC
Research keywords:
; ; ;

My research, provisionally titled “Degrees of discrimination: An analysis of social mobility stagnation and ‘class gaps’ for Higher Education students and graduates”, will be located within the fields of social stratification (social mobility), discrimination, and identity.

Education is routinely heralded as a vehicle for social mobility, however at four key stages ‘class gaps’ emerge between low socio-economic status (SES) students and those more advantaged: an ‘access gap’, an ‘attainment gap’, an ‘employment gap’ and a ‘pay gap’.

My project has two central questions:

  1. Why is social mobility not being realised by low SES students/graduates and what role does bias and discrimination play in explaining ‘class gaps’?
  2. How might the skills, cultural capital and lived experiences of low SES students/graduates be repositioned to bring about a stronger sense of belonging and value of working class identities?

Midgley, Luke

Luke Midgley
Start date:
October 2015
Research Topic:
To design and implement a school-based intervention to reduce alcohol, tobacco and drug use
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Prof. Simon Murphy and Dr James White
Supervising school:
DECIPHer,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

Children and young people face a plethora of challenges during their natural developmental stages, with exposure to substance misuse being one such difficulty. Those who misuse substance could cause considerable harm to themselves and others in society. Substance misuse education plays a fundamental role in providing accurate and appropriate information and guidance to young people in order to prevent and reduce the risk of substance misuse. Over the past few years there has been a growing recognition in the UK in the role of schools in health promotion and their ability to provide accurate health-related information to a large population and in a timely and economically efficient way (Moon et al., 1999; Townsend and Foster, 2011). Historically, school-based drug prevention has focused primarily on abstinence and delivered by teachers or law enforcement officers and generally during standard curriculum settings. Such interventions have had limited effectiveness, particularly regarding behaviour change. Informal peer-led school-based interventions in preventing the uptake of smoking has been found to be effective (Campbell et al., 2008), however such a method for other illicit drug use has been inconclusive.

The aim of my research is to explore the perceptions of key stakeholders (policy makers, public health wales, teachers, students and parents) around a peer led combined alcohol, tobacco and drugs intervention based on harm minimisation. The research will explore the national government guidelines around substance misuse and observe the policy implementation or failure along the socio-ecological model to the organisational level. My research hopes to identify any failures along the socio-ecological model that can be corrected and incorporated into a peer-led and whole school approach to reducing substance misuse in school-aged children.

Parker, Sam

Sam Parker
Start date:
October 2014
Research Topic:
Discursive constructions of integration for refugees and asylum seekers in Wales: Implications for practice and policy
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Nick Johns, Dr Steven Stanley
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

My research aims to explore the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees who currently live in Wales and the extent to which current policies impact upon their ability to integrate. Wales has been a dispersal area for asylum seekers since 1999, with the majority being housed in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. There is, however, a lack of research focusing on the experience of asylum seekers and refugees in Wales.

The broad aims of this research are to examine how refugees and asylum seekers construct accounts of their integration into Welsh communities. The questions raised are:

  • What is the nature of integration as it is constructed and negotiated in the talk of refugees and asylum seekers in Wales?
  • To what extent do these constructions have implications for refugee and asylum seeker integration policies?

Selected Recent Publications

Parker, S. (2015) ‘’Unwanted invaders’: The Representation of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK and Australian print media’, eSharp Issue 23 (Spring 2015): Myth and Nation. Accessible at http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/esharp/issues/23spring2015-mythandnation/

Parker, S. (2016) Putting integration back on the agenda: Working across disciplines, The Psychologist (Online), Available at https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/migration-crisis-psychological-perspectives

Parker, S. (2017) Falling behind: The declining rights of asylum seekers in the UK and its impact on their day-to-day lives, eSharp Issue 25 Rise and Fall (Spring 2017), pp. 83-95. Available at http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_529634_en.pdf

Nightingale, A., Goodman, S. and Parker, S. (2017) Beyond Borders: Psychological perspectives on the current refugee crisis in Europe. The Psychologist June 2017, pp. 58-62. Available at https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-30/june-2017/beyond-borders

Parker, S. (2018). “It’s ok if it’s hidden”: The discursive construction of everyday racism for refugees and asylum seekers in Wales. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2344

Academia.edu:
http://cardiff.academia.edu/SamParker

Sanders, Amy

Amy Sanders
Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
Exploring the Impact of Devolution on State and Third Sector Relations in Wales
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Paul Chaney Daniel Wincott and
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

I intend to look at the impact on state-third sector relations of the requirements in the Government of Wales Act 2006 to have a Voluntary Sector Scheme. The legislation states that Welsh Ministers must specify in the Voluntary Sector Scheme (now known as the Third Sector Scheme) how they will provide & monitor assistance to voluntary organisations AND consult voluntary organisation on matters affecting/concerning them. I am interested in the nature of the assistance provided to the third sector and the mechanisms for engagement of the third sector.

Saunders, Richard

Saunders, Richard
Start date:
September 2020
Research Topic:
Climate Change Attitudes and Actions in Developed Economies
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Marco Pomati
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ; ; ; ;

A cross-national analysis of climate change attitudes and actions in developed economies

Key Questions:

  • How do public concerns and actions taken over climate change vary across countries with significant environmental differences?
  • How do these concerns and actions vary according to gender, age, education and other socio-demographic variables within different countries?
  • Do people view climate change as a problem primarily from a position of material security or does concern for the environment stem from more post-materialist considerations?

I will conduct secondary data analysis, making use of cross-national surveys such as the World Values Survey (WVS), European Social Survey (ESS), and International Social Survey Programme(ISSP). The ESS and ISSP are on the list of ESRC data sets.

I will use multi-level modelling to discover statistical associations between attitudes to climate change and both individual level predictors (such as age, gender, education, political views, post-materialist values, etc.) as well as country-level ones (including GDP, Human Development Index (HDI), etc.). . (Davidov et al. 2014).

Wilkinson, Jake

Wilkinson, Jake
Start date:
October 2018
Research Topic:
Communitarian rights to housing in Cuba: reframing homelessness prevention
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Shailen Nandy, Dr Peter Mackie
Supervising school:
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ; ; ;

Although formal statistics on homelessness in Cuba are limited, anecdotal reports suggest that it is almost non-existent (Anderson, 2009; Shanley & Boyle, 1992). This is despite the country being relatively poor compared to the UK (United Nations, 2017), where homelessness is on the rise (UK Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2018). In contrast to the individualistic culture of the UK (European Commission, 2017), Cuba has been described as following a communitarian value system (Miller, 2009), where more emphasis is placed on the connection between the individual and the community. The present study hypothesises that this communitarian ethos may contribute to the low rates of homelessness reported in Cuba through several avenues, including viewing housing as a right rather than a commodity (Hamberg, 2012), community participation in housing projects (Anderson, 2002), and increased family solidarity (Anderson, 2009). This study would aim to provide people with more reliable statistics on homelessness in Cuba, report on government policy and public opinions, and evaluate the extent to which communitarian values shape attitudes, policies, and outcomes for homeless people. This would be done with the hope of exploring novel strategies to prevent homelessness in the UK.

Williams, Kathryn

Williams, Kathryn
Start date:
October 2022
Research Topic:
The role of communication in access to healthcare for autistic adults
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Dr Katy Greenland - Social Sciences and Dr Dikaios Sakellariou - Healthcare Sciences
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Autistic people often have poor health outcomes, with a vastly lower life expectancy than non-autistic people. Autistic adults’ healthcare access is a current UK research priority, and a growing body of literature examines the barriers autistic adults face in accessing healthcare. This research has been instrumental in understanding the disabling sensory environments of healthcare settings, mutual misunderstandings between healthcare providers and their autistic patients, and difficulties in booking healthcare appointments e.g., by telephone. However, this can lead to the problematisation of ‘autistic traits’ or individual healthcare providers, rather than considering how healthcare and societal structures are designed around neuronormativity.

My project will focus on three areas of healthcare that are likely to be highly utilised by autistic patients – mental health, neurology, and rheumatology – to meet the following objectives:
• Explore autistic adults’ perspectives of communication regarding their healthcare needs, including communication within healthcare appointments, and communication surrounding their healthcare appointments such as interactions with reception staff and written communication including appointment summary letters.
• Explore HCPs’ perspectives of communicating with autistic patients.
• Examine the interactions between autistic patients and their HCPs during healthcare appointments.
• Analyse textual communication that might be provided to autistic patients such as clinical appointment letters, condition-focused information leaflets.

Application of the social and relational models of disability are required to critically examine the relationships between autistic patients and healthcare providers who, by training, are often using medicalised, deficit-focused paradigms. Furthermore, not being believed is a recurring issue for autistic patients, implicating the role of epistemic injustice, which I will use as a theoretical lens throughout the project.

Using a critical autism studies approach, I will be using a qualitative approach to my research design, incorporating observational methods within autistic adults’ healthcare appointments to explore the interactions between them and their healthcare providers, and how ableist structures might be made visible within them.

This research must be intersectional in design; therefore, consideration of the accessibility and inclusivity of the project will be made to ensure I encompass the compounding inequalities faced by autistic people from minoritized ethnicities and genders, and for those who also have a learning disability and/or do not communicate using speech. This project supports the use of various modes of communication, including augmentative alternative communication.

Academia.edu:
https://cardiff.academia.edu/KWilliams

Williams, Shan Elin

Williams, Shan Elin
Start date:
October 2020
Research Topic:
Learning for professional judgement: practitioner and policy conceptions
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor David James and Dr Alexandra Morgan
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship
Research keywords:
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Academic contribution of the research: To inform debates about enhancing the long-term professional development of early career teachers (ECTs), from induction to career year five.

Overarching aim: To examine policy conceptions of learning for professional judgement and compare these with conceptions amongst pre-service and early career teachers whilst considering the implications for stakeholders.

Rationale for the study: High rates of attrition during the first years of teaching have led to a significant shortage of teachers in Wales; as a result, strategies to strengthen the professional learning of ECTs are a key feature of Wales’ new national workforce plan. Early career support will be consistent with the drivers of the National Approach to Professional Learning, a new professional development model, that aims to ensure the teaching workforce have the required knowledge and skills to build the implementation of the new curriculum.

The literature indicates that top-down pressure to reform will not yield the outcomes desired, and that professional judgement is required to help cope with increasing change, which is of particular importance to ECTs when professional identity is less stable. Scrutinising policy documents will provide a unique opportunity to understand, at this juncture, what might limit or help ECTs to exercise their own judgements.

The qualitative study will compare the participants’ conceptions of learning that supports their own professional judgement with the model of professional learning in policy structures and discourse. This study will also include pre-service teachers which could provide fresh insights into, if and why, ECTs experience a start to the profession that is too abrupt.

Wolton, Joanna L

Joanna L Wolton
Start date:
October 2016
Research Topic:
The Role of Care and Repair Cymru Caseworkers in Facilitating Independent Living for Older People
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Associate Professor Sarah Hillcoat-Nalletamby
Supervising school:
Centre for Innovative Ageing,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

According to the 2011 census, approximately 18 per cent of the population in Wales are aged 65 years and over. This equates to approximately 563, 000 individuals in total, and of this number there are 25,000 Welsh residents who are aged 90 years and over in 2011(ONS, 2012).

Independent living for older people is currently high on the political agenda of the Welsh Government but, given the increase in the number of older people along with the compression of morbidity; achieving independent living for all older people becomes more challenging (AgeUK, 2010; pp. 66-71; ResearchService, 2011; Sixsmith et al., 2014)

Care & Repair Cymru are an organisation who are funded in part by the Welsh Government. Their aim is to ‘ensure that all older people are safe, secure and in homes that are appropriate to their needs’ (Care&RepairCymru, 2015), and despite the societal changes are still able to meet the demand placed upon them.

I have conducted primary research as part of a research project that examines the Care & Repair Caseworker role. Using an exploratory mixed methods approach I will attempt visualise how caseworkers are connecting to make best use of their social and human capital in an attempt to overcome factors like funding restrictions, increased competition, and increasing numbers of older people. I aim to use social network analysis, statistical modelling, and thematic analysis of qualitative data to explore the caseworkers, what they do, how they network and the context in which they are operating.
In addition to focusing on the caseworkers, I will also explore some of the perceived social outcomes that have resulted from the caseworkers intervention from the perspectives of older people themselves.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannawolton/

Social policy makes important contributions to contemporary debate and understanding by applying scientific knowledge, rigorous analysis and critical reflection to a broad range of issues of social concern. Doctoral students on this pathway benefit from a distinctive combination of leading edge theoretical work, empirical study, policy context, and methodological innovation and expertise. At Cardiff University we have significant research expertise in a range of substantive fields including: civil society and governance; work, poverty and inequality; labour markets; sustainability and the environment.

The School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University has a vibrant research culture, and research students are a vital part of it. The School has a strong track record of international, peer-reviewed publication; it hosts several major disciplinary and methods-focused social science journals. Social policy students attend the Policy, Poverty and Living Standards research group meetings, which provide an important space for social policy staff and students to meet and discuss shared interests and work- in-progress. Students on the social policy pathway also routinely engage with staff and students from other disciplines and engage with the wide range of research centres, research groups and other forums hosted by the School. The School supports and organises a series of doctoral cohort events including an annual PGR dinner (a social event and celebration of doctoral accomplishment); an annual doctoral student conference (including paper sessions and poster competition); the student-run Postgraduate CafĂŠ, and various reading groups which meet once a month to discuss a range of topics related to social research, politics and culture.

Students on the ‘1+3’ route complete the specialist module Citizenship and Social Policy as part of the Social Science Research Methods programme, whilst developing a breadth of knowledge, understanding and skills on this inter-disciplinary Masters. Subject-specific training and student development continues throughout the doctorate with a wide range of reading and discussion groups, roundtable sessions, seminar series, and data analysis workshops.