PhD Research Project - Refugee Entrepreneurship: Belonging and Social Inclusion for Refugees in the

A fully funded studentship awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP) commencing in 2018/19 Academic Year.

 

Supervisory Team:

Dr Maria Villares-Varela (Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology - Lead Supervisor) (M.Villares-Varela@soton.ac.uk), Doctor Bindi Shah (Sociology,Social Policy & Criminology), Dr Heidi Armbruster (Modern Languages & Linguistics)

We invite applications from qualified and highly motivated students to work in the area of migration, refugee studies, work and employment, entrepreneurship and/or urban studies. This research project investigates entrepreneurship as a means of community belonging and socio-economic inclusion for refugees in the UK. Whilst scholars have looked at the ways in which entrepreneurship can facilitate economic integration, little has been said about alternative ways in which this type of labour market incorporation supports processes of social inclusion, belonging and community-making. This interdisciplinary research will also look into the non-economic effects of refugee entrepreneurship by studying how setting up a firm might be conducive of bottom up processes of belonging through the transformation of urban spaces.

 

Skills Required

Basic training in qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews and associated tools) and analysis (e.g. thematic and narrative analysis).

Interest in refugee/migration studies, labour studies and urban studies.

 

Funding

South Coast DTP Funding provides an annual maintenance grant (tax free) of £14553 (2017/18 RCUK rate), plus payment of all programme fees.  Other funding available for SCDTP funded students can be found on the SCDTP website (www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Funding is provided for 3 years full-time PhD study (pro-rata for part-time students).  Applications for 1+3 funding for students completing a Master's year prior to the commencement of PhD study are also welcome (details available at www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

 

Application Procedure

The closing date and time for applications is 11.59pm 31st January 2018.  The full application procedure, the funding application form, and more information on the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership can be found at: http://southcoastdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply/

For further information about this project, please contact the lead supervisor detailed above.  For questions relating to the application procedure, or for more information about the SCDTP, please visit the SCDTP website or contact us at scdtp@soton.ac.uk