OPPORTUNITY: Funded PhD in Housing and Dispute Resolution

Housing and Dispute Resolution: Social wellbeing and bottom up forms of community engagement

Birmingham School of the Built Environment (BSBE) 

Full fee waiver plus a stipend of £13,863!

Deadline: 24 October 2014

The housing crisis across much of Europe, and indeed other parts of the world, shows no sign of abating. The issue is particularly pressing in high-density urban settlements where the further problems of low income, immigration and lack of community engagement are often found. The solution is often deemed simply to be more housing, but this is often not achievable especially in the short term. There are further issues that are intimately linked to urban housing including anti-social behaviour and the creation of sustainable communities.  Rather then than focussing purely on material housing it is a question on focussing on tenant wellbeing through empowerment and engagement. 

This PhD will be based around an empirical study of the attitudes and perspectives of tenants in urban Birmingham. It will also seek to examine the views of key stakeholders such as housing associations, charities and legal experts. It aims to consider the question of housing from a social science perspective by considering the concept of ontological security and drawing on geographical theory in attempting to examine the sense of place.

The candidate:

Candidates should have a good first degree (2:1 or above) and ideally a Masters and experience of qualitative research would be helpful.  Candidates must be able to demonstrate good communication skills, both for undertaking the research and disseminating its results. We also expect him/her to contribute to BSBE’s overall strategy of exploring cutting edge practices and research informed teaching.

For further information and informal enquiries please contact Julian Sidoli del Ceno (Julian.sidolidelceno@bcu.ac.uk)