University of London
PhD Studentship: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods Node
Three-year PhD Studentship (Full-time) commencing October 2011
Title: Electronic Constructions of Parenting Identities and Practices
Joint supervisors: Prof. Ann Phoenix and Prof. Julia Brannen
Project details
We are seeking applicants for an ESRC National Centre for Research methods (NCRM) node 3 year PhD studentship to be based in the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education in central London (commencing October 2011). The broad research focus of the studentship will be in the area outlined below but the student will have the opportunity to contribute to the design of their study within this area. The applicant will benefit from joint supervision from both Professors Ann Phoenix and Julia Brannen. We are seeking applicants with a good 2:1 or 1st class undergraduate degree and a Masters in psychology, a social science or other relevant discipline. The Studentship includes the standard research council stipend and covers tuition fees. Applicants must meet ESRC eligibility criteria.
The proposed postgraduate project will be linked with a study of Parenting Identities and Practices which will conduct secondary narrative analysis of families’ habitual practices in two studies; one of adults looking back on ‘non-normative’ childhoods formed as part of transnational families and one of three generations of fathers in Irish, Polish and white UK families. These analyses will be linked with data from the Millennium Cohort study.
The postgraduate recruited will complement this work by collecting new data on how parenting identities and practices are created in CMCs. It will engage in virtual ethnography of sites such as MumsNet and conduct electronic interviews with parents in transnational families. It is anticipated that parents for this group will be recruited through advertising on the internet. The internet is increasingly being used as a mode of research interviewing. However, attention will be paid to both parenting practices and a comparison of how narratives collected via the internet compares with narratives collected face to face. One aim would be to produce written narratives on parenting practices and identities with 25 fathers and 25 mothers. The studentship will provide the successful applicant with an interdisciplinary training in qualitative analyses, particularly narrative analysis and in quantitative analysis at a level appropriate to the student’s experience.
Funding Details: Studentships will cover UK and EU tuition fees. UK students will be paid a stipend for a period of up to 3 years.
Eligibility: Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in any social science, psychology, communications or IT and a postgraduate research training Master’s degree recognised by the ESRC or demonstrate a level of training consistent with the requirements set out in the ESRC Postgraduate Training Guidelines.
Further Enquiries: Professor Ann Phoenix