Current and completed PhD students with an interest in research on families and relationships
Amelia Alias
Children’s understanding of online data privacy: a study on Scottish Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils
Description
This study aimed to explore how children perceive online privacy. It addressed three research questions: RQ 1: What are children’s views of online privacy? RQ 2: What are parents’ views of online privacy? Do their views on privacy influence how they deal with their children’s privacy? RQ 3: What are the benefits and disadvantages of different Internet parental mediation strategies for children’s online privacy?
Amy Andrada
University of Edinburgh
Stigma and Middle Class Mothers
Description
Amy is researching the dynamics and developments of identity among mothers, in context of in-group and out-group relations. Her research aims to explore the ways in which identity is shaped by parental, gender, and relationships statuses.
Jane Andrew
University of Edinburgh
The Meanings and Experiences of Befriending for People who have Memory Loss or Dementia
Description
This project aims to explore the meaning and experiences of befriending relationships for people with memory loss or dementia in the context of a person’s everyday life, personal community, and associated life history.
Thalia Thereza Assan
University of Edinburgh
Activist Friendships: Exploring Intersections of the Political and the Personal in Adolescent Girls’ Political Participation
Description
My PhD research examines the intersections between girls’ friendships and their political participation. By employing ethnography, creative methods and interviews, I will explore the friendship ties created and practised by activist adolescent girls and analyse how the meanings ascribed to these social bonds help shape girls’ political perceptions and actions.
Katherine Baxter
University of Edinburgh
Living the neoliberal global schooling project: an ethnography of childhood and everyday choices in Nepal
Description
This research draws upon interdisciplinary studies of childhood and young people’s agency to present an ethnographic account of one group of young people in Nepal’s lived experience of ‘the global schooling project’, a term used to describe the series of policy initiatives and the complex landscape of actors and institutions furthering the aim of getting every child, everywhere into school.
Tanya Beetham
University of Stirling
Community-based young adult accounts of domestic abuse in childhood: an inter-sectional narrative analysis
Description
Tanya’s research explores young women’s narrations of domestic violence and abuse in childhood when no domestic abuse services were involved. She uses an intersectional narrative analysis to adopt a critical, reflexive analytical approach which accounts for complexity and multiple subjectivities. She aims to extend the domestic abuse research to include the experiences of young adults who did not receive specialist support.
University of Edinburgh
Exploring the meanings and value given to research co-production
Description
Funded by the Binks Hub PhD Studentship, Helen Berry is taking forward a research-on-research piece exploring research co-production, a collaborative-relational research practice for creating knowledge in partnership with communities. Her work explores multiple perspectives on the meanings and value of co-producing research. management, assessment, and treatment planning.
Sarah Brown
University of Edinburgh
Course of cognition in mentally ill offenders and the implications for risk of violence: a 10-12-year follow-up study
Description
Our results highlight the unstable nature of cognition in mentally ill offenders and the impact that head injury has on violence-related outcomes, over and above substance misuse and a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This has potentially renovating implications for clinical practice regarding risk management, assessment, and treatment planning.
Sophie Buijsen
University of Edinburgh
Knowledge practices of girls aged 14-17 in Scotland and the Netherlands on the subject of sex and sexuality
Description
Sophie’s project looks at the knowledge practices of girls aged 14-17 in Scotland and the Netherlands on the subject of sex and sexuality. I am interested in how adolescent girls form their knowledge on sex. Sex is a subject you learn about in many different contexts (school, friends, family, the internet, etc) and my interest is in how all of these many different contexts come together.
George Burrows
University of Glasgow
Trans and non-binary experiences of sex
Description
This study aims to increase our understanding of transgender (or trans, including non-binary) people’s sexual experiences, including good experiences and difficulties around sex, as well as the relevance of some existing terms and definitions related to the topic. It builds on issues of the body, sex and relationship, which arose during a previous “emotional safety” study. Read George’s current biography, and find out the latest details of the study by emailing g.burrows.1@research.gla.ac.uk, on the project webpage, or via Twitter @TransRels.
Chiara Cooper
University of Edinburgh
Operation of masculine cultures on college campuses and universities in both the UK and USA
Description
Researching the operation of masculine cultures on college campuses and universities in both the UK and USA through sociolegal scholarships. Looking specifically at the culture of laddism in the UK and fraternity culture in the US, assessing to what extent they are similar and examining their link to sexual violence against women students.
Ariane Critchley
Edinburgh Napier University
Quickening steps: an ethnography of pre-birth child protection
Description
This thesis is a study of pre-birth child protection practice in the Scottish context. The ‘quickening’ in the title refers not just to the movement in utero of the unborn babies at the centre of this research, but also to the intensification of UK policy activity aimed at protecting children more quickly and at an ever younger age. This study occurred in a period when the imperatives of both child protection and the ‘early years’ agenda were coming together in Scotland to produce highly interventionist possibilities for state involvement in the lives of young families. Yet the activities of pre-birth child protection and the way the work is understood by social workers and by expectant parents has remained largely unexamined by research.
Patricio Cuevas-Parra
University of Edinburgh
All opinions matter: children and young people leading their own research
Description
This research project aims to critically explore how the process and outcomes of the participation of children and young people in their own research contribute, positively or negatively, to decision-making processes. This study hopes to fill the gap between literature and practice regarding child-led research which has been not widely documented and to provide such knowledge.
Rafidah Mohamad Cusairi
Glasgow Caledonian University
The Role of Shari’ah Councils in the Resolution of Matrimonial Disputes in the UK: Issues and Challenges
Description
Research on family mediation in the UK with specific focus on the Muslim minority in Britain, including how the British legal system accommodates the Muslim minority needs, especially in terms of their personal status law, sharia law and the court system and the administration of the muslim family law in Britain.
Robin Dallas-Childs
University of Edinburgh
Exploring the experiences of looked after children and young people in Scotland
Description
This research explores the experiences of people who have spent time in residential child care in Scotland, particularly in relation to their sense of self as a child/young person ‘in care’ or with ‘care experience’.
Emma Doyle
University of Edinburgh
Calling NHS 24: exploring caller decision making and help seeking behaviour within the context of out-of-hours health care provision
Description
This project used in-depth qualitative interviews to explore illness behaviour amongst people who call NHS 24 during the out-of-hours period and who are given self-care advice. This research was funded through an ESRC CASE studentship, in association with NHS 24.
Eva Duncanson
University of Edinburgh
To Re-examine the Relationship Between Co-presence and Intimacy: Boundaries, Authenticity and Identity in Commercial Webcamming
Description
This research analyses the development and maintenance of online relationships established between webcam models and their clients and the ways in which they establish boundaries. For this research, interviews will be conducted with webcam models, a survey of customers and observation on the hosting sites.
Nikki Dunne
University of Edinburgh
Who cares? Indian nurses ‘on the move’ and how their transnational migration for care work shapes their multigenerational relationships of familial care over time
Description
This thesis explores how migration for care work shapes Indian nurses’ multigenerational relationships of familial care over time. Using qualitative research methods, it interrogates the intertwining of economic and non-economic factors underpinning the entry and continued participation of this group of women and men in the nursing field and international nursing labour markets. The thesis is broadly informed by a relational approach to care.
Thomas Emery
University of Edinburgh
Intergenerational transfers in European families
Description
This research examines the financial assistance given by parents to their adult children and the extent to which it is influenced by social policy. In recent years these intergenerational financial transfers have been the subject of much research and a great deal has been learnt about when and why parents make the decision to provide financial assistance.
Joana Esteves Craveiro de Oliveira
University of Edinburgh
Psychology of Stories and Climate Change
Description
How children learn about something defines their actions towards that something. Telling children about scary issues through stories is not new but how did one of the scariest stories of our times, the ecological crisis, made his way into the stories our children read and watched through the last decade? Are children’s fictional stories key to climate resilience, justice, and solutions?
Beverley Ferguson
University of Edinburgh
What experiences and challenges do schoolgirl mothers and mothers-to-be face when continuing in education?
Description
Previous academic literature and Government agendas and policies share concerns about schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be not continuing in education and having lower qualifications. Despite this, research has not considered why schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be are more likely to drop out of education or why it is so difficult for them to continue. This thesis is an in-depth study of the experiences and challenges faced by schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be while continuing in education.
Rebecca Foster
University of Glasgow
Exploring the ‘pains of imprisonment’ beyond the prison: an ethnographic study of prisoners’ visitors at a Scottish prison
Description
The research upon which this thesis is based aims to build on a rich and growing body of work about how imprisonment affects, is practiced by, and structures families with a loved one in prison. It aims to do this by contributing to knowledge on the lived experiences of prison visiting for the families of prisoners, who were until recently largely overlooked in prisons scholarship. In turn, this thesis aims to shed light on families’ overall experience of the imprisonment of a loved one(s).
Sambhavi Ganesh
University of Edinburgh
Gender performance within endogamous caste families
Description
Caste and gender are inseparable social categories. That caste, based as it is on endogamous kinship systems, reproduce itself by controlling women’s sexuality, was famously declared a century ago. Much work on the caste-gender intersection is yet to take off, especially in the case of the Brahmin community. A cursory search of the term ‘Brahmin’ brings up descriptions of priesthood and sacred learning, and their location at the apex of the caste hierarchy. It is common knowledge that only Brahmin men are allowed to get initiated into these occupations. In other words, women do not fit into the esoteric framework of ‘Brahmin’ at all. However, contemporary understandings of the term extend it to everyone born into the endogamous communities. How do women situate themselves as ‘Brahmin’? What are the processes by which a ‘Brahmin woman’ is constructed? How do male-oriented scriptural archetypes and administrative logics of birth-based caste membership inform the self-making of ‘Brahmin women’? It is with these questions that I propose to locate the Brahmin woman in context.
Catriona Galbraith
University of Stirling
Experiences of chronic illness and informal caring in Scotland
Description
Using a range of visual and interview methods my PhD is looking at how family identities are negotiated in relation to non-terminal illness and informal care, and whether being paid for informal care impacts the relationships between family members
Leah Gilman
University of Edinburgh
Qualifying kinship: how do UK gamete donors negotiate identity-release donation?
Description
With effect from 1st April 2005, UK law was amended such that gamete donors must now consent to their identity being released to their donor offspring, should they request it after the age of eighteen. This qualitative study investigates the views and experiences of those donating in this new context. Drawing primarily on twenty-four in-depth interviews with donors, supplemented by twenty staff interviews and observation in two fertility clinics, I examine how donors make sense of their role in relation to offspring, recipients and the wider community.
Sarah Golightley
University of Edinburgh
Therapeutic boarding schools in the USA
Description
Sarah’s PhD research is on therapeutic boarding schools in the USA, which are residential facilities for teenagers who are considered to have had mental health or substance misuse problems. Young people are typically sent to a therapeutic boarding school at their parents’ request, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the young person. The research is centred on in-depth interviews with former therapeutic board school students on their experiences and perspectives.
Chandreyee Goswami
University of Edinburgh
Exploring University Friendships in Northeast India: A study of relationships, gender, social, mobility and support in Assam
Description
My research explores the relationship of friendship among peers in universities in Northeast India. Through a feminist ethnography my research will elucidate the social relations of the region by focusing on how gender intersects with ethnic categories such as caste, religion, tribe; and class, showing how friendship may expand social ties and become a ground for forging solidarity and support. The study examines how interpersonal interactions between friends transforms into social support for women students to reiterate or question both the gendered notion of self and the structure of the university.
Elizabeth Graham
University of Stirling
Description
Currently researching children with Asperger Syndrome’s experiences of the support they receive in school. This qualitative study will explore their experiences of social and educational support in school
Sharon Greenwood
University of Glasgow
‘I try hard not to blame my dad’: a sociological interpretation of the ‘problem’ with parental problem substance use
Description
Sharon’s PhD research focuses on unpacking the lived experience of young adults, aged between 16 and 30, who have been, or continue to be affected by parental drug and/or alcohol use. Sharon uses a combination of biographical interviewing and visual methods. This research is funded by the ESRC (2013-6)
Jillian Hart
University of Edinburgh
Is methodological innovation superficially attractive but challenging in practice? A case study combining biographical narrative with social network mapping
Description
As social scientists we have a variety of methods in our social science ‘toolbox’. But, are we using the same methods over and over again? We have so many methods and applications of methods at our disposal; why are we sticking to primarily interviews, questionnaires, ethnography, focus groups (or a combination of them). The NCRM typology of research methods lists literally dozens of methods, and even with only 12 methods considered, there are 132 possible pairings of methods, so why are we limiting our data collection methods? Is mixing methods superficially attractive but challenging in practice? This thesis therefore questions, are we stuck in a rut with our data collection methods? This project will examine and explore the potential, and also the pitfalls, of bringing (auto)biographical research and social network analysis together by way of a case study which examines the academic career, relationships, and networks of Professor Ann Oakley.
Description
This research is using a mixed qualitative methodology to look at the experiences of climate activist parents and guardians. Using emotion as a lens on the everyday, I aim to uncover the gendered and classed aspects of intergenerational environmental concern and practice
Somia Imran
University of Edinburgh
The association of grandparent-grandchild relationships with empathy and depression in grandchildren
Description
Unavailable
Dora Jandric
University of Edinburgh
Imagined Futures of Same-sex couples
Description
This research explores how older same-sex couples in Scotland imagine their future. While there is a growing number of sociological studies looking at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) ageing, these mostly focus on the intersection of age and sexual identity, often leaving out the impact of the past and present lived experiences on the ageing process. Sociological studies of time, and, more specifically, of the future, often exclude older populations due to assumptions that older people belong to a non-futurity (Sandberg 2015) because they are closer to the end of their lives.
Mufiza Zia Kapadia
University of Edinburgh
Chlamydia testing and treatment in community pharmacies: findings and lessons learned from setting out to evaluate an unexpectedly short lived service in Lothian, Scotland
Description
Genital chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection. In August 2008, the Scottish government directed its health boards to involve community pharmacies in providing chlamydia testing and treatment for young people. Lothian Health Board envisaged a pharmacy-based chlamydia testing and treatment (CT&T) service to be able to reach deprived population. This research project set out to evaluate the implementation of the CT&T in Lothian, Scotland.
Marta Kowalewska
University of Edinburgh
Addressing the (in)visibility of Romani women in Central and Eastern European nationalist discourses: Implications for intersectional feminism and nationalism studies
Description
Marta’s research uses feminist intersectionality to enrich studies of nationalism and racism whilst building evidence-based understandings of threats to health and social justice for Romani women. The research aims to suggest an approach where policies addressing healthcare access, reproductive rights, ethnic discrimination and poverty in Romani populations take into the account the specific situation of Romani women, rather than utilising a gender-blind approach.
Maggie Laidlaw
University of Edinburgh
Volunteering as a balancing act: who’s got time for that?
Description
This thesis explores the temporal dimensions of women’s voluntary involvement in civic activities. How and why people find or make the time to volunteer within their busy lives is a puzzle given that volunteering is not always easy. It is not just about finding/having time, it is also about synchronising with others and fitting into a group when needed, and how this might be dovetailed with other commitments in the life of a volunteer.
Marie Larsson
Lund University and the University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Description
Pasts, presents, futures: exploring young people’s contraceptive work in Sweden. Through qualitative in-depth interviews, I identify how young women, men and nonbinary people (aged 18-29 years old) experience, make sense of and reflect upon different aspects of contraceptive use. I employ the concept of “contraceptive work”, which I define as being responsible for planning, implementing, negotiating and navigating contraceptive use or non-use in everyday-life. I investigate what this work involves and how it is produced through gender, gender identity, sexuality and other power structures and dynamics.
Samuel Lawton
University of Glasgow
Title unavailable
Description
Sexual prejudice against bisexual men is a barrier to initiating and maintaining relationships. There is evidence that bisexual men suffer from dual discrimination because of their sexuality, and more surprisingly their gender. Sam’s research examines bisexual men’s relationships from the perspectives of sociology, social psychology, and gender studies, seeking to uncover bisexual men’s and their partner’s experiences through qualitative methods
Carine Leborgne
University of Edinburgh
Implementing children and young people’s participation in decision-making: The role of non-governmental organisations
Description
Carine’s research aimed to follow a case study approach focusing on two children’s rights organisations, one in Scotland and one in Tamil Nadu (South India). It looked at how NGOs implement the concept of participation, at the role of facilitators and barriers in the process of implementation, and at future improvement of children’s participation. The study compared practices between the “Minority World” and “Majority World” to evaluate alternative solutions to implement children’s participation.
Nitzan Levenberg
University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Research Interests
Exploring notions of love and intimacy amongst British and Israeli Millennials, with special interest in the search for long-term, committed relationships in post-modernity.
Sara Diane Lindores
University of Edinburgh
Women and religious racisms in Inverclyde: feminised intra-Christian sectarianism and gendered Islamophobia
Description
This thesis re-problematises the issue of intra-Christian sectarianism from the standpoints of women from different denominational backgrounds, social classes and age groups. It foregrounds alternative gendered knowledge, situated within private and familial spheres, to provide a less partial picture of sectarianism which has traditionally been associated with male-dominated concerns such as Scottish football. It reveals processes of feminised intra-Christian sectarianism, which construct Catholic women and girls as racialised outsiders in ways that are simultaneously gendered and classed.
Leah McCabe
University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Description
Gendering Change: Tracing domestic abuse policy discourses and directions in Scotland from 1998. This research aims to analyse the gendered dimensions of the Scottish Parliament and the influence this has had on domestic abuse policy.
Aimee McCullough
University of Edinburgh
‘On the margins of family and home life?’ Working-class fatherhood and masculinity in post-war Scotland
Description
This thesis examines working-class fatherhood and masculinities in post-war Scotland, the history of which is almost non-existent. Scottish working-class fathers have more commonly been associated with the ‘public sphere’ of work, politics and male leisure pursuits and presented negatively in public and official discourses of the family. Using twenty-five newly conducted oral history interviews with men who became fathers during the period 1970-1990, as well as additional source materials, this thesis explores the ways in which their everyday lives, feelings and experiences were shaped by becoming and being fathers.
Aisha Macgregor
University of Glasgow
The paradox of care and control: experiences of community based compulsory treatment orders in Scotland
Description
This PhD explores how community based Compulsory Treatment Orders (CTOs) impact families and relationships. This research has utilised semi-structured interviews with people on community based CTOs, their families and mental health advocates
Alexandra Macht
University of Edinburgh
Fatherhood and love: A psychosocial and cultural exploration of unromantic love in Scottish and Romanian families
Description
Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, observations of personal lives and an analysis of current parenting blogs, the research investigates the conceptions and emotional experiences of both parents in general and fathers in particular regarding unromantic child-led love.
Hannah McInnes-Dean
University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Description
An ethnographic enquiry into men’s experiences of the transition to fatherhood in Edinburgh. Focusing on experiences of childbirth and parental leave
Aoife McKenna
University of Edinburgh
Women’s experiences of sterilisation in Brazil: negotiating reproductive discourses, institutional and intimate relationships, and contraceptive practices
Description
Aoife was awarded a Wellcome Trust funded studentship under a Biomedical Ethics Strategic programme, “The Human Body, its Scope, Limits and Future”. The project investigated sterilization in Brazil and the U.K., particularly focusing on conceptions of parenthood and family, constructions of the human body and its capabilities, and issues of regulation.
Caitlin McLean
University of Edinburgh
Market-based childcare & maternal employment: a comparison of systems in the United States & United Kingdom
Description
A vast literature has identified the importance of childcare for understanding cross-national variation in women’s employment, and has particularly emphasised the role of the state in ensuring the delivery of services. This thesis explores variation within market-based childcare systems in order to understand how systems with less state provision may support or constrain maternal employment. The thesis argues that understanding whether childcare markets ‘work’ or not in supporting maternal employment requires a deep understanding of the interplay between market and state, as the specific policy approach taken can shape the structure of the market in profoundly different ways.
Christina McMellon
University of Edinburgh
Critical happiness: examining the beliefs that young Lao volunteers in Vientiane hold about the things that make life good
Description
Christina’s research used collaborative ethnography to explore young Laotian’s experiences and understandings of their subjective wellbeing and how these experiences and assessments are informed by Lao culture and changing global cultures.
Jingyu Mao
University of Edinburgh
Using intimacy as a lens on the work and migration experiences of ethnic performers in Southwest China
Description
This research explores how the lens of intimacy can be used to understand migration and inequalities and demonstrates the value of such a theoretical lens. It does so by focusing on the experience of a group of rural to urban, ethnic minority migrant performers in Southwest China, who perform ethnic songs and dances as part of their work at different venues such as restaurants and tourist sites. Ethnic performance is a site of encounter where minority, rural, feminised service providers interact with Han, urban, masculinised customers, and such physical proximity may render their social distance even more significant.
Pooja Marwaha
University of Edinburgh
Moving beyond blood-ties – An exploration of the lived experiences of queer South Asian women living in the UK
Description
My PhD research examines the different types of relationships that queer South Asian women have with their families after coming out to them. It will use semi structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork to get an insight into the lived experiences of queer South Asian women living in the UK.
Mary Mitchell
University of Edinburgh
Re-imagining family group conferencing ‘outcomes’
Description
This PhD research was a 1+3 collaborative studentship, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and was a partnership between CHILDREN 1ST, the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships and the University of Edinburgh. This qualitative research aimed to better understand the contribution Family Group Conferencing (FGC) made to longer-term outcomes for children and families. For the purposes of the research, “longer-term” was considered to be 12 months or longer, after an FGC meeting had taken place.
Fiona Morrison
University of Edinburgh
Children, contact and domestic abuse
Description
Fiona was awarded a CASE ESRC studentship with Scottish Women’s Aid and the Centre for Research in Families and Relationships (CRFR). Her research focused on children’s views and experiences of contact when there is history of domestic abuse, and their views of contact policy and legislation.
Maggie Morrison
University of Edinburgh
Sylheti-heritage children in Urban Scotland: Challenging the deficit model through the lens of childhood in Sylhet
Description
This thesis seeks to challenge deficit approaches to ‘different’ childhoods. It does this through documenting the everyday life experiences of Sylheti-heritage Muslim children in urban Scotland, and reading these childhoods through the lives of children and their kin in rural Sylhet, Bangladesh. The research is based on 3 years’ ethnographic fieldwork (January 2008-February 2011), in Scotland and in Bangladesh, and incorporates various child-friendly creative research methods used to elicit data on children’s realities and perspectives on their lives.
Javita Narang
University of Edinburgh
Grounded theory analysis of therapeutic interventions practiced by professionals in India and the UK with child and adolescent survivors of sexual abuse
Description
There is a high prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) in India and the UK (Laccino, 2014). However, there is a lack of research on culturally-specific aspects of psychotherapy offered to child and adolescent survivors of CSA in both these countries. Therapeutic interventions with sexually abused children raise complex concerns due to the heterogeneity based on the developmental stage of children; varied impact, presenting difficulties and needs; and characteristics of abuse, age, gender, ethnicity and cultural factors.
Lakshmi Neelakantan
University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Description
Her PhD research explores the experiences of adolescents with regards to answering questions on the ISPCAN’s Child Abuse Screening Tools in multiple contexts, namely Romania, South Africa, and the Philippines. This research may be used for development and cross-cultural adaptation of self-report child abuse measures. Lakshmi is based at the Moray House School of Education and is supervised by Dr. Franziska Meinck, Dr. Deborah Fry, and Prof. Lani Florian. Her research is fully funded by the Principal’s Career Development Scholarship and Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship
Kate Norman
University of Edinburgh
Transgender people’s experiences of health and social care provision in Scotland
Description
Kate’s PhD reviewed levels of social care need and service provision for transgender people in Scotland, within dedicated and generic services, and from the perspectives of transgender people themselves. The findings, from three online surveys and nineteen online interviews, identified varying levels of support from transgender groups, gender specialists, GPs, counsellors/psychiatrists, families and friends, and from care staff. Key areas of need included gender identity and transition issues, family concerns, documentation, mental and physical health issues, and issues relating to social integration, including the effects of transphobia and social isolation.
Author of Socialising Transgender: Support for Transition, published 2017.
Harla Sara Octarra
University of Edinburgh
Making visible inter-agency working processes in children’s services
Description
This PhD looked at practices of working together in children’s services. The research was conducted within the context of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) implementation. GIRFEC is the Scottish Government approach to improving outcomes for children. It requires agencies in each local authority to work together in order to deliver appropriate and timely services for children and families, and the researcher looked closely on what working together meant in practice. The PhD was funded by the Indonesia Education Scholarship; the Indonesian Government scholarship that was managed and administered by the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) of Ministry of Finance.
Temitayo Odewusi
University of Edinburgh
Exploration of power relations in the sexual and contraceptive choices of adolescents in South West Nigeria
Description
Nigeria has one of the highest populations of young people worldwide including the widest health and economic inequalities. There are high levels of maternal deaths from pregnancy-related causes and sexually transmitted infections compared to other low-and-middle-income countries. The majority of research in this field is quantitative, highlighting a lack of education in sexual health. Nonetheless, there is a notable lack of research into the sexual experiences of the young people themselves. Aims: This study aimed to explore: 1) the views and experiences of Nigerian adolescents about their sexual initiation and contraceptive use; and, 2) the influence of gender and socio-economic status in the Nigerian adolescents’ accounts of their sexual initiation and contraceptive use.
Elizabeth O’Hallron
University of Dundee
Title unavailable
Description
As a court parental alienation practitioner, I am interested in the working definition of parental alienation as well as exploring effective interventions for survivors and alienators. I am looking at the efficacy of completing mental health assessments at the forefront of complex family court matters.
Chelle Oldham
University of West Scotland
Title unavailable
Description
My research looks at the value families place on education and the spaces in which education takes place. I am asking families to consider why they chose to educate their children in spaces such as schools, churches and home. My research compares the transfer, if one occurs, of education capital (the accumulation of knowledge, skills, behaviours and experiences) from children to adults at home. Education capital is part of a family’s cultural capital collectively; can children’s learning experience(s) improve, alter or increase their parents/carers learning and knowledge?
Sharani Osborn
University of Edinburgh
Doing fatherhood, doing family: contemporary paternal perspectives
Description
The studentship, funded by the ESRC through the Centre for Population Change (CPC) comprised of a qualitative interview project in Edinburgh with men who are fathers, and a smaller sample of men who are not fathers. The aim of the research was to explore how men understand the place of fatherhood in the life course and in relation to other life domains, as well as the factors shaping decisions around having children for men who are and are not fathers.
Rebecca Parry Black
University of West Scotland
Children’s experiences of and involvement in the treatment and management of their epilepsy: a qualitative study
Description
The project focused on the impact of early (childhood) on-set epilepsy on the family. Examining closely the affects a diagnosis has on the child, siblings, and parents. As well as exploring family dynamics and strategies for managing and living with chronic illness. The PhD is part of on-going work at the Muir Maxwell Epilepsy Centre at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and funded by the Muir Maxwell Trust.
Zoe Picton-Howell
University of Edinburgh
UK Paediatricians’ medical decision-making for severely disabled children: a socio-legal analysis
Description
This thesis aims to illuminate how paediatricians in the United Kingdom (UK) make difficult medical decisions when treating severely disabled children with complex health conditions. In particular, it examines the part played, if any, by law, rights, and ethics in those decisions. After drawing on jurisprudence of the English and European Human Rights Court, together with existing scholarship, to analyse the doctors’ decision making, this thesis adopts a legal consciousness theoretical approach.
Nastassia Rambarran
University of Glasgow
Title unavailable
Description
Current project is an examination of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer plus (LGBTQ+) activism in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically the Commonwealth nations of Guyana and Barbados, develops through transnational processes, in relation to decolonizing analyses. The methodology utilises a qualitative comparative analysis of case studies within a decolonial framework and queer lens
Aigli Raouna
University of Edinburgh
Bipolar Disorder and Transition to Parenthood
Description
Aigli is particularly interested in the field of perinatal mental health for both mothers and fathers and in the field of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. Her current research is funded by the Principal’s Career Development PhD Scholarship and it focuses on transition to parenthood in the context of bipolar disorder using a mixed methods approach.
Eloi Ribe
University of Edinburgh
Maintaining and extending grandparent-grandchild relationships
Description
This project aims to investigate how, and under what circumstances, intimacy in grandparent-grandchild relationships is enabled, enacted and sustained in the early years of grandchildren. Previous work on emotional closeness of grandparent-grandchild relationships suggests that grandmothers and maternal grandparents are more likely to feel stronger bonds with their grandchildren, and that grandparents with a good quality of relationship with parents and living geographically close to grandchildren have greater opportunities to develop a strong emotional tie.
Sarah Rogers
University of Edinburgh
Exploring non-resident fatherhood and child well-being in the early years using the Growing Up in Scotland study
Description
This project used data from the Growing Up in Scotland study to research and explore associations between non-resident fatherhood and child well-being and the potential pathways through which such associations may operate.
Emily Ross
University of Edinburgh
Exploring tentativeness: risk, uncertainty and ambiguity in first time pregnancy
Description
This thesis explores fifteen women’s accounts of pregnancy over the course of gestation. It highlights the fluidity and dynamism of these women’s experiences, placing these in the context of the breadth of medical interventions they engaged with. Much existing literature concerning pregnancy focuses on specific instances of contact with medical professionals or technological interventions. This study explores the mundane and routine elements of the everyday practice of pregnancy, including during the first trimester. This is a period rarely addressed in academic literature.
Nathalia Salamanca
University of Edinburgh
Sense-making and life narratives: Colombian former child soldiers and their views about childhood during war
Description
The aim of this research is to explore the existence of former child soldier’s narrative that could contest that mainstream discourse, and to see what contributions these narratives can provide to the understanding of childhood during war
Kristina Saunders
University of Glasgow
Qualitatively exploring how women make and experience reproductive decisions in a supposed age of choice
Description
This study will explore the connections between wider theoretical debates and structures regarding individualization and neoliberalism, and the lived realities of women’s lives and decision making
Lee Siew-Pien
University of Edinburgh
Children’s participation in decisions regarding their nursing care: An ethnographic study of children, parents and nurses in the oncology setting
Description
The aim of this study was to explore children’s participation in decisions regarding their nursing care from the perspective of the children, their parents, and nurses in an oncological ward in Malaysia.
Robert Stephenson
Queen Mary University of London
Men juggling work, home and family in contemporary London
Description
This qualitative study will explore the everyday lived experiences of self-identified ‘male primary caregivers’ juggling competing activities of work, home and family in London in the (post) recession period focusing particularily on households supported by a female breadwinner
Scott Tindal
University of Edinburgh
This studentship aimed to contribute to the body of research concerned with knowledge exchange
Description
This project explored the processes of non-academic engagement at the interface between researchers and non-academic research-users, for example; policymakers, charities, private companies, and other stakeholders including the wider public. This study used the case study of the CPC to explore how demography and population research is disseminated across a wide range of different research-using audiences.
Liliana Arias Urena
University of Edinburgh
Children´s Experiences of Living with Cleft Lip and Palate (CLP)
Description
This qualitative study seeks to explore children’s own accounts of the experience of living with Cleft Lip and Palate in a Latin-American context — Colombia.
Julie Watson
University of Edinburgh
Understanding the caring relationship between people with advanced dementia and care staff in a care home
Description
This research sought to understand the caring relationship between people with advanced dementia towards the end of life and care staff in a care home. Using embodied self hood as a theoretical framework and focusing on everyday acts of care, she explored ways of being with the person with dementia in caring ways that draw upon their remaining emotional, relational and embodied capacities, as part of a palliative care approach.
Britt Evy Westergard
University of Edinburgh
Life story work – a new approach to the person centred supporting of older adults with an intellectual disability in Norway. A qualitative study of the impact of life story work on storytellers and their interlocutors
Description
Older Norwegian adults with an intellectual disability are today more integrated into society than earlier generations. Some represent the last of the generation that experienced and can talk about childhoods in central institutions and about living under the World War II Nazi regime. The closure of Norwegian institutions, which took place in the1990s, was based on social valuation theories. The post-closure situation for people with intellectual disabilities, their staff and local authorities was very different form what they had experienced previously, local authorities being responsible for providing person-centred services.
Catherine Whittaker
University of Edinburgh
Warrior women: contested understandings of violence and gender in Highland Mexico
Description
Based on 15 months of ethnographic research in Milpa Alta, a rural, southern municipality of Mexico City, this thesis focuses on local understandings and contestations surrounding “violence against Indigenous women”, while questioning the meaning of “violence”, “Indigeneity”, and “femininity,” and the relationship between these concepts. I argue for rethinking violence, as present interventions in Milpa Alta may contribute more to perpetuating than alleviating it.
Alex Wright
University of Edinburgh
What’s so important about health policy implementation?
Description
This research is a review of evidence regarding health policy implementation. It draws on peer-reviewed journal articles and grey literature on a variety of health policy topics, including health and social care, health inequalities, disability rights, indigenous health, mental health, physical activity, obesity, and tobacco control. There is a specific focus on alcohol policy in Scotland.
Laura Wright
University of Edinburgh
Play-based research to explore child researchers’ psychosocial wellbeing and community participation
Description
Laura’s research explores the role of play-based methodologies in child researchers’ psychosocial wellbeing and meaningful participation. The research study will use an interdisciplinary sociology of childhood, child-rights, social ecological and systems thinking approach, and an anticolonial research paradigm (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Dei & Kempf, 2006; James & Prout, 2015; Wilson, 2008). A qualitative play-based participatory research process will be employed that draws on participatory action research (PAR) (Reason & Bradbury, 2006) and creative action research (CAR) to support refugee child researchers (11 to 16 years) to develop skills to lead research with their peers and community on the role of play in psychosocial well being. Thus, each member of the research team will be leading on a research project, Laura’s being her PhD exploring child researchers’ experience and the children’s being their PAR projects.
Hong Yang
University of Edinburgh
Title unavailable
Description
The study seeks to explore relationship dynamics of international couples between Chinese women and British men in UK by discussing questions such as whether different dimensions of power (individual, interpersonal, and structural) is related to intimacy; whether perceptions and exertion of power varied by gender and ethnicity; whether different dimensions of power are rotational between couples; what strategies couples take can lead to the rotation of power; and how does the rotation of power shape the way to construct intimacy
Hannah Zagel
University of Edinburgh
Timing of single motherhood: implications for employment careers in Great Britain and West Germany
Description
This thesis investigates how family–employment reconciliation issues associated with single motherhood affect women’s employment careers. The study fills a gap in the literature, which rarely considers single motherhood and employment as processes in the life course, much less in a cross-country comparative perspective. Patterns of employment trajectories during and after single motherhood are examined as the outcome of individual and institutional circumstances.
Yan Zhu
University of Edinburgh
Chinese children’s understanding and experiences of friendships with peers in the context of a rural primary boarding school
Description
The broad aim of this Ph.D. research was to learn how rural Chinese children understand and experience friendships with peers in the context of a primary boarding school in rural China. To answer this research question, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork lasting five months at a primary rural boarding school in the western area of Hubei Province, mainly working with Primary Year 5 children in 2016. During this period, I lived in this boarding school’s on-campus teachers’ accommodation and fully engaged in children’s everyday school lives.