PhD Studentship: Refugee Community Organisations in UK Cities: what went wrong?

This fully-funded PhD project to start on 1st October 2024, offers an exciting opportunity for a student interested in urban refugee communities in the UK to work alongside an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded research project, led by Professor Tom Goodfellow at the University of Sheffield. The PhD will be based in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Sheffield, and will focus on the role of Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) in UK cities and how this has changed over time. RCOs grew substantially in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK, taking on important roles in refugee integration and being regularly consulted by government and other key stakeholders. They also attracted an initial wave of research in the 1990s and 2000s. However, over the past 15 years they have been increasingly marginalised and devalued, with many closing down and becoming less visible. Some are able to thrive much better than others, but the reasons for this are poorly understood.

The successful applicant for this studentship will develop a research project to better understand what has happened to RCOs in the UK, what their needs are and how they can build stronger relationships with local and central government, wider communities and policymakers. The student will work alongside the Refugee Council’s Refugee Involvement Team who will advise on the design of the project and help to facilitate access to relevant refugee communities and RCOs. Working with their supervisory team at the University of Sheffield, and key contacts at the Refugee Council, the student will therefore have significant scope to design the project and choose relevant case studies (which could be RCOs or particular cities/urban areas) for the research.

This PhD project will be aligned with an ESRC-funded research project on ‘Transcontinental Urban Citizenship: Crisis & Connection in Britain and Somalia’, which focuses on the experiences of multi-generational Somali refugee diaspora in Bristol, Sheffield and London. The PhD project itself can focus on any refugee community/communities (subject to discussions with the supervisor and Refugee Council), but will have synergies with the ESRC research project. The student will be invited to project workshops and will engage in mutual learning with members of the wider project team.

Entry requirements and application details are listed here.  Citing the title of the studentship, applicants should also upload the following:

• A one-page personal statement explaining how your skills, experiences, interests and career plans make you a suitable candidate.
• A 500-word statement explaining why this research is important.