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  Developing a community-led approach to inclusive growth in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire


   Nottingham Business School

   Sunday, December 08, 2024  Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

About the Project

About the project: 

This PhD project will examine the challenges and develop solutions for a bottom-up, community-led approach to inclusive economic growth in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Conventional local and regional development strategies have not considered who benefits from economic growth, who is able to access new jobs and the impact of growth on social and geographical inequalities. Inclusive growth is being explored by policymakers as an alternative model which focuses on ensuring that a growing economy also benefits marginalised local communities, and the need to create ‘good jobs’ and ‘good work’.  

Nottingham City Council and, the newly established East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and Mayor have committed to a vision of inclusive growth. This commitment has the potential to break the cycle of inequality that has afflicted local communities by creating better jobs and more equitable opportunities. The city and region have struggled with the long-term impacts of deindustrialisation, which has contributed to high levels of low skill/ low pay jobs, low levels of household income, high levels of personal debt, and high levels of deprivation amongst local communities.  

While the commitment to inclusive growth is welcome, research from other localities shows that a failure to avoid “business as usual” and understand the reality for people “on the ground” is a significant risk for inclusive growth approaches. Working with marginalised communities in Nottingham, EMCCA and other economic development stakeholders, this project will explore participatory and co-production approaches to policy change to develop solutions for a community-led, inclusive growth strategy.   

This project has been co-created and is supported by researchers from Nottingham Trent University (NTU), the University of Nottingham (UoN) and partners at East Midlands Combined County Authority. The successful candidate for this project will be enrolled at the University of Nottingham. 

Project Aims: 

The overall aims of the project are:  

  1. Provide a critical analysis of ‘inclusive growth’ as a local and regional development approach in the UK.  
  2. Critically examine the idea of ‘good work’ and its role in inclusive growth strategies.  
  3. Identify the challenges and barriers to the realisation of inclusive growth in general, and in Nottingham in particular.  
  4. Understand and define ‘inclusive growth’ and ‘good work’ from the perspective of marginalised communities and groups in Nottingham.  
  5. Identify mechanisms and pathways to enable marginalised communities and groups to shape and co-produce local and regional inclusive growth development pathways.  
  6. Identify policy frameworks that can ensure the consideration of marginalised community’s interest in policy change, and support the changes need to make inclusive growth successful. 

What is Co(l)laboratory? 

Co(l)laboratory is a new research programme, led by Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham, that puts community knowledge and experience at the core of research. Co(l)laboratory aims to make research more responsive to the needs of our local communities by working closely with local communities and organisations to create and deliver new research, based on the needs and priorities of the people of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.  

Our PhD program takes on unique and talented candidates, providing them with training in research skills, community engaged research, evidence-based policy, and much more. The program aims to develop our PhD candidates into community research leaders, enabling them to drive meaningful change in local communities through research. 

Who are we looking for? 

Do you have the qualities of a careful and detail-oriented problem solver? Do you have experience working in local community settings? We are looking for passionate and motivated individuals to take on our next cohort of PhD research projects. We are looking for candidates with a strong potential for success, who can demonstrate a solid researcher mindset, independence and resilience, and who have a drive to make a meaningful difference to communities through research. 

How to Apply 

For full details of this and all Co(l)laboratory projects, including eligibility criteria, person specifications, reading materials, applicant support and more, visit our website: www.ntu.ac.uk/communityphd.

Business & Management (5) Economics (10) Geography (17) Politics & Government (30) Sociology (32)

Funding Notes

Co(l)laboratory studentships are funded by UKRI, and for British and permanent Residents only.


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