Mental health and digital working

The proposed research will address the fundamental question of how employees can use their existing relationships to support their mental health and well-being while making sense of remote working that emphasises on digital interaction. A series of semi structured interviews, focus groups as well a story completion task will be carried out by employees at a major digital marketing company in the UK. These questions were co-created in previous meetings with our industry partner which reflects their importance. RQ1: Can collaborative working promote better mental health and wellbeing (MH&W) ? Coinciding with increased concern about MH&W while working remotely, there has been a shift away from competitive, and towards collaborative workstyles where teams work together, supporting development of team-working skills. Beyond this, there is limited understanding for how a specific work-based strategy and organisational support influences MH&W. RQ2: Can digital skills training improve MH&W? Digital technology in the workplace has increased exponentially in recent years, and the pandemic led to a further expansion. Employees may have lower levels of digital skills than often assumed, making digital interaction stressful and individual differences may accentuate existing inequalities. In line with our qualitative approach data from interviews will inform the development of the stems of story-completion task that will inform our understanding of employee's perceptions of organisational support for digital skills training while making sense of remote working. RQ3 Can increased task coherency improve MH&W? Workplaces are giving remote employees greater choice in their work, but this can reduce task coherence and make it harder for employees to build relationships between components of the workday (see e.g., Stephan, 2018).

Estimated yearly cost of consumables

20,000

Person Specification

A Masters degree in a relevant subject with a 60% or higher weighted average, and/or a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (or an equivalent qualification from an overseas institution)

Submitting an application

As part of the application, you will need to supply:

·        A copy of your current CV

·        Copies of your academic qualifications for your Bachelor degree, and Masters degree (if studied); this should include both certificates and transcripts, and must be translated in to English

·        A research proposal statement*

·        Two academic references

·        Proof of your English Language proficiency

Details of how to submit your application can be found here. 

*The application must be accompanied by a “research proposal” statement. An original proposal is not required as the initial scope of the project has been defined, candidates should take this opportunity to detail how their knowledge and experience will benefit the project and should also be accompanied by a brief review of relevant research literature.

Please include the supervisor’s name and project title in your Personal Statement.

If you require further information about the application process please contact the Postgraduate Admissions team at [Email Address Removed]