Exploring Work Futures: The Structural Conditions of Precarity

This project will examine and document working conditions in contemporary Britain, and analyse these as part of capitalism’s historical development. The project has the ambition to develop new insights that will lead to positive social and economic impacts by informing the approaches of trade unions, NGOs, activists, statutory agencies and policy makers. The doctoral researcher will be supported in achieving this ambition this through the supervision team’s relationships with key stakeholders, and will be encouraged to develop their own networks.

It is widely recognised that the nature of work is rapidly transforming. Key features of this transformation include a growth of zero hour, part-time, self-employed, and otherwise precarious work, and the emergence of new concepts such as the ‘gig economy’ and the ‘sharing economy’, alongside the rediscovery of longstanding concepts such as labour segmentation and individuation. Applicants will be expected to develop an appropriate research design to investigate the relationships between historical processes of social change at the macro level and the lived experience of working and living conditions at a micro level. Although precarious work is apparent across a range of sectors, we are particularly interested in proposals that focus on employment in one of the following sectors: social care; food processing; agriculture; transport and distribution; hospitality and catering.

The successful applicant will receive expert supervision from an experienced team with a strong track record of research funding and publications. This project will contribute to an emerging inter-disciplinary focus on work and employment at NTU. The successful applicant will become a member of the Critical Public Sociology Research Group, where they will receive additional specialist support in planning for public engagement and research impact from the very beginning of the project, and they will join a highly engaged postgraduate community with a strong interest in public sociology.

Specific qualifications/subject areas required of the applicants for this project
Applicants must have a first/undergraduate Honours degree, with an Upper Second Class or First Class grade (2.1 or 1st). Applicants with a Lower Second Class grade (2.2) at first degree will be considered if they also have a postgraduate Masters degree at Merit. We welcome applicants from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, in particular Sociology, Geography, Cultural Studies, Politics, Anthropology and History. We would also be especially interested to hear from candidates who have knowledge of and/or experience in an employment sector of relevance to the project, such as: social care, food processing, agriculture, transport and distribution, hospitality and catering.

This studentship competition is open to applicants who wish to study for a PhD on a full-time basis only. The studentship will pay UK/EU fees (currently set at £4,195 for 2017/18 and are revised annually) and provide a maintenance stipend linked to the RCUK rate (this is revised annually and is currently set at £14,553 for the academic year 2017/18) for up to three years. Applications from non-EU students are welcome, but a successful non-EU candidate would be responsible for paying the difference between non-EU and UK/EU fees. (Fees for 2017/18 are £12,900 for non-EU students and £4,195 for UK/EU students). The studentships will be expected to commence in October 2018.