The virtual social cure: Exploring the impact of online group memberships on health and well-being.

The ‘Social Cure’ paradigm in social psychology has made significant advances in understanding when, why, and how group memberships influence health. However, this perspective has primarily investigated ‘real-world’ groups and has neglected online group memberships. This is an important omission, given the considerable role online groups play in supporting individuals during major life changes, living with physical and mental illness, and stimulating social change.

The proposed PhD will take a novel approach to exploring this gap by using insights from social identity theory, identity process theory, and online social networking research. It will combine quasi-experimental methods and the collection of digitally derived network data to explore: (1) whether online groups have positive associations with health in the way ‘offline’ groups do, (2) how online groups are integrated alongside offline groups within an individual’s identity network, and (3) the potential ways in which online groups supplement, rather than replace, ‘real-world’ connections. The project has the potential to push into new theoretical ground in addition to informing the development of innovative health interventions.

The Department of Psychology at NTU was one of the top risers in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. Our applied research was rated as either world leading (73%) or internationally excellent (27%), together with a substantial proportion of our research outputs (60%). We house over 60 PGR students and offer extensive training, including specialist methods training. All PGRs attend their respective Research Group meetings so that they are part of the Department’s research culture. During the current REF period, this support together with the strength of our postgraduate students has enabled PGRs to produce 103 papers (averaging 1.63 per PGR), present at over 80 national/international conferences, win prestigious awards (e.g., PsyPAG Rising Researcher Award), and progress into research or academic roles either within the Department or externally.

Specific qualifications/subject areas required of the applicants for this project
Entrants must have a first/undergraduate Honours degree, with an Upper Second Class or a First Class grade, in Psychology. Entrants with a Lower Second Class grade at first degree must also have a postgraduate Masters Degree at Merit.

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.