Digital Bystanders and the Future of Policing - Psychology - EPSRC DTP funded PhD Studentship

This project is one of a number funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership to commence in September 2018. This project is in direct competition with others for funding; the projects which receive the best applicants will be awarded the funding.

The studentships will provide funding for a stipend which is currently £14,553 per annum for 2017-2018. It will provide research costs and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council UK rates for 42 months (3.5 years) for full-time students, pro rata for part-time students.

Please note that of the total number of projects within the competition, up to 15 studentships will be filled.

Location
Streatham Campus, Exeter

Project Description

Digital Bystanders and the Future of Policing: towards a ‘Citizen Forensics’

Digital technologies are increasingly used to record different aspects of peoples’ lives, from activity and location tracking, to social interactions and audio-visual recordings of life experiences. This wealth of digital data raises important questions about surveillance and sousveillance in modern life. For example, technology can enhance the capabilities of the state to investigate crimes and maintain public safety, but it can also undermine civil liberties and transform social relations in ways that threaten social cohesion. At the same time, technologies can enhance the power of citizens to hold authorities to account or can be used by the public to target and harass law abiding citizens. Developing new criminal justice technologies which create beneficial impacts for society as a whole, and mitigate against the dangers of abuses of power, requires careful examination of police-public relations. Take for example debates over the use of police bodycams, discussions about the collection and analysis of mobile phone footage of crimes and protests (including police brutality), or the entrapment of paedophile suspects by members of the public.

To that end, this project will work with law enforcement and community groups to understand how and why citizens might collaborate with the police to support investigations involving digital data. A key part of this will be the role of groups and social identities in motivating pro-social behaviours, as well as how public discourse on technology and police-citizen collaboration affects attitudes and public trust regarding such collaboration. The aim of the project will be to build an empirically grounded process model for collaborative evidence gathering, processing and analysis, which will help realise a vision of ‘citizen forensics’.

The successful candidate will have a background in social psychology or a related discipline and have some experience of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. They will have an interest in how research questions and impact solutions can be co-created with research partners like the Police, City Council and Civil Society groups. The candidate will also have the opportunity to work with the Software Engineering & Design (SEAD) group at The Open University (OU) through the recently awarded EPSRC Platform Grant - SAUSE: Secure, Adaptive, Usable Software Engineering (EP/R013144/1).

This 3.5 year Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Studentship pays UK tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance at current Research Council rate of £14,553 per year. EU awards are fees only

Entry Requirements

You should have or expect to achieve at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or equivalent, in Psychology or related discipline Experience in both qualitative and quantitative methods is desirable.

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the English language requirements and provide proof of proficiency.

The majority of the studentships are available for applicants who are ordinarily resident in the UK and are classed as UK/EU for tuition fee purposes. If you have not resided in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the studentship, you are not eligible for a maintenance allowance so you would need an alternative source of funding for living costs. To be eligible for fees-only funding you must be ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU.

Applicants who are classed as International for tuition fee purposes are NOT eligible for funding. International students interested in studying at the University of Exeter should search our funding database for alternative options.