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  • Our postgraduate research disciplines
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  • Health and wellbeing PhD | Resilience PhD

Health and wellbeing PhD | Resilience PhD

The University of Brighton welcomes PhD students to all aspects of its wide ranging and thriving research cultures in health and wellbeing, for which it draws on clinical, professional and sociological perspectives. 

Our Health and wellbeing PhD and Resilience PhD students work across practice and theory in a range of health, public health, community-based and social care-related settings, and across statutory, NHS and/or third sector services.

We offer PhD study in both full and part-time modes and welcome students with significant professional experience, who are able to use and share the career skills they have developed, as well as those who have recently completed first degrees and wish to take advantage of their academic momentum.

Recent and current PhD students have been successful in obtaining studentships covering both fees and living costs through the University of Brighton’s involvement in the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Programme. 

Our research utilises creative, community-engaged, participatory and inclusive methodologies such as co-production, as well as theory-informed qualitative health related research. You will be contributing throughout your studies to a research portfolio that has major impact on understanding the experiences of health, wellbeing and care and the provision and the systems that support it.

Expert supervision is offered, for example, across issues of social justice, resilience, public health, including inequalities in health and illness related to gender, age, sexuality including LGBTQ, disability, as well as living well with long term conditions, digital health, hospital, community and population based interventions, together with new theoretical perspectives, ethical concerns, and all aspects of professional healthcare and civil society work related to health and wellbeing. We have particular strengths in sexual health, mental health, gendered perspectives, diabetes, rehabilitation, growing older, as well as resilience with children and young people, adults and practitioner resilience.

Research into care, health and wellbeing examines interactions between lived experience, policy and practice. We understand that people, policies, protocols, norm and values, as well as different forms of knowledge and technical devices, are all necessary to the achievement of good health, wellbeing and care. We recognise care as central to people’s well-being and significant to both personal relationships and political decisions. We collaborate with users, providers and academics to ensure that our research informs current health and social care practice.

Your research as a Health and Wellbeing or Resilience PhD student will combine a range of theoretical and critical perspectives as well as bringing the skills and satisfactions that come with managing a major project and contributing to knowledge that will make a difference to individuals, families, communities and society.

Apply to 'health SCIENCES' in the applicant portal

Apply with us for funding from the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Programme

Key information

As a PhD student in health, wellbeing and/or resilience at Brighton, you will

  • benefit from a supervisory team comprising two or sometimes three members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional supervisor from another School, another research institution, or an external partner from government or industry.
  • be provided with desk space and access to a desktop PC.
  • benefit from access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Aldrich Library and other campus libraries.
  • be aligned with school and university-wide research centres/ groups as part of a supportive and developmental research community.

Academic environment

Your work will be aligned with one or more of the Research and Enterprise Groups (REGs):

  • Public Health and Wellbeing Research and Enterprise Group
  • Long-term Conditions and Rehabilitation Research and Enterprise Group
  • Care, Health & Emotional Wellbeing Research and Enterprise Group

and/or with our Centre of Research and Enterprise Excellence (CORE), the Centre of Resilience for Social Justice 

Students with research in sexuality and gender focus may also be aligned with the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender.

As a Health and wellbeing PhD or Resilience PhD student, you will take an active role in a range of intellectual and social activities within the School of Sport and Health Sciences.

The Brighton Doctoral College offers a training programme for postgraduate researchers, covering research methods and transferable (including employability) skills. Attendance at appropriate modules within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the schools’ various seminar series. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

Some of our supervisors

Profile photo for Dr Kay Aranda

Dr Kay Aranda

I am interested in supervising students in the areas of health and social inequalities, gender, sexuality and age, and/or using feminist and material feminist theories or  socio-materialist and practice related theories for revitalising approaches to health inequalities and social justice.

I have supervised in the areas of community nurses and weight, midwives roles, domestic violence, women's experiences of birth, living with back pain and supporting children with disabilities, as well as coproducing participatory research in mental health and mental health, identiy and gender.

I am currently supervising postgraduate researchers in the areas of feminist phenomenology, embodiment and sea swimming;  involvement and engagement in GP Commissioning using social material approaches; in occupational therapy and exploring narratives and the socio-material practices of embroidery; exploring coproduction of care for frail older people with district nurses; and revising supervision in a community trust using communities of practice and social learning theories

Profile photo for Dr Paul Boyle

Dr Paul Boyle

Paul values public involvement in research and is interested to support rights-based research in: living with disability; user experiences of health, social care and education services; adolescent development and working with the family; disability, human rights and rehabilitation; understanding physical disability and mental health. He supervises Masters and doctoral students undertaking qualitative research and is particularly keen to support phenomenological research.

Profile photo for Dr Josh Cameron

Dr Josh Cameron

Josh Cameron is an experienced research supervisor at masters and doctoral level. He is interested to support research into the following research areas: mental health recovery; mental health and employment; meaningful work; occupational science/justice and social justice orientated resilience. His primary expertise lies in the use of qualitative methods within a (critical) realist methodology. Josh encourages his students to adopt collaborative and participatory approaches to their research projects. He is always happy for prospective doctoral and masters students to contact him via email j.cameron@brighton.ac.uk to have an exploratory discussion.

Profile photo for Dr Channine Clarke

Dr Channine Clarke

Channine is an experienced research supervisor at both Masters and  Doctoral level. She has a particular interest in pedagogic research, including problem-based learning and practice education. She is known internationally for her research and publications on role-emerging placements and diverse practice and is interested in further research in these areas. 

As an occupational therapist, Channine is also interested in understanding the influence of occupations on health and well-being.

Channine is a qualitative researcher, with expertise in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. 

Profile photo for Dr Chris Cocking

Dr Chris Cocking

I am interested in supervising people with an interest in social psychology, crowd behaviour, or collective action. I am currently interested in public intervention in emergencies/mass casualty incidents (a concept known as 'zero-responders') and public behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its implications for emergency planning and response. Therefore, I would be especially interested in supervising emergency responders and other public health professionals who wish to do PG research. 

I am also interested in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the broader area of collective resilience in response to general adversity. I would be keen to work with health professionals interested in postgraduate research in any of these areas.  

Profile photo for Dr Natalie Edelman

Dr Natalie Edelman

Natalie has experience in supervising qualitative and quantitative research projects, as well as systematic reviews. She is particularly interested in supervising post-graduate research in sexual and reproductive health and drug use, development of clinical prediction models and complex interventions, and studies working with disenfranchised populations. Natalie also has expertise in study designs that bring criticality to quantitative approaches and which embed a meaningful degree of patient and public involvement throughout the research process.

Profile photo for Prof Angie Hart

Prof Angie Hart

Students drawn to studying with me are generally people with a commitment to social change. All of them share my passion for researching resilience-related topics and most of their studies involve some form of co-production with communities, policymakers or practitioners. Many of them also volunteer for our social enterprise Boingboing and there are loads of opportunities in our CRSJ for students to get involved in some fabulous personal development activities, for example attending conferences on behalf of our Centre, being on the Management Group, staffing a stand at international events, etc.

Prospective supervisory topics I get excited about include:Co-productive and resilience-based approaches to tackling social and environmental issues including:Child, family and adult mental healthPractitioner stress and burnoutSchools practicesHigher Education community-university partnership practices.

Profile photo for Prof Jorg Huber

Prof Jorg Huber

I am happy to supervise projects within my range of expertise which includes health psychology and applied health, medical and health care research in the widest sense. Given my background I tend to focus on quantitative and experimental or interventionist methods. Increasingly i am involved in mixed methods projects with a strong qualitative method. In the past i have supervised projects in the field of diabetes and also forensic mental health. 

My current interests are very much about applying a relationship approach to e.g. long term conditions and the way people live with and adjust to long term conditions or other health challenges. Resilience and stigma in long term coniditons is of interest to me, extending my current work on diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Exploring links around adjustment, stigma and the additional challenges due to social and health inequalities is a priority to me. Finally, development of interventions in these fields would be of considerable interest to me. 

Profile photo for Dr Alexandra Sawyer

Dr Alexandra Sawyer

Current PhD students

  • Arthur Gaillard - Production of knowledge in Sport for Development
  • Diroshi Neththikumara Haththellage - Being a woman in Sri Lanka; a phenomenological approach

I am interested in supervising Masters and PhD students in all areas of health psychology, health promotion, and public health. Particular interests include:

  • preterm birth and its impact on families;
  • parents' experiences of participating in neonatal trials;
  • sexual and reproductove health;
  • maternal mental health.
Profile photo for Prof Nigel Sherriff

Prof Nigel Sherriff

I am interested in supervising PhD candidates in a number of public health and health promotion areas. My current research (see profile) includes a global project on health services during CV-19, European research on syphilis, substance (mis)use, and LGBTI inequalities taking an international perspective. PhD candidates are welcome to contact me to develop PhD projects around these areas, but also any of the below:

  • Sexual health (including HIV and other STIs) and sexual orientation
  • Access to health and social care services for ‘vulnerable’ populations
  • Healthy public policy and health inequalities
  • Mental health
  • Parenthood (including fathers supporting breastfeeding)
  • Young people
  • LGBT lives
  • Tackling stigma and discrimination
  • Gender identities (masculinities and femininities)
  • Peer group cultures
  • Sexual assault/gender based violence/intimate partner violence

I also supervise candidates for PhD by publication and welcome applications/enquiries

Profile photo for Dr Linda Tip

Dr Linda Tip

I supervise PhD students on a variety of topics that focus on the psychological side of migration. I welcome proposals from students who want to investigate how we can improve health and well-being of ethnic and religious minority groups. This includes research into existing inequalities. For example, some of my research focuses on digital inequalities among refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, and investigates how this links to their wellbeing. In another project, we explore the digital worlds of refugee and asylum seeking children, including the risks and benefits of using of digital technology in their education.

Profile photo for Dr Laetitia Zeeman

Dr Laetitia Zeeman

Supervision support can be provided to PhD students who are interested in queer theory, poststructuralism, the application of critical social theory, new materialism, intersectionality and feminist theory in health-related research. Focus areas include LGBTQ+ health and healthcare, resilience, trans health and mental health promotion. PhD students she has supervised to completion have worked on studies employing critical social theories and qualitative creative methods. She has examined PhD/Professional Doctorate studies in the UK and further afield.  

Current PhD students 

  • H Howitt, Mike Phillips, Esther Omotola Ayoola, Amy Middleton, Aile Trumm 

Former PhD students

  • Kim Brown, Tracey Harding, Adam Kincel, Jens Schneider

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our online application portal to begin.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistance during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2022–23

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
 Full-timePart-time

UK

£4,596 

£2,298

International (including EU)

£15,282 

£7,641

International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law

£13,464 

£6,732


PhD by Publication
Full-time Part-time
 N/A  £2,298 (UK)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

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