The South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership is currently advertising two full PhD bursaries for UK / EU students related to the QoWL Research Group

1. The impact of stress on facial expression and social networks in older adults

Older adults with larger and more supportive social networks are healthier and happier. The composition of an individual’s social network changes throughout life, however, and so new friendships must be formed to maintain a supportive network. Yet an individual’s ability to form new friendships is not well understood. This project will investigate both the societal factors and biological mechanisms associated with friendship formation in older adults, and determine whether physical and social stress that can be associated with ageing impacts on an individual’s ability to interact with others and form new friendships. This project is interdisciplinary between Social and Biological Sciences. 

2. Understanding the effects of educational attainment, household and neighbourhood context on the onset and recovery of poor adolescent mentalhealth

This project will research how individual, social and educational attainment factors interconnect with school, neighbourhood and household contexts in creating risk for poor adolescent mental health. The work will also focus on how such contexts might influence recovery. Panel research data will be extracted from the secure access version of Understanding Society which is linked to individual data from the Pupil Level Annual National School Census (PLASC). Applications are welcomed from individuals with a strong undergraduate or Masters’ social science degree. Applicants must have an interest in the quantitative modelling of large datasets and be able to situate results within a health policy framework. 

Other Research Topics

The closing date for University of Portsmouth applications is 22 January 2018, 11.59 pm. To find out more about possible research topics, please contact Dr Darren Van Laar through our enquiry form.