Aalto Peltoniemi
Social Policy
University of Bristol September 2024Start date: September 2024
Research topic: Exploring young peoples’ and teachers' perceptions of physical punishment in Harare, Zimbabwe
My research project intends to explore young peoples’ and teachers’ perspectives of physical punishment of children in Harare, Zimbabwe. I will gather views of young people and teachers in Harare using qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews and creative methods. The research will draw upon concepts from the social studies of childhood and explore the issue from children’s rights and decolonial perspectives. It aims to gain valuable insight into the views of children experiencing physical punishment in schools and contribute to discussions about the use of physical punishment in Zimbabwe and potentially beyond.Research supervisors: Dr Afua Twum-Danso Imoh, Dr Vicky Sharley
Email: aalto.peltoniemi@bristol.ac.uk
Angus Ryan
Social Policy, Social Policy Alumni
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC+3)
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: October 2017
Research topic: Corporate crime punishment
Research suggests that social policy is inadequate in regulating health and safety offences, as a large amount of harm bypasses the criminal justice system. I believe the largest gap in policy is how these offences are dealt with. My research uses interviews and focus groups to build a case for alternative punishments for health and safety offences. I aim to answer the following questions:1) Are current sanctions effective for the control of safety crime?
2) Are community sentence orders or equity fines better suited to punish and deter corporate offenders?
To answer these questions I look at the regulation and punishment of health and safety nationally and internationally.
Research supervisors: Ms Christina Pantazis, Dr Demi Patsios
Email: ar15943@bristol.ac.uk
Becky White
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Victim as Participant: Exploring the relationship between victim participation, legally represented within the court space, and retributive justice outcomes at the International Criminal Court
My research will examine the impact on retributive justice outcomes of victim participation, through legal representation by the Office for Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV), at the International Criminal Court. Restorative justice appears to be the focus of research in this area to date, however I would like to move beyond emotional or moral justifications for victim participation and explore the function served by the OPCV to both notions of justice and truth within the court space.Research supervisors: Professor Christina Pantazis, Dr Natasha Mulvihill
Professional memberships/Positions held:
SWDTP Student RepEmail: becky.white@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-white-644bb853
Bliss Magdalena Qadesh
Social Policy
+3
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: September 2023
Research topic: Intimate Partner Violence and Spiritual Abuse Amongst Pagans
This project aims to explore the lived experiences of people identifying as Pagan within the United Kingdom in relationship to gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, domestic abuse, and spiritual abuse. The diverse practices and culture of Paganism as a religious and spiritual identifying population in Britain will be examined in the context of ways that Paganism can support abuse survivors through empowerment, emancipation and recovery, or exacerbate harms by enabling and protecting perpetrators in continued abuse through further marginalisation and exclusion of those who disclose their experiences of abuse within the community.Research supervisors: Natasha Mulvihill, Nadia Aghtaie
Email: er16915@bristol.ac.uk
Catriona Brickel
Social Policy
1+3
University of Bath, Department of Social & Policy SciencesStart date: October 2023
Research topic: Exploring the expectations and experiences of bereaved people who create digital memorials via charitable giving.
In-memoriam giving is a substantial source of funds for charities in the UK but there has been little empirical work to understand how it might support (or hinder) individuals in coping with loss. After working in charitable fundraising, I have seen charities invest in digital forms of giving and memorialisation with good intentions, but with little guidance as to how bereaved people may be affected.By adopting a participatory methodology and co-creating this research with charities, I plan to maximise the utility of this research project, enabling better outcomes for charities and bereaved donors alike.
Research supervisors: Dr. Kate Woodthorpe, Prof. Helen Manchester
Email: cb2795@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catriona-brickel-ab9561157/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatrionaBrickel
Daniel Lombard
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: October 2017
Research topic: “Using discourse analysis to explore personalisation in long-term care”
My project is about how older/disabled people communicate with care professionals, in the context of how personalisation is delivered in long-term care. Using an innovative methodological approach, discourse analysis, which has been pioneered at the Norah Fry Centre for Disability Studies, I aim to study the language used in interactions between professionals and clients. I am particularly interested in how the latter group express their needs and preferences regarding the way they are supported.I hope the findings will both further academic understanding in this area of social science and have a positive impact on the lives of older/disabled people and their families through practical application in the care sector.
Research supervisors: Professor Liz Lloyd, Professor Val Williams
Email: d.lombard@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellombard/
David Lawes
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: September 2015
Research topic: Housing Policy
Housing policy and intergenerational fairness.Research supervisors: Dr Alex Marsh, Dr Miza Izuhara
Professional memberships/Positions held:
CFA InstituteEmail: dl15466@mybristol.ac.uk
Emily Rickard
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC+3)
University of Bath, Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesStart date: September 2018
Research topic: Knowledge brokers or third-party influencers: The role of Think-Tanks in relation to Pharmaceutical and Food and Beverage policy
Research supervisors: Anna Gilmore, Piotr Ozieranski, Dr Jordan Tchilingirian
Email: e.j.rickard@bath.ac.uk
Giulia Ferranti
Social Policy
Social Policy +3
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: September 2021
Research topic: Zemiology, Migration and Criminal Justice
Despite representing a mere 13% of the Italian population, immigrants make up 32,5% of its prison population. I will be examining the reasons behind this overrepresentation, a subject that has received scant academic attention hitherto. An overwhelming focus on immigration detention has, in fact, left the criminal prosecution of migrants largely overlooked. Using participatory methodologies, I therefore aim to develop an appropriate information base, providing a multiperspectival and intersectional account of the relationship between migration, individuality, and criminal justice, and assessing the potential contribution of the criminal justice process in such overrepresentation and the production and entrenchment of social harm.Research supervisors: Victoria Canning, Natasha Carver
Email: cb21397@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-ferranti-7891821b3/
Jamie O’Connor
Social Policy
1+3
University of Bristol, School for Social Policy StudiesStart date: September 2023
Research topic: Tightening the Waist Band: Is better regulation needed to reduce harmful practices of the diet industry?
My research examines the harmful impacts of the diet industry, focusing on how its corporate structures and lack of regulation perpetuate harm. By applying critical criminology and zemiology, I aim to reveal the broader cultural, social, and financial harms experienced by women targeted by commercialised dieting. Through detailed case studies and interviews, I will explore women’s lived experiences with weight-loss companies and investigate the industry’s regulatory landscape. My goal is to provide actionable insights that can improve policies, enhance corporate responsibility, and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes and support for women engaged in weight-loss efforts.Research supervisors: Dr Joanna Large, Dr Zoi Toumpakari
Email: Jaimieoconnor@gmail.com
Kate Bowen-Viner
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Menstruation Messages and Young People
Existing research indicates that menstruation stigma is widespread and problematic for young people of all genders.My research involves understanding the messages young people receive about menstruation from different sources, including: advertisements, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and families. The project will explore how young people position themselves, and menstruation, in relation to dominant menstruation discourses.
Findings from this research will provide insights into stigmatising menstruation discourses and how young people respond to them. I hope findings will help education policy-makers and practitioners to structure and deliver menstruation education in RSE.
Research supervisors: Professor Debbie Watson, Dr Jon Symonds
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Student Representative, School for Policy Studies Research Ethics CommitteeEmail: kate.bowen-viner@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kate-bowen-viner-60a4a0140
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateBV
Kayleigh Charlton
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy ESRC (+3)
University of Bath, Department of Social and Policy StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Creating ‘healthy’ prisons for women: incorporating gender-sensitive thinking into penal design, policy and planning.
My project is concerned with the experiences and treatment of those incarcerated within women’s prisons across Scotland, Ireland, England & Wales. A history of poor mental health is one of the most common shared experience in prison (Angiolini, 2012). Despite this, mental health within prisons remains the most seemingly intractable issues. This research aims to examine whether ‘gender sensitive’ thinking should feed into penal design and policy, a gender responsive approach is one that aims to reflect – through design and services – the realities of women’s lives, addressing various social and cultural factors and the pathways that lead them to criminality.Research supervisors: Professor Yvonne Jewkes (Bath), Dr. Frances Amery (Bath)
Email: kaec21@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayleigh-charlton-88a41b140/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlton_k
Michelle James
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC +3)
University of Bath, Department of Social and Policy StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Can Community-based Social Protection Interventions Improve the Wellbeing of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the United Kingdom?
My PhD will investigate the wellbeing of asylum seekers and refugees in the South West of England/Wales and, specifically, how taking part/reciprocity/volunteering in semi-formal and informal social protection interventions impacts their wellbeing positively and negatively. I also plan to investigate the politics and power structures associated with volunteering as an asylum seeker or refugee. My PhD will test a new research method in this field, using peer interviewers to collect data and the Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP) evaluation tool to organise and analyse the findings.Research supervisors: Professor Rachel Forester-Jones, Professor James Copestake
Email: mj773@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-james-9704438b
Mónica Sánchez Hernández
Social Policy
1+3
University of Bristol September 2021Start date: September 2021
Research topic: Fatherhood, Breadwinning, and Search for Respect: The Mandates of Manhood within and without prison
I am an Indigenous-rooted, working-class woman from the Global South/Global Majority. I am currently completing a PhD in Social Policy at the University of Bristol. With the support of various grants-sponsors, I have studied at universities in Brazil, Belgium, Mexico, and France. My work experience has centered on education programmes for incarcerated men in Mexico City.My present research examines understandings of manhood within and without prison of those accused of Intimate Partner Violence using art-based methods and decolonising methodologies in Oaxaca, Mexico.
My interests include anti, decolonial and communitarian feminism, anti-punitivism, restorative justice, manhood studies and decolonial praxis.
Research supervisors: Prof Christina Pantazis, Dr Jade Levell
Email: monica.sanchezhernandez@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicasanchezhernandez/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/monicabrsh
Polly Baynes
Social Policy
ESRC 1+3
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: September 2022
Research topic: Women's work? Social work practice in protecting children from male violence from 1889 to 2010
My research will be based on case files over a 120 year period, exploring change and continuity in social work responses to male violence, attribution of agency in and responsibility for protecting children and the influence of first and second wave feminism. I want to reflect on social work encounters as gendered spaces in which female workers traditionally laid claim to expertise on the basis of maternalism and in which working class women continue to work a ‘third shift’, managing the risks and opportunities of child protection interventions. What can contemporary social workers learn from the history of their profession? How can history become a resource in work with women who have social workers involved in their lives?Research supervisors: Aisha Gill, Josie McLellan
Email: polly.baynes.2022@bristol.ac.uk
Polly Maxwell
Social Policy
+3
University of Bath, Department of Social & Policy SciencesStart date: October 2023
Research topic: Death & dying in the queer family
Polly identifies as an overall queer human and social researcher. Their research aims to affirm the queer experience of care, death & dying, with a focus not only on inequities faced by this community but also what wider society can learn from queer approaches. Death & dying in the queer family is a project that explores queer family experiences of caring for a family member at end-of-life. The project aims to make visible the diversity of family forms in our society, the diverse and evolving ways these forms “do” family, and the need for a relational understanding of care at the end-of-life.Research supervisors: Dr Kate Woodthorpe, Dr Lucy Selman
Email: pem40@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polly-maxwell-6a5aaa23b/
Sam Hooker
Social Policy, Student Rep
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bath, Centre for Death and SocietyStart date: October 2020
Research topic: How feasible is caring for the deceased at home in the UK, and to what extent does this help bereaved families?
My research will explore the benefits and challenges of caring for a deceased person’s body at home, and the extent to which this helps (or hinders) bereaved individuals, families and communities in coming to terms with the death and their grief experience.Research supervisors: Dr Kate Woodthorpe, Dr John Troyer
Professional memberships/Positions held:
SWDTP Student RepEmail: smh83@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-hooker-231065101
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samantha_may9
Sarah Brown
Social Policy
PhD Researcher in Social Policy (ESRC +3)
University of Bath, Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesStart date: September 2018
Research topic: Creativity and wellbeing in developing countries: beyond the separation of ‘making’ and ‘thinking’
Research supervisors: Professor Sarah White, Dr Cassandra Phoenix
Email: seb64@bath.ac.uk
Simon Cook
Social Policy
Match Funded
University of Bath, Social and Policy SciencesStart date: September 2024
Research topic: Innovation vs Rhetoric: designing and adopting alternative approaches to irregular migration in the context of nationalist politics in the UK
My research will investigate the adoption of alternative approaches to irregular migration in the UK since 2018. The inception, delivery and evaluation of pilots under the Conservative government occurred amidst explicit appeals to anti-immigrant sentiment, populism and nationalism, focused on exclusion and deportation. Despite demonstrating successful alternative irregular migration approaches, including ‘alternatives to detention’, government policy continues to draw on the Border Spectacle, illegalisation of migrants, and racialisation of immigration in political discourse and rhetoric. By unearthing the underlying dynamics driving UK immigration rhetoric and policymaking, my work will bridge divides between rhetoric, statutory / humanitarian responses and lived experience.Research supervisors: Dr Katharina Lenner, Dr Emma Carmel
Email: sjc240@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-cook123/
Website/Blog: https://www.navigatingmigration.org/
Zia Saylor
Social Policy
University of Bristol, School for Policy StudiesStart date: September 2024
Research topic: The Impact of South African Load-shedding on Multidimensional Well-being
PublicationsAguillon, Yasmin, Dylan Alvarenga, Pamela E. Harris, Surya Kotapati, J. Carlos Martínez Mori, Casandra D. Monroe, Zia Saylor, Camelle Tieu, and Dwight Anderson Williams. 2023. “On Parking Functions and The Tower of Hanoi.” The American Mathematical Monthly 130 (7): 618–24. doi:10.1080/00029890.2023.2206311.
Saylor, Zia (2020) “Analyzing and Decomposing South African Income Inequality by Income Source, Race, and Poverty Level for 2008 and 2014,” Undergraduate Economic Review: Vol. 17: Iss. 1, Article 13.
Research supervisors: Julia Gumy, Dave Gordon
Email: zia.saylor.2023@bristol.ac.uk
South West Doctoral Training Partnership
