Galvanising communities for the prevention of young suicide

Are you interested in understanding the role of community-based interventions in helping prevent suicides? We are inviting applications for a full-time PhD studentship funded by PAPYRUS, the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

Your application will need to be based on the project advertised below, and should include a copy of your CV (max. 4 pages) and a covering letter indicating your suitability for the project.

Background to the Project

In 2024 PAPYRUS received funding from the Department of Health and Social Care to establish new community hubs in England, to expand and develop its multifaceted approach to preventing young suicide. These new focal points for outreach, engagement, partnership working and learning add to the charity’s existing portfolio of community hubs across the UK, with a particular focus on engaging and training parents and caregivers. The hubs will also seek to galvanise key gatekeepers and ‘community pillars’ to become local PAPYRUS volunteer champions, leveraging knowledge and skills to reach and engage new and sometimes ‘less-expected’ individuals and groups, on and offline. This will be in addition to an accredited and now expanding training portfolio; 24/7 provision of helpline, webchat, text and email advice through HOPELINE247; and a wider programme of interventions, outreach activities and campaigns. All of this work will be underpinned by lived/living experience advisory groups of young people and caregivers.

Research Aims and Methods

The aim of this project will be to explore and document how this new and expanded provision operates, and its impacts within, across and potentially beyond these ‘galvanised communities’. A case study approach will be used to investigate:

How the community hubs are configured, used and understood ‘on the ground’, alongside PAPYRUS’ wider range of services;
Who engages with them, why and how (and who doesn’t, and why not);
What benefits, opportunities and challenges exist, from a variety of contexualised perspectives;
What wider learning and opportunities for improvement and scalability can be identified.

Alongside more informal ethnographic conversations and observations (in physical and online spaces), qualitative interviews and focus groups will serve to gather the views and experiences of young people, parents and caregivers, and service providers in relation to two community hubs:

A new community hub, in an area of the country with higher-than-average rates of suicide and deprivation;
An established community hub, with a consolidated programme of training and outreach activities, and strong local partnerships.

Supervisory Team

If your application is successful, you will join the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University as a Postgraduate Researcher. Here you will work with subject specialists to develop an original contribution to knowledge as well as your skills in research, communication, engagement and impact.

Your project will be supervised by Professor Lisa Marzano and Dr Laura Joyner, in collaboration with Professor David Mosse, Director of the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) at SOAS, University of London.

Entry Requirements

Essential Criteria:

MSc in a subject relevant to the intended study (e.g. Psychology, Anthropology, Public Health, Mental Health Studies, etc.) or equivalent experience of community-based fieldwork research.
Experience of working with different stakeholders, academic disciplines and/or sectors.
Experience of working with sensitive topics.
Knowledge of qualitative research methods and an interest in developing skills in ethnography, focus group and interview-based research.

Desirable Criteria:

Experience of suicide or mental health research.
Knowledge or experience of participatory research methods.

Additional requirements

We expect candidates to live within an easily commutable distance of our London campus.
This is a multi-site project which will require some (reimbursed) travel within the UK.
A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be required for the purposes of research or fieldwork involving young people or vulnerable adults.

Funding Details

The Studentship will cover a stipend (circa £19,200 per annum with yearly increments, plus outer London weighting) for 3.5 years, in addition to research training and support costs (including a budget for fieldwork and conference expenses).

Please note that, although we welcome applications from UK and international students, the studentship will only cover the cost of UK tuition fees (i.e., the additional cost of international fees is not included in the Studentship).

Start date: 15 January 2025

Closing date for applications: 1 December 2024

Interviews will be held online during week commencing 9 December 2024 (Shortlisted applicants will be notified no later than 6 December 2024).

Please email your application to Lisa Marzano ([email protected]).