Fully Funded Vice-Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship 2022 This is an opportunity to apply for a fully funded PhD scholarship at Liverpool Hope University. This award would cover full tuition fees and a monthly maintenance grant each year (paid in monthly instalments) for a maximum of three years of full-time doctoral study (subject to evidence of satisfactory progress and periodical review as deemed suitable by the University). Indicative Title of Research Project: Providing better access to health and community for LGBTQ+ people living with chronic illnesses: researching best practice and facilitating knowledge-exchange Supervisory Team: Dr Ana Be Pereira (Principal Investigator), Dr Hannah Madden, Dr Carly Bagelman Contact: Dr Ana Be Pereira – pereira@hope.ac.uk Please get in touch if you are interested, have any questions or want to discuss your suitability further. The application process must be made through the Liverpool Hope website below. More information on the scheme and how to apply: https://www.hope.ac.uk/postgraduateresearch/feesandfunding/scholarships… The topic is already pre-defined but there is scope for you to offer your own input. The deadline for full applications is midnight (UK/GMT) on Sunday 20th November 2022. Summary of PhD research proposal: This interdisciplinary PhD research will focus on investigating how to improve access to healthcare and to a sense of community and belonging for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ+) and who are living with long-term health conditions or energy limiting chronic illness. LGBTQ+ people experience worse physical and mental health than the general population, are more likely to report chronic health conditions and face a variety of barriers when accessing healthcare and support. Both people with chronic illness and LGBTQ+ people face barriers in healthcare but the intersectional nature of this experience means challenges for this group are unique and under-researched. The project will address this by identifying best practice in healthcare and ways to improve services, using public health approaches. In addition, acquiring a chronic condition when you did not have one before often means facing new challenges and feelings of aloneness. This research will explore ways in which a sense of community and belonging can be achieved through knowledge sharing and experience exchange. Alongside other health conditions, the emergence of Long Covid has exemplified how many people who previously did not have an energy limiting chronic illness can suddenly find themselves adjusting to living with a very different reality. The research therefore focuses, in particular, on those who may be newcomers to the chronic illness community and the challenges they may face. In this situation, people are often asked to ‘come to terms’ with a new health diagnosis but often not given the tools to do this or expected to do this on their own without much support or community. This research will develop ways of empowering the chronic illness community with knowledge, practices and resources that would allow them to better understand their situation, advocate for better healthcare and find community and the desired support to have a good standard of wellbeing. The intersectional nature of disability and sexual orientation/gender identity means such groups are further marginalised in our society. However, people themselves often already hold many sources of knowledge that may not be recognised by established systems of knowledge. Furthermore, other marginalised communities also hold knowledge and know-how about living in an often-hostile society. How can we then harness knowledge and know-how from different activist communities to empower others? The project will facilitate ways in which other marginalised communities can build on this experience to create resources for this particular community. The investigation is grounded in disability studies and has a social justice lens. It will also draw from public health methodologies. Who should apply? You will be someone grounded in a social justice lens with an interest in chronic illness and the LGBT+ community and have good knowledge of debates in disability studies. You should feel at ease with doing qualitative research and working with marginalised communities. You should feel comfortable working with a topic that is already defined but also feel you can contribute further to this project with your own ideas and input. You should also have: A Masters degree with Distinction from a UK university OR; A Masters degree with Merit from a UK university, including a Distinction grade for the Dissertation [or equivalent] OR; An equivalent qualification from outside of the UK – equivalency to be judged by Liverpool Hope’s Registrar More information: Aims and objectives To investigate how to improve access to health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people with long-term health conditions or energy limiting chronic illnesses; To ascertain what already exists that could be considered good practice in terms of access to healthcare for LGBTQ+ people who live with chronic illnesses; To examine and ascertain what knowledge people already have about their lives that could be shared with others; To facilitate and develop ways of supporting and empowering people who are newer to this intersectional community; To help facilitate and develop, along with different stakeholders, knowledge exchange toolkits where successful approaches can be shared between marginalised communities.
