Northumbria University’s
Urban Futures Interdisciplinary Research Theme
is advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship at the nexus of
young mens’ health/wellbeing and urban social infrastructures (USIs) in UK-Cities. Cosupervised by Jason Luger (Human Geography), Ozge Dilaver (Business) and Lisa Thomas (Psychology), this is an exciting opportunity for a cross-disciplinary exploration with support from the IDRT. These studentship positions are only available to Home/UK students. To be classed as a Home student, candidates must: Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or have settled status, or have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or have indefinite leave to remain or enter. The studentship includes a full stipend at UKRI rates (for 2024/25 FT study this is £19,237 per year) and full tuition fees. Project Overview: How do young mens’ online social worlds translate to offline urban social infrastructures (USI), and how can these USI’s improve health and wellbeing? While men are often thought of as privileged holders of the right to the city, recent research indicates that young men (age 15-24) in UK cities face multiple and interrelated health/wellbeing crises including depression, anxiety and loneliness (Mental Health UK); insecurity, and poor body image (Mitchison et al., 2022). Intersectionality of multiple identity categories, digital transformation and availabilities and inequalities related to urban social infrastructure (USI) are central to this dilemma. Young men differ from other cohorts in their digital technology use. They spend more than 9 hours per day on their smartphone (Ofcom, 2024). Their rights to the city, therefore, need to be considered in assemblages of online/offline interactions, virtual and physical forms of social being in the city. Online social experiences can complement and enhance, as well as substitute for/replace materiality of everyday urban experiences. While some young men face digital inequalities, others may fill experiential gaps left by physical infrastructure through technology. These interplays of agency and structure are connected to another crisis: partly due to their digital literacy and screen time, younger men are also at higher risk for exposure to extremist content such as the far-right, conspiracism/misinformation and misogyny, as indicated by the growing visibility of online ‘men’s rights’ influencers (Nilan 2021). Thus, they have increased vulnerability to political extremism and discourses of gender-based violence (GBV) (Haslop et al., 2024). Therefore, for this cohort of young men, online infrastructures take on roles as social worlds raising questions such as: How do these online social worlds translate to offline urban sites of sociality that might promote improved health/wellbeing? What sort of social infrastructures do younger men use/need/lack/require, for healthy identity formation? How might these be better-provided in UK cities, via what scales/stakeholders? This PhD project thereby explores how enhanced provision of urban social infrastructures (USI) that respond to the desires/needs of young men can improve health and wellbeing.
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Urban Futures Interdisciplinary Research Theme
is advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship at the nexus of
young mens’ health/wellbeing and urban social infrastructures (USIs) in UK-Cities. Cosupervised by Jason Luger (Human Geography), Ozge Dilaver (Business) and Lisa Thomas (Psychology), this is an exciting opportunity for a cross-disciplinary exploration with support from the IDRT. These studentship positions are only available to Home/UK students. To be classed as a Home student, candidates must: Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or have settled status, or have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or have indefinite leave to remain or enter. The studentship includes a full stipend at UKRI rates (for 2024/25 FT study this is £19,237 per year) and full tuition fees. Project Overview: How do young mens’ online social worlds translate to offline urban social infrastructures (USI), and how can these USI’s improve health and wellbeing? While men are often thought of as privileged holders of the right to the city, recent research indicates that young men (age 15-24) in UK cities face multiple and interrelated health/wellbeing crises including depression, anxiety and loneliness (Mental Health UK); insecurity, and poor body image (Mitchison et al., 2022). Intersectionality of multiple identity categories, digital transformation and availabilities and inequalities related to urban social infrastructure (USI) are central to this dilemma. Young men differ from other cohorts in their digital technology use. They spend more than 9 hours per day on their smartphone (Ofcom, 2024). Their rights to the city, therefore, need to be considered in assemblages of online/offline interactions, virtual and physical forms of social being in the city. Online social experiences can complement and enhance, as well as substitute for/replace materiality of everyday urban experiences. While some young men face digital inequalities, others may fill experiential gaps left by physical infrastructure through technology. These interplays of agency and structure are connected to another crisis: partly due to their digital literacy and screen time, younger men are also at higher risk for exposure to extremist content such as the far-right, conspiracism/misinformation and misogyny, as indicated by the growing visibility of online ‘men’s rights’ influencers (Nilan 2021). Thus, they have increased vulnerability to political extremism and discourses of gender-based violence (GBV) (Haslop et al., 2024). Therefore, for this cohort of young men, online infrastructures take on roles as social worlds raising questions such as: How do these online social worlds translate to offline urban sites of sociality that might promote improved health/wellbeing? What sort of social infrastructures do younger men use/need/lack/require, for healthy identity formation? How might these be better-provided in UK cities, via what scales/stakeholders? This PhD project thereby explores how enhanced provision of urban social infrastructures (USI) that respond to the desires/needs of young men can improve health and wellbeing.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
