Andrew Macdonald

Biography

Andrew originally joined the University of York in 2013 as a foundation student in the Physics department. Having passed his foundation degree Andrew completed the first year of a Maths degree before transferring to the Sociology department.

Having completed his undergraduate degree in Sociology, during which time Andrew was also a student rep, Andrew remained at York and completed a master’s degree in social research methods. Having won ESRC funding through the White Rose Doctoral Training programme Andrew began his PhD in 2020 supervised by Richard Tutton and Tom O’Brien. Andrew’s research project examines youth climate activism (YCA) looking at if and how it enables 13-21 to express themselves democratically as citizens. It also examines media responses to YCA and how 13-21 year olds conceptualise their futures when faced with an existential threat such as the climate catastrophe.

Education:

BA (Hons) - Sociology, The University of York

MA - Social Research Methods, Research centre for social sciences, the University of York

PhD (In progress)- Sociology, The University of York

Research

My PhD is focused upon Youth Climate activism (YCA) examining how 13-21 year olds use YCA to express themselves democratically and exercise their citizenship. My research will also examine how civil (adult) society has responded to the mass intervention of young people in addressing the climate crisis and how YCA activists picture their own futures when faced with such an existential threat. I am supervised by Richard Tutton and Tom O’Brien.

Teaching

As of the 2021/22 academic year I will be a GTA on the Introduction to Social Theory module for Undergraduate students.