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ESRC WRDTP Associated Studentship - Vulnerability and Police Contact: Gendered Pathways to Drug Dependence

University: University of York

Doctoral training pathway: White Rose Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP). Main interdisciplinary pathway: Wellbeing, Health, and Communities (WHC); Secondary pathway: Security, Conflict and Justice.

Duration: 1+3 (Masters + PhD) or +3 (PhD) award. Commencing 1 October 2022.

Closing date for application forms 17:00 (UK time) 28 March 2022.

Project Outline

While constituting a relatively small group in statistical terms (approximately 1 per cent of the population), dependent drug users cause great harm to themselves, those immediately around them and the societies they live in. As such, they are a group with a substantial level of contact with policing agencies and, given their histories of adversity, a group belying the traditional policing dichotomy of victims and perpetrators, being seen as both ‘sinning and sinned against’.

Evidence suggests gender to be a crucial factor underlying people’s pathways to drug dependence, experiences of dependence and experiences of policing. Prevalence and treatment data worldwide have shown that more men use drugs and become dependent on drugs than women. Reflecting this, approximately three-quarters of those in UK drug treatment services and 86% of those arrested for drug-related offences are men. Nonetheless, despite the lower numbers, research suggests that drug dependent women experience more severe dependency due to the complexity of their personal and social circumstances and higher rates of psychiatric morbidity; greater levels of childhood and adult sexual victimisation; and experiences of addiction that are shaped by the greater gulf between social role expectations and their addict status, being more stigmatised as a result.

Research has also shown how vulnerable women and men are approached in very different ways throughout the criminal justice system, with a relative reluctance to see men as victims of their historic and current adversities.

This PGR research project therefore aims to explore the links between adversity across the life course and experiences of policing among drug dependent men and women. It will take a life course approach to understanding individual pathways into drug dependence, including the historical influence of policing contacts, and also explore users’ perceptions of how the police consider, interpret and potentially act on vulnerability in their most recent contacts.

Methods

There has been very little previous research that has focused on the development of problematic substance use over time among males and females. This is, at least in part, due to the comparative rarity of drug dependence, coupled with the chaotic nature of many users’ lives, which mean that prospective, quantitative research is extremely hard to undertake. The work that has been done has tended to be static, cross-sectional, quantitative and focused on criminal justice populations. Likewise, there is a very small literature on the policing of dependent drug users, other than the work done on the impacts of police ‘crackdowns’.

The main research method will consist of in-depth, life-history interviews with samples of drug dependent men and women, consisting both of those currently in drug treatment and the disengaged. Purposive sampling will be used to ensure diversity across race and age, given their significance in perceptions of vulnerability. Interviews will also be carried out with officers and others engaged in frontline policing, to explore the themes coming out of the analysis of the user interviews.

Supervisory Team

Professor Charlie Lloyd (PI and Centre Co-Director) and Dr Geoff Page (Co-supervisor) will provide the academic supervision, both based in the Department of Social Policy. The principal supervisor will be Professor Lloyd, who is Director of the Graduate School in SPSW and has successfully supervised three students to completion, with five currently under supervision. This will be Dr Geoff Page’s first PhD supervision, providing important experience and career development through the Centre. They have worked together on numerous research projects, the majority involving interviews with vulnerable, dependent drug users. They are therefore an ideal supervision team for this PGR project.

Studentships

Two types of studentship are available depending on the level of social science research training already completed:

 1+3 Studentships: an integrated Research Training Masters – MA Social Research at York - https://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/ma-social-research/ - followed by a 3-yearPhD programme.

+3 Studentships: 3-year PhD (applicants must demonstrate that they have already completed substantial social sciences training in research methods which would enable them to undertake an independent research project in a particular discipline or interdisciplinary field. An applicant must have at least 60 credits at Masters level of core social sciences research methods acquired in the last five years. This must include a broad range of methods, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods and the use of appropriate software/tools for their application, and comprehension of principles of research design and strategy, and an appreciation of alternative approaches to research).

Funding

  • The award will cover fees at standard Research Council rates
  • A maintenance grant at the standard UKRI rate (£15,609 in Session 2021/22)
  • Research Training Support Grant which covers travel and research costs during the PhD part of the award

How to apply

This is a two-part application process:

Firstly, applicants applying on both 1+3 and +3 basis must apply through the SPSW PhD application site - https://www.york.ac.uk/spsw/phd-mphil-programmes/#d.en.76862.

Conditions relating to PhDs undertaken within the Department will apply as described on this site.

However in filling out the online form please provide all of the requested information except:

  1. Under the Research Proposal summary on the online form, please write the title of the studentship: Vulnerability and Police Contact: Gendered Pathways to Drug Dependence and list the supervisors as Professor Lloyd and Dr Page.
  2. Instead of providing a research proposal, please provide a covering letter addressing:
  1. The salient challenges in researching this topic, including any methodological issues
  2. Any particularly directions in which they would wish to take the project

Secondly, once you have applied for a place on the SPSW PhD programme, please then fill out the ESRC WRDTP studentship application form.

After receipt of your application, the Department will interview selected candidates and, if successful at interview, you will be nominated for support from the ESRC WRDTP.