Job Summary
- Applications close:
- Job posted on: 20th Oct 2020
La Trobe University is offering up to three graduate research scholarships for students to undertake a joint PhD with Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
Students undertaking the joint PhD program will be enrolled in a PhD at both institutions. Your supervisory team will comprise of academic staff from both institutions who will provide support and guidance throughout your research.
You will begin your studies at La Trobe University where you will spend the majority of your time, but with an expectation that you will spend typically 12 months at Sheffield Hallam University. Travel to and study at the host institution will be subject to the usual immigration requirements.
On successful completion of the program requirements, you will be awarded a PhD jointly by both institutions.
There are five joint PhD projects available to applicants, one of which is a comparative study of community influence on alcohol licensing in Australia and the UK. This project is offered by La Trobe University’s Centre for Alcohol Policy Research and the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics at Sheffield Hallam University. For this project we are seeking an outstanding applicant with a strong track record of academic excellence in public health, social policy or other social science disciplines.
This Scholarship is available to Australian or New Zealand citizens or Australian Permanent Residents only.
CAPR is an innovative, multi-disciplinary world-class research facility at the forefront of alcohol research. Our research is used to promote and inform the development of evidence-based, effective alcohol policy in Australia and internationally. Our team of established and emerging experts, both in alcohol and related fields and research methods, offers doctoral students the opportunity to develop and maximise their skills, networks and careers.
Sheffield Hallam’s Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics offers a multi-disciplinary and varied research environment, with research degree students and academics working across health, wellbeing, and policy fields, among others. Strong cross-centre collaborations within SHU provide doctoral students access to other research centres/groups, which have relevance for the focus of this PhD, including the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, the Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies and the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster.
The availability and accessibility of alcohol have substantial impacts on the health and wellbeing of populations. Alcohol availability is regulated by licensing laws in Australia and the UK, intended to support local economic and cultural interests but also to protect populations from alcohol-related crime and other health and social harms. The Project aims to generate important new knowledge on how the unique licensing legislation, policy, social and historical contexts in the UK and Australia shape opportunities for community involvement in, and potential influence over, alcohol licensing decisions. For example, the Project will investigate how ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ mechanisms might shape who in the community becomes involved in each context, and therefore whose voices are (and are not) heard when alcohol licensing decisions are made. This has implications for the health and social inequalities faced by some disadvantaged groups in relation to alcohol harms.
This PhD research is an opportunity for a comparative case study of examples of community involvement in alcohol licensing processes, to understand more about how communities can be supported to help limit the health and social harms from alcohol in their local areas.
The Project reflects the supervisory team’s shared research interests in local and regional alcohol policy, and its relationship with health. More specifically, there is shared interest in the role of alcohol licensing in reducing health and social harms, and in mechanisms and impacts of community engagement in decision-making. The supervisors for this Project are Prof Emmanuel Kuntsche, Dr Claire Wilkinson (La Trobe); Dr Joanna Reynolds, Prof. Paul Hickman (Sheffield Hallam).
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, applicants must have:
AND any of the following assessed at a La Trobe Masters by research standard of 70 or above:
For further information, please contact: Dr Claire Wilkinson at [email protected] using the subject line: PhD Research Scholarship – Community involvement liquor licensing enquiry via Ethical Jobs.