Child and youth studies

Child and youth studies is in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport. We draw on various approaches and methodologies, including those from developmental psychology, childhood and youth studies, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. Childhood and youth studies researchers have good contacts with nurseries, preschools, primary and secondary schools, young people, and families. We are an active interdisciplinary group in various research clusters and centres.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and an MA or research methods training at MA level (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English.

Potential research projects

We are interested in research topics related in some way to the themes noted below:

• Children and young people: experiences, identities, spaces, voice, and agency
• Young people: gender relations, masculinities, and femininities
• The impacts of social and cultural change on children and young people
• Learning, education, disability, and technology
• The development of thinking, social relationships, and representations
• International perspectives on childhood and youth
• Child and young person-led research projects, including rights-based work, learning and support for families experiencing a serious illness
• Children's health and well-being in body, mind, and media

Current/recent research projects

• Outdoor pedagogies for babies and young children
• Tackling underperformance by school leaders
• The adultification of Black children and youth within the UK education and justice systems
• The reading lives of Ghanaian children
• Exploring classroom talk in Ghanaian basic schools
• British Sign Language (BSL) as a Welsh language acquisition strategy for all learners in Welsh-medium early years settings
• The effect of technology on childhood wellbeing for primary aged children in Wales
• Perceptions of school-led learning outside of school focussing on children with special educational needs and disabilities
• The role of self-advocacy in the development of personal agency for children and young people with a vision impairment
• The inclusion of children with visual impairments and children with hearing impairments in mainstream primary schools in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya
• The inclusion of students with special educational needs in Jamaican public schools
• How pre-school children with a disability experience outdoor play and learning in a forest school/nature kindergarten in mainstream education settings in Scotland
• How do Adolescents with dyslexia experience school
• Understanding how gender plays out in the Early Years
• Children's physical activity experiences through the transition into secondary school

Potential supervisors

• Professor Victoria Cooper
• Dr Jane Dorrian
• Dr Amber Fensham-Smith
• Dr Pam Foley
• Dr Naomi Holford
• Dr Karen Horsley
• Dr Paul Ibbotson
• Dr Joanne Josephidou
• Dr Lucy Rodriguez-Leon
• Professor Kieron Sheehy
• Professor Mimi Tatlow-Golden
• Dr Eleonora Teszenyi

Fees and funding

PhD fees

Professional doctorate fees

Some of our research students are funded via the Faculty or The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership; others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, visit Current studentships.

Links

• Childhoods, Youth and Sport Group
• Children's Research Centre
• Centre for Children’s Wellbeing: Body, Mind and Media
• Centre for Literacy and Social Justice