North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
Music to Write By: The Sounds That Heaven Makes
Ronnie Hughes, Sociology, University of Liverpool, 2018 Cohort
For nearly all of my days I’ve loved music, virtually all music. Vast amounts of it have defined whole periods of my life. After the obvious Beatles days of growing up there was Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue to Héjira’ period, succeeded by David Bowie’s ‘Berlin Trilogy’ then a noisy amalgam ‘Heaven up here’ period of Blondie, Chic and, yes, Echo and the Bunnymen, while I was constantly out with my housing and community work friends in the early 1980s.
My PhD research estimating Healthy Working Life Expectancy in England
Marty Parker, Health and Wellbeing, Keele University, 2017 Cohort
Over the last few years I’ve been using advanced quantitative methods to research health and paid work participation in older age groups. Countries all over the world are experiencing population ageing and increasing life expectancy. There are more and more older adults compared to those of working-age, and people are being expected to work until they are older.
HOUSE AND HOME: Nostell Priory’s Doll’s House
Ruby Rutter, Economic and Social History, University of Manchester, 2017 Cohort
If you’re beginning to feel a little cooped up after spending weeks at home, spare a thought for the dolls in the baby house at Nostell Priory near Wakefield, who have been ‘staying at home’ for nearly three hundred years. That is until earlier this year when staff at the National Trust property were given the green light to begin painstakingly restoring the house and its contents in preparation for a new exhibition, Miniature Worlds. As part of a three-month placement with the National Trust, I have been working with Nostell’s curator Simon McCormack, to better establish what role doll’s houses like this one played in the daily life of the eighteenth-century country house.
Attending the Nordic Geographers Meeting in Trondheim, Norway
Abi O’Connor, Sociology, University of Liverpool, 2018 Cohort
Over the past few years it’s become apparent that everyone’s reasons for pursuing a PhD differ (and can change over time). For me personally, one of the most appealing aspects was the opportunity to travel, both near and far, which would allow me to get to know people from various institutions be it through conference participation, attending seminars or conducting fieldwork.
North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership 