North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
Looking for Utopia: A PhD Story
Ronnie Hughes, Sociology, University of Liverpool, 2018 Cohort
A Beginning
I am writing this like a story, though it could also be a PhD if such things were only meant to be less than a thousand words long. A stretch to imagine, but the story for me begins years ago with a long fascination that groups of humans might be able to make up better lives in better places for themselves. It also has another beginning just over two years ago when I applied to be doing the work I’m now doing. Back then it was to be a study of time and it’s effects on Port Sunlight, but that soon got wider and deeper once I got going with my Sociology MA and began calling it ‘Looking for Utopia’. Which it still is, for now, despite my gathering doubts about whether anything called a utopia is going to be useful in any of the places where people actually live.
Overseas Institutional Visit to Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Montreal
Niamh Kavanagh, Sociology, University of Manchester
I feel that my trip to Canada has met and surpassed all my aims and expectations. All the experience and knowledge, as well as networking will be invaluable for creating arguments and narratives for completing my PhD, disseminating my PhD findings and going forward with my academic career.
Advising National Policymakers on Improving Road Safety During and After Lockdown
Craig Arnold, Criminology, Socal Policy and Social Work, Keele University, 2019 Cohort
Through the opportunities presented by my ESRC funded PhD, I am now engaged in national programmes, including addressing the challenges posed by COVID-19. As the country entered lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, the volume of traffic on our roads dropped by around 70% following an increase in people working from home, and the avoidance of unnecessary journeys.
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.
North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership 