Building Stronger Communities: Welcoming Six New PhD Researchers to the Centre

Emma Price

Emma’s PhD project will explore relational pathways, looking at young women, poverty, dignity and geographies of work and support.

Emma’s research focuses on gender, youth and futures of work in the North West. She specialises in participatory methods, building on her service design and social innovation background. Her previous work with community organisations, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the National Lottery, and NHS GM, grew models of community power, participation and partnerships across Greater Manchester to tackle health and wellbeing inequalities. 

Charlotte Llewellyn

Charlotte’s PhD project is focussing on the queer community’s experience of England’s post-war New Towns.

Charlotte’s research draws on queer and feminist theories to explore the UK’s planning system, with a particular focus on the garden city movement and post-war new towns. Charlotte’s PhD will explore the queer communities’ experience in the post-war new towns and consider how we can make the next generation of new towns more inclusive for queer residents and visitors.

Before joining us here at the Centre, Charlotte previously worked for the Town and Country Planning Association.

Faraja Kirubi

Faraja’s PhD project explores co-producing inclusive leadership for social connectedness and resilience, and investigates how inclusive leadership can enhance social connectedness and resilience among the Maasai of Tanzania through participatory community development.

Faraja is a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship recipient, and he has over six years of experience in managing programmes that promote gender equity, refugee protection, and youth inclusion across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Tash Cullen

Tash’s PhD project investigates creative health interventions to strengthen community connectedness, health and wellbeing in minority ethnic, disabled and LGBTQ+ groups.

Tash’s background is in Psychology, and she has recently completed a masters in Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics and Creativity. Tash previously held a Research Associate position within Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Alongside her PhD, Tash works directly with communities, conducting peer research as part of Wolverhampton’s City of Youth Culture programme.

Bringing all this together, along with her own artistic practice, Tash’s PhD will explore how Creative Health can be used to foster health, wellbeing and community connectedness amongst underrepresented groups.

Charlotte Hutton

Charlotte’s PhD research focuses on exploring place-based identity and community connectedness within a council estate community.

Charlotte will be using qualitative, participatory, and autoethnographic methodologies to understand the culture of a council estate community and identify how engagement in charitable support services is affected by factors such as trust or social class differences.

Charlotte has a background in grass-roots community development, specialising in developing wellbeing groups for people experiencing multiple socio-economic disadvantage.

Bevan Richardson

Bevan’s PhD project focuses on Social Capital and the Emancipatory Power Framework.

Bevan will be applying Bourdieusian social capital theory to social movement work, exploring the link between social capital and the Emancipatory Power Framework through a focus on health and wellbeing.

Bevan has 20 years of experience as a volunteer, campaigner, activist, community worker and cook. He also recently completed an MSc in Public Health at Sheffield Hallam University, before joining us here at the centre.