Funded PhDs are now being advertised at Sheffield Hallam University. Two projects within ‘education’ are relevant to those interested in disability studies.
Project 3: Exploring the body in education: thinking through gender and dis/ability Although the place of the body within education has been theorised in relation to gender and sexuality (e.g. Paechter, 2004), rarely does it engage with the views of disabled children and young people. Yet, disability is an embodied phenomenon which mediates relations to the world (Titchkosky, 2011; Slater, 2015). This research would use ‘the body’ as a place to bring together disability studies, and theories relating to gender, sexualities and education. The student would be joining a team experienced in working creatively with disabled and non-disabled children/young people through scholarship and research. The research would be qualitative and could use creative, participatory and/or arts-based methodologies. For further information, or informal discussion, please contact Dr Jenny Slater (j.slater@shu.ac.uk)
Project 7: Supporting the development of a sense of self in children and young people with autism It is now 20 years since Jordan and Powell (1995) claimed that the relationship between self and experience is unique in autism. This study will review what has been learnt since about the ‘experiencing self’ in children and young people with autism and explore how schools currently understand and respond to the concept. This is likely to be an ethnographic study across a number of schools that will utilise observation and interview. Applicants will be able to select an alternative research design but it must be founded upon enabling understandings of autism that respect and celebrate human difference. For further information, or informal discussion, please contact Professor Nick Hodge (n.s.hodge@shu.ac.uk)