Current studies are listed below. There is an associated email list and Essex users can register on the "participants" list.
If you are not a member of staff or a student at the University of Essex and wish to be added to the email list, or if you are seeking participants and would like to add your research to this page, please contact us.
Families with immigrant parents are increasingly common: one in three children born in the UK in 2023 had at least one foreign born parent. There is a large amount of research on care for separated children, but much less is known about how separation, child contact and child maintenance are negotiated in families with immigrant parents.
The information we obtain from interviews with separating parents and family lawyers will be used to help raise awareness of issues that effect an increasing number of families in the UK, and to help devise better policy to address their concerns.
We would like to speak with parents who are currently separating or have undergone separation and who:
Professor Renee Luthra [University of Essex, Department of Sociology and Criminology] will arrange a completely confidential, one hour interview, either online or at a time and place convenient to you. We will only interview one member of a separated couple.
Please get in touch by phone or email to arrange an interview:
This study has been approved by the University of Essex Ethics Subcommittee 1 - ETH2223-1656
Until 31 July 2023
Women’s sexuality is understudied, and it was only recently acknowledged that it is profoundly different to men’s sexuality. Therefore, one of the key aims of our research is to understand the nature of their sexual arousal patterns. Your participation will therefore help us in gaining knowledge about sex differences in arousal patterns and whether women’s arousal patterns may be influenced by cognitive and evolutionary factors. This study will examine how sexual arousal patterns may be influenced by cognitive and evolutionary factors and will also explore sex differences in arousal. In women only, lubrication will also be investigated. This study will also examine how well a nonintrusive measure of sexual arousal, pupil dilation, reflects people’s genital responses to sexually explicit videos of men and women.
We are especially looking for homosexual (lesbian) women, and bisexual and homosexual (gay) men to take part.
Women will be asked to attend a 2 hour and 30-minute experiment in the lab at the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex in Colchester and will receive £60 compensation for completing the experiment. Men will be asked to attend a 1 hour and 30-minute experiment in the lab and will receive £30 compensation. In the lab, in a private room we will monitor your eye-movements, using a specially adapted camera and an infrared eye-tracking device. You will view several videos on the screen, some of which are sexually explicit. With your permission, your genital arousal to the videos will be measured in addition to your eye movements. We will instruct you on how to place the measurement device and you will insert the device privately. For women only, lubrication will also be measured separately to same videos described above.
Please email sexlab@essex.ac.uk for more information
This project is funded by SeNSS DTP and the American Institute of Bisexuality.
This project was reviewed by University of Essex Ethics Sub-Committee 1 who gave a favourable opinion for the study. ETH2223-0170
Until August 2023
This research focuses on the disaggregation of the Black students’ experience at UK universities, with a focus on how the experiences of international students are shaped and represented in guidance documents provided by higher education institutions and organisations. This research will also compare the experiences of Black African UK-domiciled students to highlight specific areas of similarities and variations between Black African students. The study will gather qualitative data from Black African International and Home students of all degree levels at the University of Essex on their lived experiences. The themes explored in this paper include the sense of belonging, experiences of discrimination and racism, and financial anxiety.
Students who identify as Black African
Take part in an interview, lasting approximately between 1 hour-1.5 hours. Students will receive a £15 Amazon voucher upon completion of the interviews.
Participants who wish to take part can contact Precious Ogbonna, ISER PhD student via email (po22349@essex.ac.uk)
This research is funded by the university of Essex
This project was reviewed by the Departmental Ethics Officer on behalf of the Ethics Sub-Committee 1 who gave a favourable opinion for the study. ERAMS project number ETH2223-0593
The data collection period as stated in the Ethics Approval is until 31 December 2025