SENSS Collaborative Awards at Essex
In addition to the student-led studentship competition, we are also involved in three of the current SENSS collaborative studentship. Collaborative award students join an expert team of supervisors at Essex and an external partner (from industry, government, or a non-government organisation, in the UK or abroad) to work on a research project which has been developed by an academic team.
SENSS Collaborative Project 2: Understanding the links between intrahousehold dynamics and individual and household debt
Primary supervisor: Dr Silvia Avram (University of Essex)
Second supervisor: Dr Laura Fumagalli (University of Essex)
Department: Institute for Social and Economic Research
SENSS Theme: Justice, Institutions, and Social Change
Collaborative partner: Money and Pensions Service
Collaborative partner supervisor: Jair Munoz-Bugarin
Project background
This PhD will use administrative and survey data to examine accumulation and management of debt from an intrahousehold perspective. The study of debt dynamics has often been hampered by a lack of good data. This project will take advantage of newly available high-quality longitudinal data on individual and joint debt holdings to fill an important gap in our knowledge of how decisions about debt are made.
The project is a collaboration between the University of Essex and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) (https://maps.org.uk/en). MaPS is an arms lengths body sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions whose mission is to help people improve their financial wellbeing, by ensuring access to high quality money and pensions guidance and debt advice. The successful applicant will join a highly experienced interdisciplinary team led by Dr Silvia Avram and including Dr Laura Fumagalli and Dr Jair Munoz-Bugarin. The position will be based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. The project includes a 3-month placement at MaPS during which time the student will have the opportunity to directly interact with stakeholders in the debt advice sector and to gain first-hand experience of how MaPS uses evidence for policy making.
For further information about this project and the Collaborative Studentship Award, please refer to the full specification on the SENSS DTP webpage.
SENSS Collaborative Project 7: Understanding Factors Contributing to Emotional Overeating in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children
Primary supervisor: Dr Maria Laura Filippetti (University of Essex)
Second supervisor: Dr John Day (University of Essex)
Department: Department of Psychology
SENSS Theme: Health, Wellbeing and Social Care
Collaborative partner: Essex County Council
Collaborative partner supervisor: Adrian Coggins
Project background
This collaborative PhD project aims to explore the complex factors contributing to emotional overeating in toddlers from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Emotional overeating refers to eating in response to emotions, rather than hunger, and is more likely to happen in stressful situations (Hill et al., 2018). Understanding these behaviours is important because children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods are at a much higher risk of obesity. In fact, research shows that the prevalence of obesity in these areas is almost double that of children from more affluent families (NHS, 2018; Rautava et al., 2022).
By investigating the factors contributing to emotional overeating among toddlers in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, this research aims to identify ways to prevent or reduce it. The goal is to develop practical, evidence-based resources to support families and address health inequalities, which refers to differences in health outcomes between groups, often linked to factors like income or education. Thanks to its collaborative nature, this PhD will give you with both academic knowledge and practical experience, preparing you for a career in public health research, policymaking, or applied social sciences.
For further information about this project and the Collaborative Studentship Award, please refer to the full specification on the SENSS DTP webpage.
SENSS Collaborative Project 9: Gaming the morning routine: Assessing the use of gamified digital technology (Jam Up!) for helping Autistic children with their morning routine
Primary supervisor: Dr Gethin Hughes (University of Essex)
Second supervisor: Dr Anna Gui (University of Essex)
Department: Department of Psychology
SENSS Theme: Health, Wellbeing, and Social Care
Collaborative partner: Spectrum Tailored Technology Ltd. (developer of Jam Up!)
Collaborative partner supervisor: Ms. Rachael Malthouse (founder and developer of Jam Up!)
Project background
Jam Up! is a digital toolbox implemented as a mobile app, designed to empower autistic children to gain autonomy with daily tasks, like getting dressed, using gamification. The underpinning rationale behind Jam Up! is the understanding that breaking down aspects of everyday tasks into their component parts and using audio-visual modelling can support autistic children. Everyday tasks can cause overwhelm and/or hold no meaning for some autistic children. Many children find them pointless and boring. Rewards and praise to provide intrinsic and extrinsic feedback have been incorporated into Jam Up to support behavioural change for both autistic children and their parents / carers. Research within the field of occupational science recognises empowering autistic children to be more independent in everyday tasks and the use of embodied routines increases well-being and can benefit physical health.
For further information about this project and the Collaborative Studentship Award, please refer to the full specification on the SENSS DTP webpage.
