The LSE ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership is pleased to offer the following Collaborative Studentship, commencing in September 2025:
Project Title: Evaluating post-disaster psychosocial community recovery
Collaborative Partner: Latimer Community Art Therapy
LSE Department: Department of Methodology
Lead Supervisor: Professor Flora Cornish, f.cornish@lse.ac.uk
Project Description:
What is ‘good’ recovery for a community hit by a traumatic disaster? How can disaster-hit communities best support the resilience and flourishing of children and adolescents? How can we most appropriately evaluate post-disaster community-based psychosocial services?
The provision of mental health services has become a key plank of post-disaster responses globally, but has also received strong critique for individualising social harms. Art psychotherapy, delivered within a community framework, is one approach that links individual and social recovery, with a strong track record in disaster contexts. While significant professional expertise has been developed in this area, the evaluation of complex psychosocial interventions, to explore their impacts at individual and collective levels, raises significant methodological and conceptual challenges.
Working in collaboration with Latimer Community Art Therapy (LCAT), the project comprises a case study of LCAT’s work in contributing to community psychosocial recovery, after the Grenfell Tower fire. LCAT works mainly with children and young people, through one-to-one and groupwork, in school and community settings. Linking the psychological and the social, LCAT’s art psychotherapy benefits from its grounding in community, and its community work is informed by psychodynamic art therapy principles. The project will advance theoretical understandings of psychosocial recovery, setting out an appropriate “theory of change” for art psychotherapy post-disaster. It will then use appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate LCAT’s services, contributing to methodological literature on the evaluation of complex, locally-grounded, psychosocial interventions.
Length of studentship:
The studentship will commence in September 2025, with a minimum duration of 4 years. The award length offered may differ depending on the successful candidate’s experience and training requirements. The successful candidate may take courses in the Department of Methodology or other relevant departments, during their first year of study, as appropriate to the planned research.
LSE ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership Collaborative Studentships cover full fees and an annual stipend. The stipend per year for 2024/25 entry was £21,237.
Candidate Requirements:
- Masters degree in a relevant subject (e.g. Art Psychotherapy; Community Psychology; Youth Studies; Community Development)
- Practical experience of psychodynamically-informed work with individuals or groups
- Interest in impact evaluation of community recovery post-disaster
- Experience working with diverse, inner-city communities
How to apply:
It is recommended you discuss your suitability for this studentship with the lead supervisor in advance of making your application.
To apply for this Collaborative Studentship, you should make an application to the MPhil/PhD in Social Research Methods. You should clearly cite the Collaborative Studentship project title and outline your suitability for the Studentship within your application. Please note this will only constitute an application for admission for the Collaborative Studentship.
Deadline for applications:
The deadline for consideration for this Collaborative Studentship is 25 April 2025.
Please note that deadlines for other LSE PhD Studentships and LSE ESRC DTP Studentships may have earlier deadlines. You should check the relevant programme page for further information.
Enquiries regarding the application process should directed to Pam Rolfe, Deputy Head of Scholarships and Financial Support (p.rolfe@lse.ac.uk)