This studentship aims to investigate the relationship between digital technologies and housing access in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is anticipated to involve a participatory methodology with migrants who have recently settled in Tower Hamlets. Through this collaborative and co-designed approach, the project will explore the lived experience of emergent digital infrastructures. The study’s purpose is to explore how digital technologies shape housing access, particularly for migrants seeking housing for the first time, and to understand the information sources and decision-making processes involved.
The project has three main objectives:
- Develop a new methodology combining community organizing with digital welfare studies.
- Provide empirical data on the role of digital technologies in housing access for migrants seeking housing.
- Contribute insights on digital technologies to inform local authority data practices.
The research is timely, as European welfare states are increasingly adopting digital solutions due to rising demand, budget cuts, and post-pandemic recovery. While digitalization promises efficiency, it also risks exacerbating biases, transparency, and privacy issues. The study will focus on how these effects are visible in the housing experiences of migrants. It will explore the challenges migrants face in accessing safe housing through digital platforms and how technology mediates their interactions with the welfare state.
The study contributes to three scholarly areas. First, it extends migration studies by addressing the digital consequences of the “welfare-migration nexus,” where migration regimes connect various local, national, and international levels to control borders, mobility, and welfare rights. Second, in housing studies, it unsettles the assumption that all those who access housing are citizens. Lastly, for digital welfare scholarship it adds the lived experiences of marginalized groups interacting with digital technologies, highlighting both empowering and constraining aspects.
The methodology for the study is based on community organizing principles used by Citizens UK (CUK), translated into academic research practices. CUK has deep community ties, decades of expertise in community organising and a track record of advocacy and policy impact. The PhD student will spend nine months working with CUK, conducting interviews, ethnographic research, and participatory methodologies to follow the housing experiences of migrants in Tower Hamlets including participant observations at digital outreach events and training sessions.
How to apply:
- Details on how to apply can be found in here: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/study/phd/postgraduatestudentships/
- Applicants should also complete the online LISS-DTP Diversity Monitoring Form
- The closing date for applications is 28 February 2025
- Interviews will be held on 12 March 2025
- This project is offered as full-time or part-time
- For any queries contact spir-phdstudents@qmul.ac.uk