PhD project summary:
People living with HIV (PLHIV) are faced with a compounding crisis. Shifting geopolitical priorities have seen the withdrawal of international public health funding, such as from PEPFAR, USAID and UKAID (Ten Brink et al 2025), while the rise of transnational anti-gender movements has led to growing pressure on sexuality and sexual health education and provision (Holvikivi, Holzberg and Ojeda 2025). While these dynamics are global, their effects are most pronounced in countries like South Africa, where these developments risk new forms of institutional abandonment, leaving affected communities to navigate gaps in care, information, and support.
In this context, community-based popular education initiatives have emerged as a critical tool for survival, care, and collective empowerment amongst affected communities. This PhD project examines the popular education strategies, mutual aid networks, and community initiatives PLHIV in South Africa are creating to survive and resist the risk of institutional abandonment. By investigating how these efforts can be further strengthened through participatory research and transnational engagement, it explores how collective learning about HIV is not only about sharing biomedical knowledge but a means through which communities build solidarity, challenge stigma, and advocate for themselves.
The project is mentored by Billy Holzberg (School of Education, Communication and Society) and Andrea Cornwall (Department of International Development) and is envisioned as a collaboration between two leading transnational HIV civil society organisations. The project is focused on the work of Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa’s leading grassroots HIV and health justice movement based in the anti-apartheid struggle, and is supported by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the international grassroots political group working to end the HIV pandemic, through their London chapter. While international cooperation on HIV health care provision is relatively well-established through national public health ministries, development agencies and international organisations like the WHO, this project will facilitate and deepen the collaboration of transnational grassroots community and public education actors
The PhD project will use participatory action methods to engage PLHIV in co-creating knowledge on popular education initiatives, community engagement strategies and policy recommendations in key frontline areas. The research will be structured around a 10-month fieldwork period in South Africa. It will result in a written thesis as well as a community-led Pedagogies Against Abandonment Toolkit, co-created with TAC and ACT-UP as part of the collaboration and placement, that can be used for popular education initiatives across national contexts. The outcomes will help to create and offer insights into how public education campaigns based on social justice and community-engagement can help counteract social and health inequalities in resource-stripped crisis contexts.
In addition to strong academic qualifications, the candidate should demonstrate:
- Proven experience in activism or public advocacy, particularly within HIV and/or queer activist and advocacy movements
- Prior involvement in popular and/or political education initiatives (e.g. Training for Transformation, Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
- Strong expertise in public communication and in the development of pedagogical toolkits, with the ability to effectively translate and disseminate the study’s findings to diverse audiences
- Experience working in, or in close collaboration with, community-based groups in South Africa and neighbouring regions is highly desirable
Supervisor(s):
Billy Holzberg: billy.holzberg@kcl.ac.uk
Andrea Cornwall: andrea.cornwall@kcl.ac.uk
CASE non-academic partner: Treatment Action Campaign (TAC): https://www.tac.org.za/
LISS Institution: King’s College London, Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy, School of Education, Communication and Society (ECS)
PhD Programme: PhD in Interdisciplinary Policy Studies
Full-time / Part-time: Full-time
1+3.5 or +3.5 studentship: +3.5 or 1+3.5
Fee Eligibility: Home & International eligible (UKRI eligibility guidance)
How to apply:
To apply, please complete and return the documents below to the project supervisor(s) directly
- LISS DTP CASE application form
- Academic transcripts
- References
- Additional information as stipulated in the CASE project listing
Additionally, all applicants must complete:
- LISS DTP Diversity Monitoring Form (online)
Closing date for applications: 31st January 2026
Interviews date: Weeks commencing the 16th February 2026