Have you ever worked at McDonalds?
Are you interested in the safety and wellbeing of its staff and customers, particularly those who are young people?
Do you hold a 2.i university degree?
If you answered yes to these three questions we could have the perfect post graduate opportunity for you.
The Department of Sociology at Durham University are inviting applications from individuals to undertake a fully funded 3-year PhD, plus one year Masters if required, on the topic of safeguarding in hospitality, with a particular focus on the experiences of adolescent (16-25 years) workers. This PhD studentship is sponsored by McDonald’s UK and Ireland.
The successful candidate will undertake a PhD (and MA if required) program based within the Sociology department’s Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding under the academic supervision of Prof. Carlene Firmin, Social Work (Sociology Department) in collaborative co-supervision with colleagues in the Durham Business School and the Department of Psychology.
Funding: Subject to eligibility, the scholarship covers UK Home tuition fees and a grant towards living expenses of £20,780 per annum, for three years of a PhD, plus UK Home tution fees and a £20,780 grant towards living expenses for an initial MA year (if required).
Successful applicants will also have access to a Research Training Support Grant and will be supported to deliver their PhD within the Contextual Safeguarding research programme run by Durham University.
Hours: Full time
Starts: 1st Oct 2025
The Project
The last 15 years has seen increased public and poltiical concern about the welfare of young people. Various public national inquiries have evidenced harms young people experience from peers and adults in school or college, in public spaces such as shopping centres and on transport, online, and in their first jobs. This growing concern has been accompanied by a recognition that traditional safeguarding systems (largely designed to protect younger children in family homes) are ill-equipped to meet the needs of young people during adolescence, paritculalry those who come to harm in public, school or peer contexts.
In response various communities, practitioners, policymakers and scholars have started to reimagine what safeguarding could look like; working with young people, and their families, to idenity ways for systems to increase safety in a range of contexts beyond the family home. This project will, for the first time, consider the safeguarding needs of young people within the hospitality industry, particulalry young people who are themeselves in leadership and management roles before they turn-25; identifying ways to best value, as well as safeguard, an adolescent workforce who are responding to (as well as potentilaly experiencing) harms that occur in public spaces.
The successful applicant will be supervised to develop a research project within this context, identifying the most suitable methodologies to evidence opportunities for developmentally-specific approaches to safeguarding young people in hospitality; both in terms of customers and in terms of staff. Such a unique project might suit someone from a varied academic background; for example this may equally appeal to someone with a business, pscyhology or social work degree amongst others. We are excited to see how applicants use the knowledge and skills developed through their undergraduate degree in concert with their experience of working in hospitality to turn this opportunity into a groundbreaking project.
Eligibility
The ideal candidate must have:
It is also desriable that they have current or recent experience of working in hospitality, particularly a McDonalds restaurant – although this is not essential.
How to apply
Applications should be made via the Durham University online application system: https://www.dur.ac.uk/study/pg/apply/ quoting program code L3A001 – Sociology and Social Policy.
Please state on your application under the section on Finance and Funding which scholarship you are applying for – please state ‘McDonald’s Studentship’.
Selection will be based on application documents and interview.
Supporting Documents:
Enquiries regarding the application process should be forwarded to sociology.pgradmin@durham.ac.uk . Applicants are encouraged to contact us should they wish to speak to Prof. Carlene Firmin in more detail about the scope of this opportunity, and to be put in touch with a supervisor who may be able to assist them in drafting their application.
Closing Date: Friday 16th May 2025
Interview Date: Monday 9th June 2025
Link to the full scholarship advert: McDonald's Studentship
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