Collaboratory 2025 Research Placement Project
Key Details
Project Title: Co-producing resilience and placemaking lived experience narratives with refugees and asylum seekers in Leicester using participatory action research methodology.
Deadline:11:59pm, 29 June 2025
Host University: De Montfort University
Start date: Monday 06 October 2025
Funding offer: Tax-free bursary of £1,300 (paid in 2 parts, in arrears).
Working hours: Part-time (11-14 hrs per week).
Working style: Primarily in-person at host university. Flexible working supported. Working pattern to be agreed between successful candidate and lead supervisor.
Project Supervisors
- Lead Supervisor: Dr. Zehra Ersahin (De Montfort University)
- Co-Supervisor: Dr Elizabeth Mavroudi (Loughborough University)
- Co-Supervisor: Dr. Tian Ma (De Montfort University)
- Community Supervisor: Hafsa Mitha (Leicester City of Sanctuary)
About The Project
UK government data show that there were 108,138 asylum seekers in the UK in 2024, an 18% increase from 2023, surpassing the previous peak in 2022 (Gov.uk), alongside 79,000 arrivals through humanitarian routes and 44,000 irregular migrants. Refugees and asylum seekers experience significantly higher rates of mental health challenges compared to the general population, often compounded by prolonged uncertainty, social isolation, and systemic barriers to support. Leicester is one of the largest multicultural cities in England. With a growing refugee community, there is urgent need for culturally grounded, community-driven approaches that centre resilience, wellbeing, and belonging.
This innovative community-led PhD project will explore how refugees and asylum seekers in Leicester experience, make sense of, shape, and share their mental health, wellbeing, resilience, and placemaking. The research will be carried out in close collaboration with Leicester City of Sanctuary (LCoS), part of the vibrant national City of Sanctuary network(https://cityofsanctuary.org/), providing welcome, support, and opportunities through weekly gatherings that offer vital spaces for connection and rebuilding life after displacement.
Through creative and participatory action research (PAR) methodology using photovoice and storytelling, our project will create space for individuals to reflect on their own paths, challenges, and sources of strength. Many participants will be navigating unfamiliar and challenging systems, coping with trauma, while building new lives in the face of systemic barriers. Yet within these realities, powerful acts of resilience, place-making, and collective care are continually emerging. The psychological distress and experiences resulting from migration can indeed be a risk factor for higher prevalence of mental health issues, but the lack of knowledge on how this community mediates risk amid adversities and constructs resilience for positive living is an untold story.
By co-producing knowledge with asylum seekers and refugee communities about what wellbeing and resilience look like in real, lived, evolving practices; our project will enable their narratives and agency to shape community-informed insights and practical recommendations. These will support both individuals and local services in making wellbeing more accessible, relevant, and culturally meaningful. These findings may also offer valuable insights to support Leicester City of Sanctuary’s emerging peer-support program, ensuring it is grounded in community needs and strengths.
By centring lived expertise and creative methodologies, this collaborative project will not only enhance understanding within Leicester’s diverse community but will also offer insights relevant to other UK cities and service providers seeking to build more inclusive, trauma-informed, and community-rooted systems of support.
This project has been co-created and is supported by researchers from De Montfort University, Loughborough University and partners at Leicester City of Sanctuary. The successful candidate for this project will be enrolled at De Montfort University.
Project Aims
The overall aims of this project are:
- To co-produce knowledge on mental health, wellbeing, and resilience with refugees and asylum seekers in Leicester.
- To co-develop participatory action research using creative methodology (photovoice and storytelling) to co-create knowledge on wellbeing and resilience.
- To co-create insights of how individuals and communities of asylum seekers and refugees navigate local support systems and actively construct their wellbeing and resilience.
What will the successful candidate be doing?
[This section is currently being update. Check back soon!]
Core Competencies
Category | Competencies | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) |
Comprehension and evaluation | Strong understanding of the project and its subject matter. | A / I |
Analytical, researcher mindset with keen attention to detail. | A / I | |
Communicate complex concepts with clarity and precision. | A / I | |
Able to identify connections, patterns, gaps, and irregularities in information/data. | I | |
Able to interpret data/information confidently with logic and empathy to derive meaning. | I | |
Social and emotional | Demonstrable experience of responding effectively to changing contexts, information and demands. | A |
Ability to persevere in the face of challenges/failures and to remain constructive in developing solutions. | A | |
Demonstrable passion for learning with clear drive and curiosity to undertake this specific research project. | A / I | |
Strong desire to make a positive community impact through the research. | A / I | |
Willingness to think deeply about complex concepts and engage with academic ideas and theory. | A / I | |
Preparedness and potential for success | Experience of working, collaborating and communicating effectively with different stakeholders. | A |
High level of self-motivation and ability to work with minimal guidance. | A / I | |
Strong organisational and time-management skills with the ability to balance and prioritise multiple tasks. | A / I | |
Able to identify the technical, personal, or professional skills required for a task and take action to develop these. | A / I | |
Community Context | Appreciation/understanding of the importance of community insight and experience in the generation of new knowledge. | A / I |
Awareness/understanding of the broader societal context related to the subject matter of the project. | A / I |
Project-Specific Competencies
| Essential | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) | Desirable | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ability to build trust, listen actively, and engage sensitively and respectfully with people from diverse cultural, linguistic, and community backgrounds. | A / I | Direct experience (paid, voluntary, or lived) of supporting, collaborating with, or advocating alongside displaced populations. | A / I |
| Capacity to work alongside individuals and communities who may have experienced trauma, displacement, and adversity, while maintaining appropriate boundaries and practicing self-care. | A / I | Prior involvement in participatory or creative projects, whether in academic, community, or informal settings. | A / I |
| Ability to manage relationships with a variety of stakeholders including participants and prospective participants. | A / I | Familiarity with working in multilingual settings or supporting inclusive communication practices. | A / I |
| Awareness of the broader social, cultural, and political factors shaping the lives of refugees and asylum seekers, and sensitivity to the complexities of working within these contexts. | A / I | Experience in presenting work in group settings such as seminars and symposiums. |
References for Further Reading
- Apers, H., Van Praag, L., Nöstlinger, C., & Agyemang, C. (2023). Interventions to improve the mental health or mental well-being of migrants and ethnic minority groups in Europe: A scoping review. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health, 10, e23, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2023.152.
- Barnswell, I., Ah, L., & Chantler, O. (2025). The mental health of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK: 2025 edition. MentalHealth Foundation. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/mental-health-asylum-seekers-and-refugees-uk3.
- Home Office. (2024, February 27). How many people claim asylum in the UK? UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2024/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk4.
- Jolof, L., Rocca, P., & Carlsson, T. (2024). Support interventions to promote health and wellbeing among women with health-related consequences following traumatic experiences linked to armed conflicts and forced migration: A scoping review. Archives of Public Health, 82(8). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01235-85.
- Pollard, T., & Howard, N. (2021). Mental healthcare for asylum-seekers and refugees residing in the United Kingdom: Ascoping review of policies, barriers, and enablers. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 15(60). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-021-00473-z6.
- Phillips, O. R., Harries, C., Leonardi-Bee, J., Knight, H., Sherar, L. B., Varela-Mato, V., & Morling, J. R. (2024). What are thestrengths and limitations to utilising creative methods in public and patient involvement in health and social care research? Aqualitative systematic review. Research involvement and engagement, 10(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-024-00580-47.
- Leicester City Council. (2024). Population seeking asylum: Leicester 2024 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). https://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/laqplw3r/population-seeking-asylum-leicester-2024-jsna.pdf8.
- Del Vecchio, D., Toomey, N., & Tuck, E. (2017). Placing photovoice: Participatory action research with undocumented migrantyouth in the Hudson Valley. Critical Questions in Education, 8(4, Special Issue), 358–376. Available at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ11593129.
- Elder, B. C., & Odoyo, K. O. (2018). Multiple methodologies: using community-based participatory research and decolonizing methodologies in Kenya. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31(4), 293- 311. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2017.1422290