Co-designing local solutions to poverty with experts by experience

Summary

This is a Collaborative project with the Northern Ireland Anti Poverty Network (NIAPN). NIAPN will actively support the PhD researcher by helping to identify networks to engage and recruit potential participants, provide training in participatory research methods, provide mentorship to enhance policy and professional skills, build network opportunities, and provide training and mentorship on an ethical approach to working with people in poverty.

Efforts to tackle poverty in NI have been limited. The NI Executive made a legal commitment to adopt a strategy to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation based on objective need.

This legal commitment is enshrined in Section 28E of the NI Act 1998. To date, the Executive has failed to deliver this legal duty. In 2015 and 2025, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) took a judicial review against the NI Executive for the failure to implement an anti-poverty strategy based on objective need.

On both occasions, the high court ruled in favour of CAJ and found the Executive was in breach of its legal obligation. In May 2025, the Executive agreed its first ever draft anti-poverty strategy however the draft lacked any specific targets, measures or actions to reduce poverty.

An open letter signed by almost 50 charities called for the Executive to withdraw its draft strategy as it does not meet the criteria of a reasonable strategy that can be consulted on (Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network, 2025).

This is timely given that work to develop a strategy is ongoing yet too often the voices of people living in poverty are overlooked. It is crucial that lived experience informs the development of policy responses to tackle poverty.

This project is particularly relevant as it will seek to centre the voices and experiences of people who are living on a low income. The researcher in this project will collaborative with the NI Anti-Poverty Network Expert Panel which is made up people who have lived experience of poverty to co-design and undertake community action research which seeks to develop local solutions to address poverty.

There is limited progress in addressing poverty in NI. Currently, 1 in 4 children (104, 000) live in relative poverty (NISRA, 2024). Recent research from the Trussell Trust (2025) indicates that half a million people in NI are currently living in food insecure households.

The Expert Advisory Panel on an Anti-poverty Strategy recommended that the NI Executive should introduce a legal duty to reduce poverty, settings targets and timescales for 2030 and beyond.

To date, no such strategy or recommendations have been implemented. NI’s political instability has thwarted progress on a long-awaited anti-poverty strategy. In 2022, the NI Assembly absence occurred in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and during what is arguably the worst economic crisis of recent years.

Fitzpatrick et al (2024: 3) argue that the lack of a functioning NI Executive left a policy vacuum which created an ‘unacceptable lack of accountability for citizens and civil society to challenge a lack of devolved support for those who are at the sharpest end of the economic crisis’.

The lack of progress to address poverty and public frustration is reflected in a public attitudes survey which found that only 8.4% of respondents thought the Northern Ireland Executive ‘is doing all that it can to reduce poverty’ (Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 2021).

At the same time, the importance of lived experience in policy making has been prioritised by policy-makers in other parts of the UK including England and Scotland.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

Equal Opportunities

The University is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community, particularly from those with disabilities.

Appointment will be made on merit.

Funding and eligibility

This project is funded by:

• Department for the Economy (DfE)

This scholarship will cover tuition fees and provide a maintenance allowance of £21,000* (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).  A Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of approximately £900 per annum is also available.

To be eligible for these scholarships, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be a UK National, or

• Have settled status, or

• Have pre-settled status, or

• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter, or

• be an Irish National

Applicants should also meet the residency criteria which requires that they have lived in the EEA, Switzerland, the UK or Gibraltar for at least the three years preceding the start date of the research degree programme.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies.

*Part time PhD scholarships may be available, based on 0.5 of the full time rate, and will require a six year registration period