Brigstow Institute are recruiting one or two Post graduate researchers (PGR) students or research-experienced community members to help undertake a short-term and part-time research project from early August to end of October in response to the recent announcement that children and young people under the age of 16 will be able to travel for free on buses across the WECA (West of England Combined Authority) region this summer – https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/news/kids-go-free-on-the-wests-buses/
The project will be managed from the Brigstow Institute in collaboration with Room13 Hareclive, and the University of Bristol’s Barton Hill and Hartcliffe micro-campuses.
In the recent report by the Sutton Trust, which includes the analysis of data over 25 years around free school meals in relation to opportunities for children (e.g. exam results, higher education, employment, earnings), it shows that South Bristol (Hartcliffe and Withywood, Knowle West) and East Bristol (including Barton Hill) rank very highly in terms of poor outcomes for children. You can read the report at https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-Opportunity-Index.pdf
Following the WECA announcement, we are keen to carry out some research to survey children and young people’s responses to the free travel in both Hartcliffe and East Bristol over the summer.
The work would involve:
- Meeting with the project leads at the Brigstow Institute, Room13 Hareclive and others to understand the full context and potential impact
- Obtain ethical approval for the agreed work
- Capture key elements of the project, and design and distribute a survey and conduct analysis of the data
- Understand data that WECA and First Bus may be collecting on usage
- Design and run two workshops – one in Hartcliffe and one in East Bristol to further understand the impact of the barriers children and young people face in relation to travel
- Co-author a report, the primary audiences for which will be the University of Bristol, WECA and the general public
Ideally you will have a research background in arts/social sciences/community engagement. We are looking for researchers who have experience of working with children and young people, developing and analysing surveys, and report writing. Interpersonal and communication skills are a must.
We have initially allocated a total of 120 hours between early August to end of October for this work. Depending on the candidates, we can be flexible about how the 120 hours are allocated. The rate of pay will be £22.25 per hour.
Brigstow previously funded some research in collaboration between Professor Antonia Layard and Room13 Hareclive – you might want to have a look at https://www.room13hareclive.org.uk/our-work/projects/the-bus-project
How to apply
Please apply by sending the following to hello-brigstow@bristol.ac.uk by 12 noon on 10th July:
- an outline of your suitability for the role (max one side of A4)
Please make sure you include the following:
- Your name
- The title of your PhD project (if applicable)
- What skills and knowledge you can offer the project
- a short CV to support this (max one side of A4)
- Your name
- A short description of your educational background and work experience
