Person: Ellen Bishop

How do emotions shape the places we live in? What role do feelings play in policymaking, public participation, and civic life? As governments increasingly seek to understand and respond to citizens’ emotional experiences, a new avenue of research is emerging around the relationship between emotion, governance, and place.

We are pleased to announce a fully funded PhD opportunity for UK applicants to investigate these important questions through innovative, place-based research.

Emotion in policymaking is a powerful, often overlooked driver that shapes public attention, fuels political mobilisation, and impacts decision-making. Emotion as information or data has become a particular focus of government attention: emotional responses act as social cues, can create collectives and provide crucial data on what citizens care about. As such, a growing body of research is exploring the consequences of national and international government policies that try to mobilise the emotions of place. This requires the recognition of emotion as a dynamic, human-centred process rather than merely technical, and significant questions remain unexplored.

This PhD offers an opportunity to contribute to these emerging debates and develop new understandings of emotional governance in contemporary society.

About the Project

The successful candidate will be based in Urban Studies and Social Policy and will work closely with the Civic Imaginary Partnerships team and its collaborators.

The candidate will be supported to develop their own research project within the broad theme of civic feelings and emotional governance. Research will involve a place-based policy case study or comparative study linked to one or more of the Civic Imaginary Partnerships locations (Glasgow, Southampton, Chester, Hull, Frome).

At least one case study must be based in Glasgow, and projects may focus on contemporary or historical contexts.

Potential Research Themes

The successful candidate will be supported to identifying the particular focus which could include:

Civic Feelings and Place-Making

The multiple ways in which civic feelings are mobilised by decision makers to shape new emotional geographies of the local. For example, through political rhetoric, aesthetics, funding processes or evaluation strategies.

Emotional Governance

The ways in which emergent forms of place-based policy can be understood as regimes of emotional governance.

Public Participation and State Institutions

How civic feelings inform public interactions with ‘official’ state institutions and wider forms of participation in public life.

Comparative Perspectives

The cultural specificities of emotional governance, its similarities and differences across different places, cultures, urban and rural contexts, or national and international settings.

Marginalised Places and Communities

Overlooked spaces, places and groups. For example, how specific forms of emotional governance are (or have historically been) understood and experienced by marginalised groups or places ‘on the edge’.

Emotional Literacy and Policy

Emotional literacy and place-based policymaking, including the role of negative feelings and rejections of collectivising policy agendas.

Who Should Apply?

The project will suit a wide range of applicants with prior training in political ethnography, human geography, urban studies, social policy, or other relevant subject areas. We particularly encourage submissions from individuals with lived experience relevant to the project and from diverse backgrounds.

Application Information

Funding: Fully funded PhD opportunity for UK applicants

Start Date: January 2027

Application Deadline: 28 August 2026

Further Information and Application Details:
https://lnkd.in/ezcSN975

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Michael.Howcroft@glasgow.ac.uk

Are you a Frome resident with stories to share? Would you like to help create a community-led film or take part in an interview about Frome’s recent history?

From November 2025 to June 2026, the Civic Imaginary Partnerships team will be living and/or working in Frome to explore how residents’ sense, feel and dream their futures in the town. In collaboration with local partners, we’ve designed a programme of activities to better understand Frome’s independent mindset(s) and its cultures of connection and co-operation.

Get Involved – Two Ways to Participate:

1. Individual oral history interviews or small group interviews (focus groups)

We’re recording personal stories and memories to build a rich picture of Frome’s recent history. Oral histories are semi-structured interviews that preserve personal experiences, memories, and narratives, particularly from individuals whose voices are underrepresented in traditional histories. We want to hear from people who have lived in Frome for different lengths of time about how Frome has changed, how these changes have impacted your life, and your hopes for Frome’s future. Topics may span, but are not limited to, independence in Frome, community organising, volunteering, the changing identity and demographics of the town and health and environment initiatives in the town. Interviews can take place with individuals or in small groups as preferred. You can select your preference on the survey form below.

What’s involved? A friendly, semi-structured individual interview or group interview lasting no more than 2 hours.

Where? At a time and place that suits you.

Compensation for your time? bank transfer, cash or shopping voucher.

2. Community-led film project – We have now allocated the 8 slots for the community-led film. Please sign up to our mailing list via the survey link below to be kept up to date with any other future opportunities that rise as part of the research.

Who Can Get Involved?

Everyone is welcome! Whether you’ve lived in Frome for decades or just moved in, your voice matters. We’re especially keen to hear from people of all ages (over the age of 18) and backgrounds.

Interested?

To take part in the interviews, please fill out this short form to register your interest. We’ll ask a few questions to help us include a diverse range of participants and people from all walks of life in the research. We aim to include people of different ages, genders, ethnic backgrounds, and neighbourhoods, as well as people who have lived in Frome for different lengths of time, hold different political views, and have different levels of involvement in community action.

Completing the survey does not automatically sign you up to take part. We will select participants so that the final research reflects the views of people from all walks of life. If you are not selected this time, there will be opportunities to get involved in the project through other activities, and we will be publishing details of these soon. Please sign up to our mailing list at the bottom of the survey if you want to be kept updated.

Want to learn more about our research in Frome? Visit our project blog.