Project title: Heat and violence against girls and women in the UK: potential impacts of climate change and critical analysis of adaptation
Primary supervisor: Dr Birgit Larsson (University of East Anglia)
Second supervisor: Dr John Turnpenny (University of East Anglia)
Third supervisor: Dr Sarah Hanson (University of East Anglia)
University: University of East Anglia
SENSS Theme: Health, Wellbeing and Social Care
Collaborative partner: Feathers Futures; and Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk
Collaborative partner supervisor: Jo Critch and Nicola Allum
Degree structure: The structure of the studentship offered will depend on your personal training needs. However, the minimum duration of a SENSS-funded studentship will be 3.5 years: this covers a PhD and a mandatory placement of approximately 3 months. The maximum duration of a studentship will be 4.5 years: this covers a Masters degree followed by a PhD, as well as the mandatory 3-month placement.
Project background
Climate change is a global emergency, with its impacts set to deepen the inequalities and social problems that already exist in societies, such as violent crime. Groups vulnerable to victimisation, such as women and girls, are likely to disproportionately bear the brunt of harms brought about, or accelerated, by climate change.
For example, emerging research from low, middle, and high income countries globally, suggests that domestic violence is particularly influenced by heat waves, increasing as much as 4.5% with every 1 degree rise in temperature. The link between domestic violence and heat has been suggested to be likely due to a complex interplay between poverty, urban heat islands, alcohol consumption, increase in irritability and discomfort, and a lack of available public and green spaces to use for refuge and de-escalation. However, much more research is needed on the relationship between heat waves, climate change and violence against women and girls globally, with a particular gap in the literature being the lived experience of girls and women. There is also very little research on the impact of heat on violence in UK, possibly because it is not usually seen as a particularly hot country. However, due to climate change, the UK is projected to see a large increase in hot days and nights even in the short term.
The University of East Anglia is excited to offer a fully funded PhD studentship to develop the first exploration of the impact of heat waves on domestic violence experienced by girls and women in the UK.
This project brings together cross-disciplinary academic supervision from the School of Social Work and Sociology; the School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies; and the School of Health Sciences (third supervisor). It is supported by two collaborators, Feathers Futures, a community-led women’s organisation specialising in supporting survivors of domestic abuse, and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk.
Combined, these collaborative partners represent academia, statutory (including commissioning) services, and the charity sector which will allow the successful student a unique opportunity to conduct ethical and co-produced research with survivors of domestic abuse, and the agencies who work with, and commission, services on their behalf. This has the potential to lead to real-world and cutting-edge impact for vulnerable women.
The successful student will have the opportunity to take advantage of two research placements. These are designed for students to be exposed to the commissioning of domestic abuse services and policy; service provision for survivors of domestic abuse; and to better understand the experiences of girls and women who access these services.
The research placement at Feathers Futures (subject to DBS) will situate the student into the organisational structure and practice of a community-led women’s organisation. Opportunities here could include:
Accessing staff training in domestic abuse and working with survivors
Shadowing work with girls and women
Assisting with group work, activities or drop-in services involving girls and women
Supervision by the CEO at FF to develop an ethical recruitment strategy and interview methods, fostering a culture of co-production and co-design.
Receiving support with the recruitment of girls and women with lived experiences to the study
The second research placement at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, dependent on the student passing required vetting, will allow the student to become immersed in the activities of the OPCC. Opportunities here could include:
Participating in meetings of the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership
Shadowing within agencies that form part of the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership
With support and training from analysts at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, access and analyse administrative data for analysis (subject to appropriate ISA(s) being in place).
Assistance with recruitment of first responders or professionals who work on behalf of violent incidents in the heat.
Project aims and objectives
The aims of the studentship, in collaboration with partners, is to produce new knowledge and achieve impact by:
1) investigating girls’ and women’s lived experiences of domestic abuse due to climate change and specifically heat waves in the UK
2) exploring systems’ and professionals’ responses to violent incidents toward girls and women in heat waves
3) contributing evidence to the design and implementation of policy and governance structures around the potential increase in violence towards girls and women due to climate change and specifically heat waves.
This will be achieved through the following objectives:
Objective 1: Conducting a literature review to critically analyse research literature on climate change and its impacts on girls and women, the emerging evidence base of climate change in the UK, including future climate projections; policy and legislation on climate change and domestic abuse, identifying adaptation, prevention, and intervention initiatives and evaluating their effectiveness. The student will be encouraged to draw on perspectives from the three different disciplines (social work/sociology, political studies, and health) of their supervisors.
Objective 2: Recruit and conduct narrative interviews with girls and women who have experience of domestic abuse to understand any perspectives they have on climate change and rising heat waves being a contributing factor.
Objective 3: Analyse quantitative administrative data on serious violence with heat rise patterns and map the places and spaces where it happens at geographically appropriate output areas.
Objective 4: Conduct semi-structured elite interviews with professionals, including first responders, to gain their perception and understanding of violence in the heat, and the current responses.
Objective 5: Draw together findings and insights from each of the data collection strands, examining national, local and individual levels, and interactions between these. This will involve critically analysing potential causes of the impacts of heat on violence against women and girls in the UK. This will move beyond merely showing that ‘heat leads to violent crime’, rather we are aiming to propose ‘how and why heat may lead to violence against girls and women in the UK’. It will also discuss what current policy activities are addressing the potential crime impacts of increased heat posed by climate change in the UK, in particular violence against women and girls, as well as what policy capacities and capacity gaps appear in the context of these activities.
Objective 6: The PhD will conclude through workshops with multi-disciplinary stakeholders, presenting the findings of the PhD.
Objective 7: Drawing on an Environmental Humanities perspective, central to this studentship is the researcher as activist and change-maker as well as analyst. In partnership with the collaborative organisations, with insights gained through the placements as well as the data gathering, the researcher will develop analytically robust practical actions for change and be central to the implementation process. This could include campaigns, public information resources, policy briefs as well as two academic publications and conference presentations.
Training opportunities
A comprehensive package of training will be agreed in consultation with the supervisors. Elements of training will be provided by the supervisors, Feathers Futures, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, and by other providers.
The student will attend UEA in-house training in advanced qualitative and quantitative methods. This will be offered through two 20-credit Masters levels modules hosted by the Masters in Research in Social Sciences Research Methods at UEA: Further Qualitative Research and Further Quantitative Research and Statistics. This will provide good grounding in the analytical skills the student needs to carry out the proposed research.
The student will also access and make use of 10 days of Social Science Faculty UEA postgraduate training per year (5 days per year for part-time students), with an individual training and development plan for the student mapped out by the student and supervisors in the first year. The training on offer is in line with the Economic and Social Research Council guidelines and consists of training on Research Methods, Subject-Specific Theoretical Issues, Professional Skills and Advanced Training.
Specialist methods training (e.g. narrative analysis, use of creative interview methods, trauma informed interviewing, and policy analysis) will be provided by supervisors and specialist providers alongside the training in working with girls and women experiencing domestic abuse offered by Feathers Futures and specialist training accessible through the OPCC. Given the supervisors’ networks with colleagues and students across disciplines at UEA conducting research on girls and women who have experienced domestic abuse, there is further opportunity to build a strong network across UEA on research on domestic abuse. The PGR student will be crucial in helping build this interdisciplinary research community.
An integrated three-month placement will take place at the Collaborative partner. The final details of the placement will be discussed with the successful applicant.
Essential and/or desirable attributes/skills
Essential:
BA graduate in social work, sociology, political studies, psychology, criminology or related disciplines (including humanities, social sciences, health)
Strong research skills.
Previous experience with social science research.
Must pass DBS and vetting process.
Desirable
Previous training or experience in qualitative and quantitative methods
Interest in domestic abuse, climate change, politics of policy-making, policing, health, social work, qualitative and quantitative methods, social change
Previous work with survivors of domestic abuse, policing or social work
Studentship details
Studentships are advertised as being between +3.5 and +4.5-year (1+3.5, 2+2.5, +4.5) awards. The standard length of an ESRC-funded studentship is +3.5. This includes the standard +3 PhD, plus an +0.25 (one term) for the integrated placement which you must take as part of your studentship, and a further additional +0.25 (one term) to enable you to undertake training relevant to your research project (including career progression). All studentships are offered on either a full-time or part-time basis.
The studentship award covers your university fees and provides you with a stipend of £20,780 per year. You will also be able to apply for additional funding via the SENSS Research Training Support Grant to support your training needs.
Residential eligibility
All applicants, whether Home or International, are eligible for a full award, that is, you will receive a stipend (salary) and you will not have to pay any university tuition fees during your studentship award.
How to apply for this studentship
To be considered for this funding, you must first apply to SENSS for this collaborative studentship. Please read the SENSS Collaborative Studentship Application Guidance Notes before completing our online application form. The Guidance Notes are available here.
If your application is successful, you will need to make a separate application for a place to study at the University of East Anglia, your host University. You will be provided with a link with information on how to make your application to the University of East Anglia once you have been offered a SENSS studentship.
Deadline:
The deadline for submitting your application for SENSS funding on HEIApply is 12:00 GMT on Monday 16 February 2026. No extensions to this deadline will be permitted.
For further enquiries:
For enquiries about this research project, please email Dr. Birgit Larsson, School of Social Work and Sociology, University of East Anglia (b.larsson@uea.ac.uk).
For enquiries related to your eligibility for this studentship, and/or the application process, please email: Shaun Bradshaw senss.dtp@uea.ac.uk.
The likely interview date for this project is 11 March 2026.