The PhD project is a collaboration with Neighbourhood Watch, local authorities and police, and will explore how social media can strengthen and diversify Neighbourhood Watch – in Runnymede and Surrey, and with potential to scale nationally.

PhD project title: Using Social Media To Develop The Capacity And Diversity of Neighbourhood Watch.

This PhD project draws on criminology, psychology and media studies to explore how Neighbourhood Watch – a voluntary crime reduction scheme run with the support of the police – can enhance its representation of local communities. The aim of the project is to investigate how new or existing social media fora can be used to strengthen the work of Neighbourhood Watch and builds on an initial inquiry led by Dr Emily Glorney and Dr Anastasia Jablonska and in collaboration with the local Borough and County Councils, Police, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local Neighbourhood Watch.

This PhD research is empirical and qualitative, using a focus group and semi-structured interview design, as relevant. It will focus on community perspectives on Neighbourhood Watch, strengthening partnerships between key stakeholders, developing a social media strategy and developing apps, as relevant.

The research requires active engagement with knowledge exchange and impact activities, engaging local communities and stakeholders from public and third sector organisations. The PhD is aligned with Royal Holloway’s Social Science Impact Accelerator, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). At the heart of the PhD is ensuring that applied research has real-world benefit and has a positive impact on communities and local and national organisations and ensuring that on completion of the PhD you have excellent transferable skills to take forward to future employment.

The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr Anastasia Jablonska and Dr Emily Glorney in the Department of Law and Criminology.