About the project
This project investigates how workers in low-skilled and precarious jobs experience and demonstrate resilience while managing long-term mental health challenges. Using qualitative interviews and daily voice diaries, the project connects organisational and public health research to explore how work environments shape wellbeing, inequality, and inclusion in contemporary workplaces.
Poor mental health is one of the most pressing challenges facing today’s workforce, especially among people in low-paid and insecure jobs. Yet, we know little about how these workers sustain their wellbeing and continue working in difficult conditions.
This PhD will explore how individuals in low-skilled and precarious work experience and demonstrate resilience while managing long-term mental health challenges.
Working at the intersection of organisational behaviour, career studies, and public health, the project will use in-depth interviews and short daily audio diaries to understand how workers make sense of, cope with, and adapt to unstable work and health demands.
The student will receive training in qualitative research design, data analysis, and working ethically with sensitive topics.
The research will provide valuable insights into how work structures shape mental health and inequality, informing public health policy and employer practices to improve wellbeing and inclusion.
The student will join the Work and Organisation Research Group and the Public Health Institute at the University of Southampton, and collaborate with charities such as Mind and related organisations, offering unique opportunities to develop impact, networks, and pathways for positive social change.
Additional technical training or support
The student will receive specialist training in qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviewing, diary study design, and interpretive data analysis using software such as NVivo.
They will also complete training in ethical and safeguarding practices for mental-health research and work with vulnerable populations.
Through collaboration with partner charities (e.g., Mind), the student will gain experience in community engagement and research impact development.
Additional technical and transferable skills—such as data management, academic writing, and public engagement—will be supported through the University of Southampton’s Doctoral College.
References
Elraz, H. (2018). Identity, mental health and work: How employees with mental health conditions recount stigma and the pejorative discourse of mental illness. Human Relations, 71(5), 722–741
Rosado-Solomon, E.H ., Sherry M. B. Thatcher, S., and Strizver, S 2025: Navigating Mental Illness at Work Using Disengagement and Engagement Pathways. AMJ, 68, 971–999
Rugulies, R. et al (2023) Work-related causes of mental health conditions and interventions for their improvement in workplaces, The Lancet, Volume 402, Issue 10410, 1368 - 1381
