This contribution is a piece of Participatory Action Research that I am independently conducting in parallel to my doctoral research, and stems from my experiential knowledge of oppression as a disabled, immigrant woman of low socio-economic status. It explores what actions can be taken, and by whom, in UK HE institutions to create postgraduate research (PGR) experiences that enable equal actual opportunities to access funding, programs, research degree awards, and subjective well-being. 

The literature suggests that studying towards a PhD qualification can be a painful, even traumatic journey paved with institutional injustices. Sources of injustice concern access to funding, access to programmes, access to and quality of support (in and out of supervisory relationships), and achievement of the PhD degree award. Such issues hinder the well-being of people pursuing PhDs, with struggles worsening for those from (intersectionally) oppressed groups.

To identify these issues and reflect on how to practically address them to create meaningful change, I analyse them through a novel combination of critical theoretical approaches (e.g. social model of disability, intersectionality, decoloniality, social pathology), and theories of justice (e.g. capabilities approach, relational theories of justice). I combine these theoretical reflections with an autoethnography of my own PGR experiences.

Presenting my research in progress, I aim to facilitate a participatory, creative space for discussion amongst those attending this HERG event, to imagine together how to improve the well-being and educational experiences of all postgraduate researchers in UK HE. 

About the speaker

Eleonora (she/her) is an activist, educator, and researcher, experienced of being structurally intersectionally oppressed, for example, as a disabled, neurodivergent, immigrant woman. Her field of research is critical sociology and policy of education and youth. She is a PhD Candidate based in the School of Education, Communication & Society (ECS) at King’s College London, where she is also Graduate Teaching Assistant and Participatory Research Coordinator across various departments. Her doctoral research looks at how policies and practices in Milan’s State and Paritarie upper-secondary schools enable or disable students’ capabilities to be emotionally well. She is a graduate of the MA Education, Policy & Society at ECS, and the Laurea Triennale in Scienze Internazionali e Istituzioni Europee at Università Degli Studi Di Milano - Statale. She is also trained up to L3 in Counselling Skills and Studies.

Eleonora’s professional experience is as an educator in UK mainstream secondary schools, with students with disabled and neurodivergent students, as well as students involved with social services. She also has experience as a blog writer/editor, student representative, fundraising events organiser, and support worker for disabled people.