This project will analyse the role and impact of enterprise education and Careers Information Advice and Guidance (CIAG) in supporting and shaping young people’s attitudes toward business creation and entrepreneurship as a viable career option in Scotland. The research will explore how enterprise education impacts confidence and self-efficacy and the development of meta skills in supporting employability. It will highlight potential and realised barriers that prevent young people from engaging in entrepreneurial activities, thereby informing how CIAG support can be strengthened to better meet students’ needs and help ensure positive destinations.

The research will …

We investigate the unequal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the socio-emotional and economic well-being of (young) adults and children in the UK. Studies show that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively influenced (young) adults’ and children’s mental health and economic outcomes. However, the literature suffers from three key shortcomings, which this project will address. First, most studies focused on the immediate impact of the pandemic without placing individuals’ experiences in the context of pre-pandemic trends. This implies that we do not understand the impact of the pandemic on individuals’ well-being trajectories and whether it was only immediate or long-lasting. Second, although evidence indicates that the impact of the pandemic has varied across different socioeconomic groups, much less attention has been paid to the unequal consequences of the pandemic for different types of families and their children, one of the key dimensions of inequalities even before the pandemic. Third, studies that have explored inequalities in the impact of the pandemic on adult and child well-being have investigated the importance of single dimensions of inequalities for well-being trajectories even though multiple dimensions of inequalities intersect and cluster at multiple scales. This project will …

In 2021, the Scottish Government launched a Women’s Health Plan, acknowledging the need to better support the ~400,000 women of menopausal age.  Menopausal symptoms can have a negative impact on women’s work experiences, with lower employment rates/attendance associated with a number of menopausal symptoms. Women with mental health symptoms are most adversely affected.  Whilst there is substantial evidence that meeting recommended physical activity levels has significant mental health benefits, national surveillance data shows many Scottish women are inactive, with a clear decrease evident around the menopause life stage. Building on an existing successful working relationship with the collaborating partner SAMH (the Scottish Association for Mental Health), the overall aim of this PhD project is to develop workplace resources to support women during the menopause life stage to be physically active and enhance their mental wellbeing.  This aim will be achieved through three studies including: a systematic review of existing evidence; a qualitative exploration of women’s experiences of menopause, mental wellbeing and physical activity in the workplace; and a co-production study to …

A series of influential government and third sector reports have identified the substantial public spending required to address ‘failure demand’: the spending to correct or mitigate the negative externalities of the economic system. This includes public spending to mitigate the consequences of pollution, poverty, low wages, etc. Identifying the scale of current spending on failure demand, and the modifiable elements of it, are essential for policymakers to understand in justifying and implementing a ‘Just Transition’ towards an ecologically sustainable economy, and a ‘Wellbeing Economy’ (the stated aim of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation).