Advert for Departmental-specific PGR Studentships: ‘Large Grants’ fund

Young people’s alcohol consumption: The role of social media and new technologies
Applications are invited for a full-time University studentship to work in the Department of Psychology as part of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS), commencing in September 2014.
Background
The growth of social media, especially amongst under 25s(1) has created an unprecedented opportunity for marketing alcohol products(2). The drinks industry has put substantial investment into social media marketing using sophisticated techniques to produce what have been termed ‘intoxigenic digital spaces’(3). This enables marketers to infiltrate young people’s everyday social lives, representing alcohol consumption as a routine and essential component of all celebrations(4). Research has not kept pace with rapidly changing social media platforms and online practices, especially the growth of user-generated content(5). Relatively few UK studies have examined the implications of alcohol marketing via social media for young people, and this research has mainly employed quantitative methods of media content analysis, with some limited use of qualitative methods (6).
Conducting research in this area is challenging given the blurred boundaries between on- and offline interactions; between traditional alcohol marketing and social media marketing techniques; and between brand-authored and user-generated content online. Further research is required to investigate the impact of social media marketing on alcohol consumption and drinking cultures. This issue has been identified as a particular cause for concern in the UK and elsewhere, especially regarding the potential impact on children and young people(7). There have been recent calls to ban all alcohol promotion on social network sites, although regulating alcohol marketing and social media both pose substantial challenges(8).
This 3-year PhD studentship will map the use and manipulation of social media to promote its products by the alcohol industries and the retail trade, examining this question in the context of young people’s uses of social media in their everyday drinking cultures.
The student will conduct their research under the supervision of Professor Christine Griffin (1st supervisor: Dept of Psychology) and Professor Anna Gilmore (2nd supervisor: Dept for Health).
The Project
This project will provide an up-to-date overview of current alcohol marketing using social media; examine selected social media alcohol marketing practices in-depth; and investigate how target groups of young consumers engage with such marketing practices. The target groupscould involveyoung adults aged 18 to 25 and/or those under legal drinking age, as well as investigating other indices such as gender, social class, regional, ethnic or cultural differences. The findings will have implications for the regulation of alcohol marketing using social media. The project will address the following aims listed below, with some scope for focussing on specific research questions in greater depth, in consultation with the supervisory team.
The project’s aim include the following areas:
(a)To identify the extent, range and nature of current alcohol marketing practices using social media (especially Facebook, Twitter and Youtube)
(b)To investigate how social media alcohol marketing campaigns aimed at young people incite consumers into relationships with alcohol and specific alcohol brands
(c)To investigate how young people engage with such marketing practices, exploring the potential impacts on their drinking cultures and alcohol consumption
(d)To identify changing patterns of social media use and alcohol consumption via comparisons between groups of young people based on (for example) age, gender and social class (9)
(e)To develop innovative methods of investigating alcohol marketing via social media
(f)To contribute to policies on the regulation of alcohol marketing using social media (10).
The research will complement the work of the postdoctoral Research Assistant linked to the UKCTAS based in the Department of Health under the supervision of Professor Anna Gilmore. This latter post involves a study of data from company records, other public documents and stakeholder interviews related to the tobacco and alcohol industries. The aim here is to increase our understanding of similarities and differences between the tobacco and alcohol industries with respect to corporate efforts to shape consumer behaviour, socio-cultural and policy environments including approaches to regulation and managing conflict of interest at national, European and international levels.
The PhD project will also form part of the larger body of UKCTAS research, and the successful applicant will be able to attend UKCTAS events as part of a major inter-disciplinary team led by Professor John Britton, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham. UKCTAS is a strategic partnership comprising 13 University teams working on tobacco and alcohol research. It is one of six UK Centres for Public Health Excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration – comprising the Economic & Social Research Council, The British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research and the Medical Research Council. Each of the institutions involved work collaboratively to deliver original research, policy development, advocacy, teaching and training, with a particular focus on informing policies and interventions to reduce harms to individuals and society from tobacco or alcohol use.
More information on the Centre can be found at
References
1)boyd, D. (2007). Why youth (heart) social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life. In D. Buckingham (ed.). Youth, Identity and Digital Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; boyd, D. (2012). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics and implications. In: Z. Papacharissi (ed.) A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge.
2)Nicholls, J. (2012a). Everyday, everywhere: Alcohol marketing and social media. Alcohol and Alcoholism, pp.1-8. DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/ags043.
3)Griffiths, R. and Casswell, S. (2010). Intoxigenic digital spaces: Youth, social networking sites and alcohol marketing. Drug and Alcohol Review, 29(5): 525-530; Leyshon, M. (2011). New Media, New Problem? Alcohol, Young People and the Internet. London: Alcohol Concern.
4)op. cit. Nicholls, J. (2012a).
5)Beer, D. and Burrows, R. (2010). Consumption, Prosumption and Participatory Web Cultures. Journal of Consumer Culture, 10 (1): 3-149; op. cit. Nicholls, J. (2012a).
6)Atkinson, A. et al., (2011). Young People, Alcohol and the Media. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Brooks, O. (2010). “Routes to magic”: The Alcohol Beverage Industry’s Use of New Media in Alcohol Marketing. University of Stirling: Institute for Social Marketing; Gordon, R. (2010). An audit of alcohol brand websites. Drug and Alcohol Review, 30(6): 638-644; op. cit. Leyshon, M. (2011).
7)Chester, J., Montgomery, K. and Dorfman, L. (2010). Alcohol Marketing in the Digital Age. Berkeley Media Studies group; European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing (2009). Alcohol Advertising in New Media: Trends in Alcohol Marketing. ECMAM report; Mart, S., Mergendoller, J. and Simon, M. (2009). Alcohol promotion on Facebook. Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, 3; Moreno, M.A., Briner, L.R., Williams, A., Brockman, L., Walker, L. and Christakis, D.A. (2010). A content analysis of displayed alcohol references on a social networking site. Journal of Adolescent Health, 47: 168-175. McCreanor, T., Lyons, A., Goodwin, I., Moewaka Barnes, H., Griffin, C. and Hutton, F. (2013). Youth drinking cultures, social networking and alcohol marketing: Implications for public health. Critical Public Health, 23(1): 110-120.
8)Hastings, G. et al., (2010). Alcohol advertising: The last chance saloon. British Medical Journal, 340: 184-186.
9)De Visser, R. and McDonnell, E.J. (2011). “That’s OK, he’s a guy”: A mixed-methods study of gender double-standards for alcohol use. Psychology and Health, 1-22; Griffin, C., Szmigin, I., Bengry-Howell, A., Hackley, C. and Mistral, W. (2013). Inhabiting the contradictions: Hypersexual femininity and the culture of intoxication among young women in the UK. Feminism and Psychology, 23(2), 184-206.
10)Hackley, C., Griffin, C., Szmigin, I., Mistral, W. and Bengry-Howell, A. (2008). The discursive constitution of the UK alcohol problem in ‘Safe, Sensible, Social’: A discussion of policy implications. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 15 (1), 65-78; op. cit. Leyshon, M. (2011); Nicholls, J. (2012b). Time for reform? Alcohol policy and cultural change in England since 2000. British Politics, 7(3): 250-271; Szmigin, I., Bengry-Howell, A., Griffin, C. Hackley, C. and Mistral, W. (2011). Social marketing, individual responsibility and the “culture of intoxication”. European Journal of Marketing, 45(5), 759-779.
The Successful Candidate should:
  1. Fulfil the entrance requirements for the Department of PsychologyPhD programme (link to the PhD Study page). Have a good UG degree in Psychology or related Social Science subject, possibly a Masters degree in Research Methods or a relevant subject.
  2. Have at least a strong understanding of current research on young people’ s alcohol consumption and drinking cultures, as well as recent work on social media and alcohol marketing. They should also have experience and training in qualitative social science research methods.
The Award
The successful candidate will be supported for three 3 years full time, starting in September 2014. For each year the studentship will include a £13,863 (2014/15 rate) per annum stipend, Home/EU tuition fees and an annual Training Support Grant. Terms and conditions and details of other Awards can be found on the Graduate School website. Please note that Overseas candidates may apply but if successful, will be responsible for paying the difference between the Home/EU tuition fee rate and the Overseas tuition fee rate.
How to Apply
Applicants should apply onlineto study for a full time PhD in Psychology. It is important to quote the project title (see above) on your application.
Please note that applicants will need to submit a formal research proposal. This studentship is linked to a specific project and applicants should indicate their particular areas of interest in the topic and the aspects of the research aims listed above that they would be most interested in pursuing (maximum 2,000 words excluding references).
You must also apply specifically for this funding by completing a funding request form(link to the funding request form on the funding pages). The funding request form will then need to be uploaded to your online application. Use this formto explain your experience and reasons for applying for this studentship(maximum 500 words).
The closing date for the receipt of applications is 12.00 noon (GMT), Thursday, 27th March, 2014.
Informal Enquiries
Should be addressed to Professor Christine Griffin ( , tel: 01225 385293).

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