British Black Lives Matter: The emergence of a modern civil rights movement

About the project

How are the conditions of emergence, and the intellectual thought, of the British BLM movement related to the Black British Civil Rights movement that developed in, and beyond, the 1960s?

This project will address the continuing history of political reflection on the structural conditions of black/white inequality in the UK and the relationship of this continuing history to protest movements arising within the BAME community. It will explore contemporary BLM protests against that history of protest and in the context of its understanding of the UK’s (global) history of black/white relations.

This is a supervisor-led PhD project for equality, diversity and inclusion. We encourage candidates from under-represented backgrounds to apply.

Professor David Owen

• 1) Post-Kantian social and political philosophy from Nietzsche to Foucault, and the Frankfurt School.
• 2) The Ethics and Politics of Migration
• 3) Democratic Theory and Practice

Entry requirements

You must have the following (or their international equivalents ):

You'll also have good communication and time management skills.

• 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in a relevant subject
• master of science at merit level in a relevant subject

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you'll need an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) minimum level of 7.0 overall with 6.5 in all components. Your awarded certificate needs to be dated within the last 2 years.

Visit our English language proficiency pages to find out about other qualifications we accept.

If you need further English language tuition before starting your degree, you can apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses .

Fees and funding

This project is funded by the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership .

Your tuition fees will be paid and you'll receive a stipend (living allowance) of £17,668 tax-free per year for up to 3.5 years.

You can also claim funding for training and fieldwork.

How to apply

• Apply to the University of Southampton
• Apply to the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership for funding

Apply to the University to do the research

Apply now

You need to:

If you have any questions about the degree application, email the graduate school .

• choose programme type (Research), 2023/24, Faculty of Social Sciences
• choose PhD in Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology (Full time)
• add name of the supervisor (Dr Gillian Kennedy) in section 2

Apply for funding to do the research

Then you need to apply to the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

You don't need to wait for a decision from the University before making your SCDTP application.

Visit the SCDTP website to apply for funding .

If you have any questions about the funding application, email the SCDTP .

Faculty of Social Sciences

If you have a general question, email our doctoral college (fss-gradschool@soton.ac.uk)

Project leader

For an initial conversation, email Dr Gillian Kennedy (gillian.kennedy@soton.ac.uk)

Research areas