Project code AEL2026/04 deadline 30th January 2026

Please contact the supervisory team for more information: Jane Lugea, Jennifer Roberts

Fighting Words NI (FWNI) is a charity dedicated to empowering young people aged 6-18 through the transformative power of creative writing. They use a model for facilitating creative writing sessions, with emphasis on encouraging originality in thought and expression, and helping children find their voice, equipping young people with the tools to address social challenges. Some research has been produced on the effects of the model in the Republic of Ireland, evidencing the personal, academic and social benefits (CREA 2014) and its potential to empower children to learn creatively, with a range of positive impacts on wellbeing including the amplification of the teenage voice, as well as confidence, esteem and resilience (White 2022). However, there is no extant research on the work of FWNI, who operate in a unique educational, cultural and socio-political context.

This project aims to codify the model, with reference to extant similar models and scholarship on their effectiveness. It also examines the different ways that FWNI operates (one-off sessions and longer, more engaged projects with particular stakeholder groups) and compares the impact and effectiveness of these methods, within the NI context. To do so, it gathers evaluative data from all the relevant stakeholder groups, including the young people taking part and their school teachers.

 Research Questions:

1. How can Fighting Word NI’s models of creative writing facilitation be defined?
2. What are the effects of the model on young people during and after individual sessions?
3. What are the effects of the model on young people after more long-term engagement with the model?
4. What are the implications of the particular Northern Irish context (educational, cultural and socio-political) for Fighting Words NI’s delivery?

Project code AEL2026/02 deadline 30th January 2026

Please contact the Project Supervisor for more information: Darragh Lydon

Compared to neurotypical people, children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have distinct cognitive and intelligence profiles. Some of these children require cognitive rehabilitation. Through the use of cutting-edge therapy and cognitive empowerment methods, some cognitive skills in autistic children  can be strengthened by digital game-based tools. (Rezayi et al., 2025). Games also offer children the opportunity to engage in shared attention and joint action with other social agents, as players will imitate other partners' play behaviours to facilitate joint engagement. (Atherton & Cross, 2021)

Due to in-built rewards systems that track advancement, games may be especially motivating over and above other types of educational interventions (Filsecker & Hickey, 2014).

Autistic children are frequently skilled at perceiving visual information and interact well with technology (Soltiyeva et al., 2023), with many nonverbal children becoming proficient in the use of Adaptive and Augmented Communication (AAC) devices.

Despite the numerous benefits of game-based education for children in general, and autistic children in particular, there has been little research carried out in the suitability of games for cognitive development for children with complex needs, such as nonverbal autistic children.

The research that will be carried out for this project will be in 3 steps:

• Determine useful configurations and activities that can be incorporated into a game-based application to aid autistic children in their cognitive development. This will be done through desk-based research and interviews with practitioners in education for autistic children.
• Develop a low-cost, mobile based application that implements these techniques and environments. Due to the flexibility of games technologies, this can be developed for mobile based applications and virtual reality devices simultaneously.
• Explore and evaluate the potential benefit of the solution to determine its added value in comparison to traditional educational methods.

The research will be carried out in collaboration between two centres based in QUB:  Medialab, and the Centre for Technological Innovation in Mental Health and Education (TIME Centre).

Rounding out the consortium is St Gerards, a special education school that works with autistic children ranging in age from 4- 17 in West Belfast.

The student will have a 3-month placement in St Gerards. As part of their placement with St Gerards, the student will receive in-house training focusing on understanding disabilities, autism awareness and managing challenging behaviours. This training includes workshops, mentoring sessions with experienced staff and hands-on experience. The student will work directly with children, gaining practical skills in behaviour management, communication and support strategies. Regular assessments and feedback ensure continuous learning, preparing them for future roles in disability support and research.

Project code AEL2026/01 deadline 16th January 2026

Please contact the supervisory team for more information: Stefanie Lehner, Moyra Haslett, Tara West

The creative component of this PhD will be a novel that explores both the impact of, and recovery from, sexual abuse within the family. This text will be a survivor-centred story exploring what it means to deal with long suppressed trauma; how such trauma impacts upon relationships and a sense of belonging within the family; the family as a silencing structure, and the importance of allies in dealing with trauma.

The critical component will be a collaboration with Start 360, an organisation that supports women with multiple deprivations, including trauma, addictions and contact with the justice system. The PhD student will run a series of creative writing workshops with women who have been abused within the family. This will involve participants learning creative writing skills; reading excerpts of survivor-centred writing, and producing their own creative writing.

Using reader response theory, trauma theory and ‘narrative medicine’ theory, which demonstrates the health benefits of writing traumatic experiences, the PhD student will analyse and evaluate texts used in the creative writing workshop, texts produced by participants; and survivors’ experiences of participating in creative writing workshops.

The creative and critical practice together will explore survivor-centred  representations and consider how they can create possibilities for new understandings of violence against women and girls within the family

PLEASE NOTE THIS PROJECT APPLICATION IS VIA THIS LINK

Deadline 30th January 2026

Please contact the project supervisors for more information: Franziska Schroeder and Kim-Marie Spence

This PhD project investigates how immersive technologies can foster inclusion, belonging, and skills development for marginalised groups in Northern Ireland. The focus is on asylum-seeking communities, with particular attention to young women and girls, who often face compounded challenges of displacement, gender inequalities, and cultural invisibility.

Objectives:

1. Identity and Belonging – explore how VR-based music-making and sensory mapping can support expressions and negotiations of identity in contexts of displacement.
2. Inclusive Design – co-develop VR and immersive storytelling tools with asylum-seeking participants, ensuring accessibility, cultural sensitivity, and ethical design.
3. Education and Skills – examine the potential of immersive creative practices for enhancing digital literacy, creative confidence, and transferable skills in young asylum seekers.
4. Wellbeing and Civic Impact – assess the contribution of inclusive VR music-making to wellbeing, intercultural dialogue, and civic inclusion.

Key Activities:

• Year 1: Literature review across migration, identity, sensory ethnography, VR/AR, and inclusive music technologies. Training in VR development and participatory methods. Partnership-building with NGOs and schools. Initial sensory mapping workshops to co-create multimodal “maps of belonging,” combining sound, gesture, image, and memory.
• Year 2: Participatory workshops with young asylum seekers, particularly girls, to co-design VR music and storytelling prototypes. Development of immersive environments with Immersive Ireland. Pilot implementation in schools, youth hubs, and community centres, embedding evaluation of accessibility, usability, and cultural resonance (if time allows)
• Year 3: Comprehensive analysis of impacts on identity, skills, and wellbeing. Dissemination through immersive showcases, exhibitions, public installations, and performances. Policy briefs to be co-authored with NGOs and cultural partners to inform wider debates on inclusion.

Project code AEL2026/05 deadline 30th January 2026

Please contact the Project supervisors for more information: Marcas Mac Coinnigh and Micheal O Mainnin

This PhD will investigate how members of the Protestant community in Belfast are renegotiating their relationship with the Irish language following a prolonged period of social forgetting. While the historical context of Protestant engagement with Irish in the nineteenth century–and its decline in the early twentieth century, particularly after partition–provides an essential backdrop, the central emphasis is on contemporary re-engagements. The study will examine how individuals and communities confront gaps in cultural memory, reconnect with the past, and use language to reshape cultural identity.

The project has three objectives:

1. To document and analyse contemporary re-engagements with the Irish language among Protestants in Belfast, with particular attention to the partnership with TURAS in East Belfast.
2. To situate these re-engagements within the longer history of Protestant involvement with Irish (c.1800–1900), using Beiner’s concept of social forgetting as the principal framework, and to show how suppressed memories continue to shape identity.
3. To assess how these re-engagements contribute to conflict resolution, reconciliation, and social change, and to demonstrate how Irish classes and cultural initiatives in East Belfast can broaden educational access and foster inclusivity.

The project is distinctive in placing Protestant re-engagements with Irish at the centre of analysis and applying memory studies to lived community practice. It will be the first sustained study to combine frameworks of cultural memory, social forgetting, and post-conflict reconciliation with empirical community research. Methodologically, it adopts a mixed approach: oral history interviews and workshops with Protestant learners and activists; quantitative analysis of census and demographic data to trace linguistic patterns and denominational identities; and archival and discourse analysis to recover the genealogy of Protestant involvement with Irish.

Skills and Experience:

Essential:

• Experience of qualitative research methods, particularly oral history or ethnographic approaches
• Strong presentation and communication skills
• Advanced competence in the Irish language.

Desirable:

• An interest in cultural memory, identity, and post-conflict reconciliation
• Awareness of/interest in community language revitalisation
• Familiarity with the sociolinguistic and historical context of Irish in Belfast