Understanding the Challenge
Young men are navigating increasingly complex social landscapes, such as neoliberalism, deindustrialisation, and insecure employment. There is also a growing influence of digital cultures, including misogynistic and far-right spaces. These factors can have significant implications on young men’s wellbeing, worldviews, and relationships to place and identity.
My Approach
My research will take a qualitative mixed-methods approach, comparative across three case studies in Northern England: Rotherham, Sunderland, and Teesside. Overall, I aim to explore how offline and online spaces intersect in young men’s everyday lives, how these intersections shape experiences of masculinity, identity, and wellbeing, and how urban social infrastructures may be strengthened to better support healthy forms of masculinity across post-digital urban contexts. Foregrounding young men’s voices, a series of workshops will be conducted, incorporating creative methods to engage participants and capture lived experiences.
Currently, I am 4 months into my PhD. Initial work has focused on building the literature review, conceptual development, developing research questions, and designing an appropriate methodology. My next steps will involve gaining ethical approval and conducting a pilot study.
Constance Copley
PhD Student
Human Geography Policy & Development
Project Start Date: 01/10/2025
Email: constance.copley@northumbria.ac.uk
Supervisory team: Dr Jason Luger, Dr Ozge Dilaver, and Dr Lisa Thomas
Project Themes
