Postgraduate research opportunities Advancing Support Employment approaches for individuals with learning disabilities, autism or other complex support needs

Supported Employment is a voluntary, person-centred model of employment support for individuals with health conditions or disabilities that is rooted in values, evidence and fidelity (a list of service characteristics that associate with better outcomes and experiences for participants). Supported Employment is important to the UK’s national employment support offer and is a key current policy topic given the imminent arrival of DWP’s Universal Support employment programme that is built around a Supported Employment approach.

Inside that context, this collaborative PhD with the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) will focus on key priorities and opportunities around an approach known as the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) – a fidelity model, set of values, and a way of working in partnership with (typically) individuals with learning disabilities and/or autism. BASE are a key UK organisation regards this approach and are supervisory partners in the PhD, alongside the project’s wider partnerships with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Scottish Government. Supported Employment is at a really exciting moment in UK policy and this PhD is a great opportunity for somebody passionate about helping disabled people achieve their employment aspirations to work in collaboration with key policy stakeholders and research experts to drive valuable new research as well as major direct impacts on policy and practice.

The Supported Employment landscape is vast and the PhD could focus on a range of key issues including employer perspectives and engagement, critical success factors, client experiences, job matching, co-production, cost-benefit modelling, impact evaluation, target population groups etc and utilising a variety of qualitative and/or qualitative methods. We have some ideas but we are a person-centred, collaborative team and would wish co-produce the specific focus of the PhD with the selected candidate to reflect their own passions and strengths.