PhD for Volunteer Managers (bursary available)

Volunteers as Volunteer Managers (Ref: SS5)

Principal Supervisor: Professor Irene Hardill. The focus of this proposed PhD is those individuals in the voluntary and community sector (VCS) variously known as Volunteer Managers, Volunteers Co-ordinator, and Volunteers Organisers. Volunteer Managers sit at the interface between volunteers, organisations that involve volunteers and policies that promote unpaid voluntary work, including the Big Society. Volunteer managers themselves are seeking voice and recognition, via the Association of Volunteer Managers.

The overarching aim is to advance empirical and conceptual understanding of the work of volunteer managers; using qualitative methods to map their journeys and feminist heuristics to understand the meanings and configurations of paid and unpaid work. The research will also examine the process by which organisations come to the decision to have volunteers as volunteer managers.

Please email Irene.Hardill@northumbria.ac.uk; matt.baillie-smith@northumbria.ac.uk 

Northumbria University