The QMU Graduate School Our Research Centres
The Graduate School’s aims are to: Centre for Health, Activity and
Rehabilitation Research (CHEAR)
• ensure high quality graduate
education;
• maximise the quality of the student
experience;
• ensure timely research progression
and completion rates;
• share good practice on research
supervision;
• represent graduate issues within
and outside the University;
• oversee and continuously review
doctoral degree administration;
• maintain a vibrant community of
doctoral students;
• grow the doctoral student
population and seek opportunities
for new international business;
• promote an inclusive and
interdisciplinary research
environment for PhD and
Professional Doctorate students
and
• promote collaboration within
the University and with external
partners.
All doctoral students are members of
the QMU Graduate School.
The Graduate School works in
partnership with the University’s
Department of Governance and
Quality Enhancement, the School of
Health Sciences, the School of Arts,
Social Sciences and Management,
the Centre for Academic Practice
and a range of support departments
in order to support doctoral students
effectively.
If you have any general queries
regarding the School, please email
[email protected] or
visit the Graduate School website
at www.qmu.ac.uk/study-here/
postgraduate-research-study/
graduate-school-and-doctoral-
research/ for further information and
resources.
QMU is also a member of the
Scottish Graduate School of Social
Science (www.socsciscotland.
ac.uk) and a member of the Scottish
Graduate School for Arts and
Humanities (www.sgsah.ac.uk),
both of which provide a high level of
support for students.
The Centre for Health, Activity and
Rehabilitation Research (CHEAR) offers
postgraduate research supervision
expertise across our three sub-themes of
physical activity and exercise;
rehabilitation, musculoskeletal and
orthopaedic rehabilitation; and clinical
nutrition and biological science. We
welcome applications from individuals
with interests in research that focuses on
health, nutritional status and quality of life
of people, the professional practice of
health and care professionals, and the
development of health and care policy. A
key driver of our postgraduate research
training is the use of collaborative
partnerships to facilitate applied research
programmes of high relevance to our key
stakeholder communities (eg consumers,
patients, industry, NHS).
Contact: Professor Tom Mercer
(tme [email protected])
The Centre for Applied Social
Sciences (CASS)
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences
(CASS) conducts research into social
issues that affect people’s lives locally,
nationally, and internationally.
Membership of the Centre includes
researchers from Business, Enterprise
and Management; Media Culture and
Performing Arts; Occupational Therapy
and Art Therapy; and Psychology and
Sociology. Research is focused around
the following strategic areas:
• identity, social inclusion/exclusion,
citizenship and social participation;
• i ndividual and social meanings of
health and wellbeing;
• discourse, communication,
mediation and negotiation in
applied settings; and
• individual information-processing
and decision-making.
Contact: Professor Chris McVittie
([email protected])
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Centre for Person-Centred Practice
Research (CPcPR)
The Centre for Person-Centred Practice
Research (CPcPR) has a focus on
research that enhances service users’
(patients, residents, clients) experiences
of care across a variety of care settings.
We are particularly interested in research
that makes a difference to the lives of
people who experience health and social
care services, as well as those who
provide these services. Person-
centredness is a concept that is focused
on placing ‘the person’ at the heart of
decision-making and to do that
effectively requires a commitment to
understanding how the context of care
impacts on individual, team and
organisational experience. We especially
welcome applications for research that
involves collaboration with practitioners,
policy-makers and other research users
in the fields of gerontology, dementia
care, public health, long-term conditions
and palliative/end-of-life care.
Contact: Professor Jan Dewing
([email protected])
Centre for Communication, Cultural
and Media Studies (CCCMS)
This centre carries out world-class and
internationally excellent research on
cultural and creative industries, public
relations, film and media. Critical
theoretical research is clustered around
media and cultural policy, production and
consumption; professionalised applied
communication practices; analysis of film
and television; and critical media industry
studies. Our work has tackled areas
such as: screen and on-demand
industries, production studies, cultural
spaces and cultural intermediaries,
creative labour, adaptation, identities,
and media audiences. We welcome
applications for research that combine
theoretically robust critique with an
interest in practices, be they creative,
discursive, industrial or institutional in
nature.
Contact: Professor Philip Drake
([email protected])