A School of Applied Social Sciences PhD student’s paper about homelessness has been ‘highly commended’ in prestigious research awards.
Bruno De Oliveira’s article ‘On The News Today: Challenging Homelessness Through Participatory Action Research’ was singled out for recognition by an editorial team in the 2019 Emerald Literati Awards.
Bruno’s paper was originally published in the journal Housing, Care and Support. Bruno said the article argued that: “involving people who are homeless in participatory action research (PAR) is one strategy to provide a space where people experiencing marginalisation can contest their marginalisation.
He added: “This paper shows that such an approach can have a significant impact on empowering people with direct experience of homelessness to challenge prevailing social discourses, particularly in terms of how the local media presents homelessness as a social issue.”
The Emerald Literati Awards help to boost the profile and reach of commended researchers and their work.
Bruno said the recognition was extra special due to his unorthodox route into academia in the UK. Having moved to Brighton from his native Brazil, he was encouraged to pursue an MA and then PhD after relishing his time as an undergraduate student.
“It is a great personal achievement because of how the research was delivered, my background and the institutional support,” he said.
“I’m not the typical academic, if there is one. I was born in an impoverished neighbourhood in Brazil and I came to the UK in my early 20s and had to take the access route to University.
“Once I got accepted to study at Brighton, I did wonder if university was for me. I was until then the first person on my side of the family go to university. But I had a great experience as an undergraduate student at Brighton.
“I had lecturers that made me fall in love with the social sciences and interrogation of society. I thought, ‘that is what I want to do, I want to be an academic’”.
Bruno said he was pleased to have had the opportunity to undertake an MA in Community Psychology and now a PhD, which he is close to completing.
He added: “I have a lot to thank the School of Applied Sciences, as well as the Community and University Partnership Programme, for in terms of their support throughout my educational journey. I’d also like to thank Emmaus Brighton for their support.”
