Dr Rachel Ayrton
ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Rachel Ayrton returned to the University of Southampton having completed her MSc (2012) and PhD (2017) in Sociology here. She subsequently worked on research contracts both in Southampton and with the University of Cambridge and is now pursuing an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship through the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership.
I am interested to see how the tools of sociological research – both theory and method – can help us to understand the conceptions, experiences and outlook of conflict-affected diaspora communities.
Rachel’s professional background in community development and engagement laid the groundwork for the applied focus of Rachel’s research and provoked many of the questions that she now seeks to address through her work. Between 2005 and 2009 she worked for a New Deal for Communities regeneration programme in a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in Southampton, supporting and building the capacity of the local voluntary and community sector and managing a portfolio of community development and leisure projects. She went on to manage community engagement across four priority areas for regeneration in the London Borough of Enfield (2009 – 2011) before retraining as a sociologist.
For her doctoral research, Rachel’s thesis considered methodological pluralism in British sociology, using Bourdieu’s notion of reflexive sociology to frame the discussion. Following a three paper format, the components of Rachel’s thesis each explored a different dimension of methodological pluralism, examining: the history of the social survey method in the UK and the US; the use of storyboarding as a tool for researchers to apply themselves in the pre-empirical processes of conceptualisation and operationalisation; and the microdynamics of power in focus group discussions. She also laid out the theoretical foundations for a study of trust within post-conflict communities which she hopes to expand in the future.
Through an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Rachel is developing a research project which examines national identity among the South Sudanese diaspora in the UK. Having already conducted some focus group discussions on the topic in preparation for her third PhD paper, she plans to work with the community to organise further discussions and unpack key questions around migration, community cohesion and post-conflict reconciliation. The Fellowship will also enable her to expand her networks, submit further publications arising from her PhD, consolidate her research training, undertake an ambitious programme of impact and engagement activities, and plan for the next stage of her research.