ESRC White Rose DTP Collaborative Award

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The ESRC WRDTP Collaborative Awards are PhD studentships set up in collaboration with partners in the private, public or third sectors.

More information can be found on the ESRC WRDTP webpage.

For October 2023 entry, the University of Sheffield is offering an exciting PhD opportunity in collaboration with the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) in our Department of Sociological Studies, lead supervised by Dr Laura Connelly

PhD Studentship: Sex Work, Digital Rights and Freedoms: Creating Safer Online Working Environments Across Europe.

Digital technologies have dramatically reshaped how sexual services are bought and sold, with the digitalisation of sex work gathering pace as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the shift to digital platforms has brought benefits to sex workers, emergent forms of both online and ‘digitally mediated’ sex work transform the existing challenges for sex workers and introduce new difficulties.

This collaborative project in partnership with the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) will support ESWA’s ongoing work to ensure that the experiences and rights of sex workers are fully recognised and protected in discussions and measures to safeguard digital freedoms and privacy. The studentship will explore how sex workers experience the laws and policies governing digital platforms across Europe, and what changes may be required to the regulation of digital sex work platforms.

For further details and information on how to apply, please view the project advertisement.

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