PhD Studentship: Virtual Reality Intervention to Address Youth Gang Involvement

The Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB) is inviting applications for a Doctoral Studentship in association with our collaborative partner Virtual Decisions to start in October 2025.

Criminal gangs operating in local communities pose serious threats to young people, including exposure to violence, weapon-carrying, and recruitment into child criminal exploitation (CCE) such as ‘county lines’ drug transportation. Gang involvement disproportionately affects disadvantaged young people and is linked to significant harm. Evidence-based interventions grounded in the science of behaviour are urgently needed to address this grave societal issue.

Groundbreaking Virtual Reality intervention:

Our collaborative partner Virtual Decisions developed a series of multi-award-winning virtual reality (VR) films and Extended Learning Package curricula exploring gangs (‘GANGS’), weapon-carrying (‘KNIVES’) and CCE (‘INFLUENCE’). The films use live-action footage to place the viewer in a 180-degree immersive audiovisual environment where they make decisions and experience consequences in a safe virtual environment. Developed with central government and local police funding, extensive youth and community consultation and based on Community Theatre principles, the intervention is delivered in educational and judicial settings as a primary prevention and early intervention strategy for young people to reduce risks associated with violence and gang involvement.

Evaluation and the current project:

The Virtual Decisions VR interventions have been delivered to 1000s of young people nationwide. Testimonials from practitioners and young people suggest the intervention is highly engaging with potential to change lives, which is supported by a published qualitative study (Bilello et al., 2023). The next step is to build on this prior work to formally evaluate the intervention. This will be done through the current Doctoral Studentship via 1) stakeholder consultation to build a theory of change and inform evaluation measures, 2) a study evaluating preventive impact in a community sample of young people, and 3) a study evaluating early intervention impact in an identified risk sample. Ultimately, this will yield insights on how behaviour science (psychology and public health), community theatre, stakeholder/youth involvement and VR-tech can be harnessed improve outcomes for young people.

We are looking for a highly talented and dedicated PhD student with a 1st class or 2:1 degree in Psychology or another relevant field such as Public Health, Sociology or Criminology. An MSc degree in a relevant area is desirable though not necessary. Previous experience working with young people, the research topic and qualitative/quantitative research methods is desirable.

The project will be supervised by Dr Stephanie Burnett Heyes, Dr James Hodgkinson, and Dr Kate Woodcock.

Informal enquiries about the project prior to application can be directed to Stephanie Burnett Heyes, s.burnettheyes@bham.ac.uk.

Funding Details

Additional Funding Information

The 4-year studentship will include a stipend at UKRI rate (for 24/25 this was £19,237, paid in monthly instalments) and tuition fees. The studentship covers tuition fees, a maintenance stipend, support for research training, as well as research activity support grants. Due to funding stipulations set by UKRI, we are able to recruit up to 30% of international applicants to the cohort each year.

To be considered for this PhD, please click on the above ‘Apply’ button and follow the instructions here. 

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