125th Anniversary Scholarship for Black British Researchers - EmpowerHer: A Toolkit to Support Wellbeing in Women from Ethnic Minority Urban Communities

Stress and poor mental health and wellbeing are prevalent throughout ethnic minority and disadvantaged urban communities in the UK. Additionally, ethnic minority groups in the UK tend to have less access to mental healthcare and support compared to White British groups. Women in ethnic minority urban communities of low engagement to accessing support and services are at particular increased risk of poor mental health and wellbeing arising from numerous sources of psychological stress (e.g., childcare, caring and family responsibilities). With our community partner organisations, we previously conducted stress and wellbeing focus groups with women from low-engagement ethnic minority urban communities in Birmingham. Importantly, the women expressed a strong desire to learn more about ways to cope with their stress to support their wellbeing.

Building on from this initial work, the aim of this studentship is to co-design a sustainable toolkit for charities and organisations to use to deliver to women in low-engagement ethnic minority urban communities. The purpose of the toolkit is to improve women’s mental health and wellbeing through empowering them to be better able to cope with stress and the demands they experience in their lives. Targeted constructs will include increased self-esteem and self-worth, improved emotion regulation, and increased resilience. This will enhance their ability to cope with stress and as a result improve indicators of mental health and wellbeing.

The toolkit will be co-designed with a steering group of minority women from our target community to ensure it is culturally appropriate and empowering. These discussions will cover the content of the toolkit and develop training resources for the delivery of the toolkit by women from ethnic minorities. The toolkit will then be pilot tested on a group of women in our community organisations and changes made based on discussions with participants before the toolkit is implemented more widely within our community partner organisations. We will then evaluate the effectiveness and perceptions of the toolkit within this population. The feedback will be used to finalise the toolkit in preparation for use by other community organisations.

You can find more information via the above ‘Apply’ button.

Funding Details 

Additional Funding Information 

The University of Birmingham is proud to celebrate its remarkable 125-year journey and announce the launch of a groundbreaking scholarship initiative designed to empower and support Black British researchers in their pursuit of doctoral education.

These newly established 3.5-year scholarships aim to address underrepresentation and create opportunities for talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to excel in academia. You can find out more here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/funding/black-british-researchers-scholarship

Closing Date: 30/04/2025