Youth, Trust, and Transformation: The long-term impact of Police-Led Support for NEET Young People in Barbados (PATELA_UEA_SENSSC26)
Key Details
- Application deadline
- The deadline for submitting your application for SENSS funding on HEIApply is 12:00 GMT on Monday 16 February 2026. No extensions to this deadline will be permitted.
- Location
- UEA
- Funding type
- Competition funded project (Students worldwide)
- Start date
- 1 October 2026
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Description
Primary supervisor - Dr Amrish Patel
About the Project
Today’s young people are growing up in challenging times. A quarter of young people globally are not in employment, education or training. This knocks their confidence, worsens their mental health, increases their risk of long-term unemployment and poverty, increases crime and reduces economic growth.
King’s Trust International (KTI) is a global organisation that delivers education, employment and enterprise programmes in 19 countries across world, empowering young people to learn, earn and thrive. They want to help more young people lead fulfilling and meaningful lives but need your help!
KTI have been working with the University of East Anglia (UEA) to develop a plan to gather robust evidence on the impact their training programme in Barbados. This vital evidence will enable them to attract major innovation capital and government buy-in to deliver their transformational programmes across the world. The successful student will lead this impact evaluation with the support of two experienced academics and the full support of a major global development organisation.
For more information on KTI’s activities:
Project background
The overall aim of this project is to evaluate the impact of a youth development programme run by King’s Trust International (for young people not in employment, education or training) in Barbados. The outcomes of interest will likely be:
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Whether the young person is in employment, education or training
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Criminal activity
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Physical and mental health measures
To achieve this aim, the successful student will design and conduct a randomised controlled trial in Barbados to robustly estimate short-term impacts and use quasi-experimental methods on historical data to estimate long-term impacts. UEA and KTI have already been working together to collate the data architecture and evidence base for the student to build on.
The objectives of this project are to:
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Finalise the research designs for the two evaluations (e.g. outcome variables, data collection methods, trial design etc).
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Conduct the two impact evaluations.
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Disseminate learnings, thought leadership activities and support KTI in achieving impact.
In your application proposal, please outline how you would achieve these objectives.
How to apply
To be considered for this funding, you must first apply to SENSS for this collaborative studentship. Please read the SENSS Collaborative Studentship Application Guidance Notes before completing our online application form. The Guidance Notes are available here.
If your application is successful, you will need to make a separate application for a place to study at the University of East Anglia, your host University. You will be provided with a link with information on how to make your application to the University of East Anglia once you have been offered a SENSS studentship.
The deadline for submitting your application for SENSS funding on HEIApply is 12:00 GMT on Monday 16 February 2026. No extensions to this deadline will be permitted.
Entry requirements
Bachelors or Masters in a relevant subject with a strong quantitative component (e.g. economics, psychology, public policy, international development).
To apply for a Masters plus PhD (+4.5-year award), you will need: qualifications or professional experience equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree (Honours). To apply for a PhD only (+3.5-year award), you will need: qualifications or professional experience equivalent to a Masters degree, or a Masters degree and already have the research skills needed to successfully complete your research project.