About
Title of PhD: Marginal Players or Market Makers: Temporary Staffing Agencies in Local Labour Markets
Supervisors: Dr Simon Pemberton and Professor John Bryson
Bryony is a third year PhD student in economic geography her research explores the role of labour market intermediaries in the West Midlands. She is using qualitative methodologies to interview owners and directors of temporary staffing agencies in the West Midlands as well as local and national businesses that use employment agencies to recruit ‘temps’.
Qualifications
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BA (1st Class Hons) International Relations – Keele University 2003-2006
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MPhil (Merit) Geographical Research – University of Cambridge 2008-2009
Biography
Bryony studied International Relations at Keele University and developed an interest in precarious work, workers rights, flexibility, temporary work and recruitment. After her undergraduate degree she moved to London to work in IT and Financial recruitment. Following this she spent a year working in industrial recruitment in East Yorkshire before returning to academia to explore the implications of temporary staffing on workers’ rights. She successfully completed her MPhil in Geographical Research at Cambridge University in which she explored Export Processing Zones in Mexico and their implications on trade union formation. Following this she gained a school studentship from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham and began doctoral research on temporary staffing agencies in 2009.
Research
Temporary staffing agencies, agency work, temporary work, labour geographies, labour rights, trade unionism, precarious work, flexible work and fragmented workplaces.
Other activities
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Human Geography reading group - 2011
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School o f Entrepreneurship and Innovation undergraduate Summer School student demonstrator – 2011
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Darwin College, Cambridge – Captain of Women’s rowing - 2009