John Corish

Belonging in Place: Co-Creating Pathways to Success for Underrepresented Students in Higher Education

Name: John Corish
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Mark Riley
Year: 1
Discipline: Human Geography
Presentation type: Oral presentation with slides
Project Title: Belonging in Place: Co-Creating Pathways to Success for Underrepresented Students in Higher Education

Abstract:

Belonging in place develops a deeper theoretical and practical understanding of how underrepresented students in higher education build belonging, focusing on spatial practices, institutional culture and co-created interventions. Guided by Yi Fu Tuan’s extension of topophilia - the affective bond with place - and Doreen Massey’s concept of places as ‘thrown together’, the thesis answers recent calls to spatialise research on belonging and extends work on ‘agentic belonging’, where students actively make belonging. An insider action research design embeds the inquiry within Liverpool Plus, a widening participation programme combining student voice panels and on and off-campus activities and support; complemented by photovoice and walking interview methods to document lived mobilities. The research will explore how these relational spatial practices shape student geographies, surface non dominant narratives and generate transferable insights for place-based institutional interventions. Outcomes will provide a model of spatial-agentic belonging and practical guidance to boost student success.