Commonweal awards University of Birmingham Masters’ Bursary
To celebrate Commonweal’s long-term partnership with the University of Birmingham, we have established a 2026/27 Master’s Bursary in honour of our 20th anniversary.
The one-off bursary has awarded one postgraduate student a £10,000 grant to undertake research into an underexplored social and housing injustice aligned with Commonweal’s focus over the last two decades, including issues affecting young people or women involved in the criminal justice system.
We are delighted to announce that the bursary will sponsor MA Sociology student Tara Black.
Tara recently graduated with First-Class Honours in Sociology from Birmingham City University, returning to academia after more than a decade of professional experience across the private and third sector, spanning fundraising, stakeholder engagement, and employment support.
She began her career fundraising for the homeless charity Shelter before moving to Australia to support various other charities. Upon returning to the UK, she worked as an Employment Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions. Tara recognises that this role strengthened her interest in the relationship between housing, welfare, employment, and social inequality.
Her academic interests centre on social theory, particularly how classical sociology can inform and deepen understandings of contemporary issues such as neoliberalism, globalisation, race and social inequality. She is also drawn to explore how public policy both reproduces and mitigates contemporary inequalities that often have long-standing historical roots.
Proposed research
Tara's proposed research aims to explore the financialisation of housing within Britain's social contract and its impact on young people's opportunities and expectations for adulthood.
As part of this, she aims to understand how housing inequality is reproduced across generations. Key themes include "generation rent", the societal shift toward an asset-based economy and the growing importance of intergenerational wealth. She seeks to examine how these factors shape young people's life chances, particularly for vulnerable groups like care leavers.
Upon receiving the bursary, Tara Black remarked: “Returning to education as a mature student has been the most rewarding experience of my adult life and completely changed my life’s trajectory. Sociology has not only given me a new way of understanding the inequalities I have encountered personally and professionally, but also a framework to satisfy my curiosities about our ever-changing social world. I am incredibly grateful to Commonweal Housing for the opportunity to take that curiosity beyond the classroom and into original research.
"Alongside expanding my own self-belief and horizon of possibility, the bursary will provide invaluable material support during my postgraduate studies by allowing me to work less and study more. I am excited to develop my skills as a researcher and hope to contribute to conversations about housing inequality and social change during my MA degree and beyond.”
Ashley Horsey, Chief Executive at Commonweal Housing, said: “Since 2017, Commonweal has maintained strong ties with the University of Birmingham, stemming from the establishment of the Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary in honour of our late trustee. Through this bursary, we have proudly supported 30 final-year Social Policy students investigating relevant housing and social issues. In recent years, I have also enjoyed guest lecturing as part of the School of Social Policy's housing module, drawing on Commonweal’s work to share insights into the housing sector.
“Commonweal truly values our longstanding partnership with the University, and we are very pleased to celebrate this by sponsoring a Master’s bursary to mark our 20th anniversary. We are delighted to support Tara Black as she investigates how this systemic issue affects young people, and we look forward to Tara presenting her findings to Commonweal Trustees, staff and invited guests at the end of her research in autumn 2027.”
