Getting your stuff together: The role of storage and decluttering services in the management of domestic materiality over the life course

As a society it is thought that we have smaller homes but own more possessions than ever; have more mobile lifestyles and uncertain lives yet desire stability. The aim of the proposed fellowship is to contribute to understandings of these contemporary phenomenon by developing approaches which attest to our changing relationships with material things and our homes over the lifecourse. Building on novel insights from my PhD research this fellowship will further explore and communicate issues of (1) a lack of theorisations of stored objects and storage spaces; (2) the role of storage in dealing with bereavement and grief; (3) and our ability to manage our possessions as we get older.

The first major aim of this fellowship is to make specific contributions to the academic fields of cultural and social geography from the insights gained through my PhD research. A large proportion of this work will be in the form of writing three articles from my PhD for publication in well-regarded international journals. The other significant strand of this aim will involve further developing a strong foothold in academic networks through spending a month at the Morgan Centre for Everyday Life at the University of Manchester, hosting a one-day conference for other academics studying stigmatised aspects of domestic life, and presenting at two international conferences.

Secondly, I will spend the equivalent of one-day per week of this fellowship undertaking new research interviewing older people who require the assistance of third sector decluttering services to clear space for necessary home improvements, downsize or move into residential care. Links have been made with Care and Repair Cymru who run the Attic Project across South Wales. Like self-storage, the growth in decluttering services can be linked to different contemporary practices of 'living with things', thereby building upon themes in my PhD research regarding the changing relationship between domestic materiality and home spaces over the lifecourse. It is hoped that this additional research will demonstrate the feasibility for a larger study in a subsequent postdoctoral grant application, which as well as additional interviews of third sector decluttering volunteers and beneficiaries would also examine those supplying and using 'paid for' services from, so called, professional declutterers.

Finally, the time and resources available through this fellowship will be utilised to improve the impact of my research. Improving my skills in the dissemination of findings to non-academic audiences will constitute an important part of this, and I will attend training workshops to learn how to confidently engage with the media (ESRC media training), and how to write for a non-academic audience (The Conversation). Culminatively this training will mean I am better equipped to apply to the New Generation Thinkers scheme in October 2020, but in the meantime these skills would be utilised in the production of guest articles and blogs posts for The Conversation, Discard Studies and Self Storage Focus Magazine. The findings of the small-scale study will be fed back to Care and Repair Cymru, as well as being the basis for policy briefings to Age UK and POST. I will also present my findings at third sector and trade conferences - the Care and Repair Annual Conference in Cardiff and the European Self Storage Association Annual Conference, and attend the Association of Declutterers and Professional Organisers to make connections for my future research agenda.