There are over 1 million people regularly working night shifts in the UK. These are people that keep our cities and infrastructures running: they are the cleaners, the hospital staff, the emergency services, the security guards, the night bus drivers, postal workers, mini-cab drivers, prison staff, factory workers, call centre operators, transport engineers, carers, haulers, market workers, infrastructure workers - power stations, water, gas etc). This nocturnal economy is largely invisible to most of us. Night workers occupy a different time zone, going into work after the majority have long since left and finishing when most people are still asleep.

This project aims to find out more about this largely undocumented workforce: understanding who these night workers are, the problems they face and possible ways to overcome them. While many studies have looked at the medical affects of night work, there is very little understanding of the social pressures and needs of night workers. No government departments are devoting resources to finding out the needs of those who run our communities at night. We are interested in finding out more about:

• Who are the night workers? How do they differ across different job types?
• What are the problems they face? How do they manage their jobs and social lives?
• Does regularly working at night disconnect or marginalise people from the rest of society?
• How might any problems or issues be better overcome and supported?

We are using an ethnographic methodology and immersing ourselves in the lives of the night workers. We will spend a shift with people, observing them while they do their jobs and then follow this with an interview at a convenient time afterwards:

• We will go where they go, do what they do, documenting what we see and hear
• This will allow full immersion in their context and enables us to better comprehend the issues, understanding their jobs on their terms and better relating to their needs
• We will ask questions as the issues come up, hearing their stories first hand.