PhD Studentships in the Arts and Humanities

Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership

Details:

The Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership invites top-calibre applicants to apply to its doctoral studentships competition 2015. More than fifty fully-funded PhD studentships are available across the full range of arts and humanities subjects, including Creative Practice disciplines.

Northern Bridge is an exciting collaboration between Newcastle University, Durham University and Queen’s University Belfast. Our aim is to deliver outstanding doctoral education in the arts and humanities, and successful applicants will join a thriving cohort of almost fifty Northern Bridge PhD students recruited through last year’s studentship competition. Northern Bridge offers exceptional supervision by academic staff researching at the cutting edge of their disciplines, vibrant research environments that promote interdisciplinary enquiry, and research training and career development opportunities tailored to the needs of twenty-first-century researchers.

Northern Bridge students benefit from our close partnerships with prestigious local and national organisations in the cultural, heritage, broadcasting, and government sectors. Our partners provide a wide range of placement, research, and training opportunities, and currently comprise: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art; BBC Northern Ireland; Belfast City Council; Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure NI; Durham Cathedral; National Media Museum; New Writing North; Newcastle City Council; Sage Gateshead; Seven Stories National Centre for Children’s Books; The Bowes Museum; Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums; and Wordsworth Trust.

Subject Areas

Northern Bridge invites applications in the following subject areas, and strongly encourages interdisciplinary projects encompassing two or more of these:

• Archaeology
• Classics
• Creative Writing
• Cultural Geography
• Drama and Theatre Studies
• English Language and Literature
• Ethnography and Anthropology*
• Film History, Theory and Criticism
• French Studies
• German Studies
• Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
• History
• Interpreting and Translation
• Law and Legal Studies*
• Linguistics
• Museum Studies
• Music
• Philosophy
• Political Science and International Studies (Diplomacy & International Relations)*
• Russian Studies
• Theology, Divinity and Religion
• Visual Arts, encompassing Art Theory & Aesthetics, and theoretical, historical, critical and practice-based approaches to the following: Fine Art; Digital Arts; Photography; Community Art; Installation Art; Sound Art; Film-/ Time-Based Art; and Architecture

Value of the Award

We provide a comprehensive and attractive package of financial support over the duration of study, which incorporates:

• full payment of tuition fees 
• a tax-free maintenance grant set at the UK Research Council’s national postgraduate rate, which is currently £13,863 (subject to review)
• a research training support grant (RTSG) to fund the costs of study abroad, conference attendance and fieldwork
• financial support to attend our cohort-building events
• financial support to incorporate short-term placements, international study visits and specialist training events in order to develop your skills.

AHRC Eligibility Criteria

Applicants for Northern Bridge studentships must meet the AHRC's residency requirements, which can be found in the AHRC’sStudent Funding Guide.

For those classified as ‘Home’ students under AHRC rules, awards provide successful applicants with full tuition fees and a maintenance grant set at AHRC’s national rate. Students classified as ‘EU’ under AHRC rules are eligible for tuition fees only from the AHRC.

Person Specification

Candidates will usually hold a first-class or good upper-second undergraduate degree and be expected to perform at or around distinction level in a Masters degree.

In exceptional cases, candidates with lower qualifications may be considered if they can demonstrate that relevant professional practice or work experience has equipped them with equivalent academic and research skills.

How to Apply

Candidates must consult the Subject Area Contact in their prospective department or school to discuss their research proposal and check that there is a member of staff who can supervise their thesis before making a formal application.

For further application information, please visit the Northern Bridge website.

Closing Date for Applications

The deadline for submitting a postgraduate course application and supporting documentation is Monday 26 January 2015, 5:00pm.

Contact

Sarah Rylance
Doctoral Training Partnership Administrator
Tel. +44(0) 191 208 6190
Email: sarah.rylance@ncl.ac.uk