Applications are now open for proposals from prospective supervisors for Collaborative Doctoral Programme (CDP) studentships on the Society’s Collections.
For the last 15 years, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Society has hosted PhD students working collaboratively on research using our Collections. Currently, this is supported through the Science Museums and Archives Consortium (SMAC) (along with the Science Museum Group museums, BT Archives, Royal Society, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). All projects involve a collaboration between a university-based researcher and the staff and archive materials at one of the CDP consortium institutions. We also partner with other Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP).
We are keen to encourage proposals for PhD projects within the remit of AHRC that relate to the Society’s Collections, our current strategy, opportunities afforded by the Wiley Digital Archives digitisation project, and engagement with new audiences. We encourage any prospective applicants to look at the projects currently supported and earlier Collections-based projects including Crossing continents and Hidden histories of exploration.
Propose a studentship
In spring 2023, SMAC received funding to support nine studentships over three years, with the first cohort of students starting from October 2024. Applications are now open for proposals from prospective supervisors for this first round. Those applying to SMAC for a project involving the Society are strongly encouraged to submit a parallel application to their local DTP or other equivalent schemes (where applicable).
Please contact Dr Sarah Evans at s.evans@rgs.org to discuss potential applications before submitting these to SMAC.
SMAC operates a two-stage application process – an expression of interest and brief case for support should be provided in the first instance, followed by a full application. The deadline for submitting an expression of interest to SMAC is midday on Friday 29 September. Projects which benefit the SMAC organisations in multiple areas and/or speak to the identified research priorities will be prioritised.
Full details of these, along with timelines and an application form, are available here.
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