Applications are now open for a PhD studentship on the Society’s Collections, as part of our Collaborative Doctoral Awards programme. The project, due to start in September 2021, will focus on the history, use, and legacy of systems of orthography (the conventions governing the spelling of place names) used at the Society from 1830-1919.
Based at Royal Holloway, University of London, and in partnership with the Society, the project will explore how the Society tackled the problem of orthography, and what this can tell us about the connections between institutional authority and geographical knowledge, and the complex relationships between indigenous and imperial modes of understanding space and place.
The project will draw extensively on the book, map, and archival collections of the Society, particularly the minutes and reports of the Orthography Committee (1879–1919). The applicant will benefit, in addition, from access to the Wiley Digital Archives platform, which provides searchable online access to a major proportion of the RGS-IBG’s manuscripts, maps, and atlases prior to 1945.
The project, funded by the technē Collaborative Doctoral Award scheme, will be supervised by Dr Innes M. Keighren and Professor Veronica della Dora at Royal Holloway, University of London and by Dr Catherine Souch and Dr Sarah Evans at the Society.
The deadline for applications is Monday 8 February.
Find out more about the project and how to apply.
Over the last 15 years we have hosted 14 PhD students carrying out collaborative research on our Collections, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Find out more about the Collaborative Doctoral Awards.