Applications are invited for a full-funded PhD studentship on 'silent cinema' and early twentieth-century popular theatre studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, in partnership with the London Metropolitan Archives
Applications are invited for an AHRC collaborative PhD studentship, held at the Music Department of Royal Holloway, University of London and The London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) on the theme ‘Moving Pictures, Music, and Theatrical Exhibition in London, 1914-1930’. The studentship, funded by the technē AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership, commences in autumn 2023. This award, tenable for three and a half years (42 months) will pay tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home UKRI rate for PhD degrees, as well as a maintenance grant (£17,668 per annum according to current rates, plus London Weighting of £2,000/year, plus an additional CDA maintenance payment of £550/year, as well as Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of £1,750 over the lifetime of the award).
The project
The project will focus on LMA documents that record discussions and decisions around the licensing of London’s theatres, including picture theatres, as well as those concerning building planning. Decisions in these two areas had an impact upon how the musical presentation of moving pictures developed in London before the establishment of the ‘talkies’. Using LMA records, the project will expand existing research to explore the development of moving picture exhibition and performance practices in London in the 1920s. The project could be limited to arrangements c. 1914 to 1921 and take in both venue licensing and planning issues; or it could focus specifically on licensing and investigate a longer period.
The project will be co-supervised by Professor Julie Brown (Music Department, Royal Holloway), Wendy Hawke (Senior Archivist, LMA Collections) and Dr Sophie Nield (Drama Department, Royal Holloway). The successful candidate will combine doctoral research in the theatrical presentation of moving pictures with first-hand experience of working (including cataloguing and public engagement) in an archive.
Full details about the project can be found here.
Deadline
The deadline for receipt of applications (including two references) is Wednesday 24th January 2023. Interviews will be held on Thursday 9th February 2023.
Candidates could also apply for the general technē funding competition by the earlier deadline of 16th January if they wish. This would open up two possible routes to a funded PhD.
Further Information
Further details about eligibility and the application process can be found here.
For informal enquiries about the project, please contact Professor Julie Brown (Julie.Brown@rhul.ac.uk)
For information or queries about the RHUL application process, please contact Professor Tina K. Ramnarine (Tina.Ramnarine@rhul.ac.uk)
