Fully Funded PhD Scholarship in History: Mapping Southeast Asian Lives in London, 1750-1850

Funded PhD Project (UK or International Students)

Funding provider: Northeastern University London (NU London)

Subject areas: History

Project start date: October 2024

Supervisors (*lead):

• *Dr Oliver Ayers, Associate Professor in History (Northeastern University London)
• Dr Aparajita Mukhopadhyay, Lecturer in History (University of Kent)

Aligned programme of study: PhD in History

Mode of study: Full-time

Northeastern University London

As part of a major investment, Northeastern University London (NU London) has multiple, fully-funded PhD studentships available to accelerate its interdisciplinary research in the humanities, social sciences, and computing, maths, engineering and natural sciences. Each scholarship is fully-funded for three and a half years (UKRI rates) and includes full course fees, an annual stipend (including an additional London allowance) and associated costs, such as training.

NU London is both a UK university governed by UK higher education regulations, and the European campus of Northeastern University – a large, top-tier research intensive, Boston-based institution. Founded in 1898, Northeastern University is known for its high-impact research, aimed at solving problems across the globe. Interdisciplinarity, experiential learning, and connection to partners beyond academia are at the heart of the Northeastern University ethos. Northeastern received $230.7m of external research funding in 2022, and is the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. It has campuses across the United States and Canada (in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; Portland, Maine; Oakland, California; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Arlington, Virginia; the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant; Toronto and Vancouver). Whilst the PhD will be a UK qualification, students will have the opportunity to engage with and visit the Northeastern University network overseas as part of their London-based doctoral studies, providing a truly unique and highly sought-after dimension to their research training.

The Project

Mapping Southeast Asian Lives in London, 1750 to 1850: Critical and Creative Responses to the Digital Archive

This PhD project draws on the established methodologies of Northeastern’s Mapping Black London project. It is situated in the discipline of history but has interdisciplinary connections to Black Studies and digital humanities at its core. The successful candidate will use a series of extant datasets to explore the experiences of people from southeast Asia at a transformative moment in the history of London and wider world. They will blend critical, creative and digital archival practices to produce new knowledge about migration from southeastern Asia to London from 1750 to 1850 and, in turn, rethink historical ethno-racial identities in Britain more broadly. This overarching question will be interrogated through two sub-questions:

• How can digital archival projects recover the hidden lives of southeast Asian migrant settlers in London between 1750 and 1850, and what gaps and silences remain?
• How can critically-informed creative practices rethink the meaning of this settlement and reconceptualize historic ethno-racial identities in British history more broadly?

The successful candidate will use familiar techniques of historical research alongside decolonial responses to colonial archival creation, critical fabulation and narrative approaches to archival erasure, considering cultural geographic explorations of questions centred on the local, national and global.

The successful candidates will:

• Have a proven, strong educational background in history or a related subject (see eligibility criteria)
• Be excited and inspired by the proposed project area
• Be a self starter
• Have good communication skills
• Have an inquiring mind and be willing to challenge themselves

The successful candidates will benefit from a brand new campus on the banks of the River Thames next to Tower Bridge. This is an interdisciplinary, vibrant research environment with international collaboration and networking opportunities and dedicated research space. It will form the hub of a highly experienced, multi-institution supervisory team from NU London, Northeastern University and the University of Kent. In addition, successful candidates will benefit from the unique connection to the wider Northeastern University network in North America, providing a range of additional research opportunities and learning resources.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed at the end of July 2024. Candidates are welcome to contact the NU London supervisor with informal enquiries before the application deadline: oliver.ayers@nulondon.ac.uk)

Eligibility

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant subject - 2:1 or 1st (essential)
• Master’s degree in a relevant subject (optional)

English Language requirements:

If applicable – IELTS 7 overall (with a score of at least 6.5 in each individual component) or equivalent.

Nationality

Applications are open to UK and international students. Please indicate if you are likely to require a visa on your application. We are unable to support visa costs.

Funding

This scholarship covers the full cost of tuition fees, an annual stipend and an additional London allowance (set at UKRI rates) for 3.5 years.

International travel

This scholarship covers the full cost of tuition fees, an annual stipend and an additional London allowance (set at UKRI rates) for 3.5 years. For the 2024/2025 academic year the annual stipend is £21,237. Annual increments will be in line with UKRI rates.

How to Apply

Please submit a CV and a Covering Letter stating how you meet the requirements and why you are interested in the proposed research project by clicking on the 'Apply' button above by 23:59 on the 12th of July 2024.

Please reference your application [PHDH0624]