PhD Studentship: M4C CDA - Warwickshire Identities: Early Modern Archival Perspectives

Based in the historical town of Warwick, Warwickshire County Record Office provides a range of services to help local communities, schools, visitors, and professional researchers to engage with their local heritage and the history of Warwickshire. The archive contains a vast collection of manuscripts, printed sources and artefacts relating to Warwickshire and its people dating from the 12th century to the present day.

This project examines how the people of early modern Warwickshire viewed and represented themselves in relation to their neighbours, the county community, wider political nation, and emerging global connections. It builds upon new research by historians, anthropologists and literary scholars to investigate the construction, representation, interpretation, and definition of local ‘belonging’ between c.1500 and 1750. For this purpose, the candidate will look for signs of – likely overlapping and competing – markers of identity at the levels of individuals, families, guilds, parishes, boroughs, manors and county.

It asks: 

• What identities and expressions of identity can be located in the written, visual and material holdings of the Warwickshire County Record Office (WCRO)?
• To what extent did competing identities affect civic, parish and county communities?
• How stable/fluctuating were local identities over the course of the early modern centuries?
• What were the links with bonds of kinship, confession, profession, political allegiance in light of period conceptions of gender, honour, race, dis/ability and community?

The supervisory team will comprise Dr Naomi Pullin and Professor Beat Kümin at the University of Warwick, and Amanda Williams at Warwickshire Record Office. 

Methods and Outputs

The project is based on the integration of records and artefacts held at Warwickshire County Record Office, along with supplementary materials in diocesan, national and family repositories.

In addition to completing a doctoral thesis, the successful candidate will acquire knowledge and expertise in record conservation; the planning and delivery of workshops; creation of learning resources for schools; integration of document sources and artefacts; and communicating with non-academic audiences (e.g. through blog posts or videocasts). There would be opportunities to contribute to the printed and online research guides aimed at members of the public visiting Warwickshire County Records Office, as well as the opportunity to engage in training in early modern palaeography.

Terms of the award

• Payment of tuition fees for UK and international applicants at the 2025/2026 rate
• A maintenance grant (or stipend), at the at the prevailing UKRI rate.
• Additional funding opportunities which include a Research Development Fund (RDF) to support primary research activities, an Engagement Fund (EF) to enable students to undertake placements and other professional development activity and a Cohort Development Fund (CDF) which supports groups of M4C students to design training, development and research activities.

Applicant

The ideal candidate should have a background in early modern history. Familiarity with early modern archival sources, such as parish or other local records is an advantage, as is a demonstrated ability to communicate research to a range of different audiences.

Please contact Naomi Pullin (Naomi.Pullin@warwick.ac.uk) in the first instance for further information about the project or questions about the application process or eligibility.

Application process

Applications should be made via the Midlands4Cities portal by 13 January at 12:00 noon.

A separate application must also be made to the PhD programme in the Warwick History department by the deadline.

Advert information