PhD Studentship: Exploring the Visual Record of Black Caribbean Men and Women Serving in the UK During the Second World War

The University of Westminster and the Imperial War Museums (IWM) are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Studentship from October 2025 under the AHRC’s  Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

This PhD will be the first to focus on the records in photographs and film held by Imperial War Museums (IWM) of Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK during the Second World War. This material was commissioned largely (though not exclusively) by government departments, including the Colonial Office, the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Supply, or by branches of the armed forces. It formed part of a wider propaganda campaign that showed Britain’s empire pulling together in a joint struggle, overlooking differences of race and ethnicity. Our understanding of this material is, however, very limited. There is clearly much to uncover and more nuanced stories to tell.

This CDP PhD will ensure that we can address this gap in the historical record by working along three intertwined lines of enquiry:

• History of Black Caribbean service/armed forces personnel and war workers in the UK and visual and material culture to unearth the lived experiences of the people in the visual records.
• Memory studies and history of emotions to explore how these records have been used since the war, thereby developing an understanding of postwar narratives and memory construction in Britain.
• Participatory research methods working with diaspora groups from the Caribbean and local community organisations to retrospectively centre previously marginalised voices, in doing so bringing IWM collection into wider discussions of contemporary identity and memory.

This project will be jointly supervised: At the University of Westminster by Dr Sara Dominici (Senior Lecturer in Photographic History and Visual Culture), Dr Ludivine Broch (Senior Lecturer in History), and Professor Pippa Catterall (Professor of History and Policy). At IWM by James Taylor (Principal Curator, Public History).  

The student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Westminster and Imperial War Museums, as well as become part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK. The research will be primarily focused at IWM London.

Please include in your application:

• Personal Statement (maximum 1,500 words) explaining why you are interested in researching this topic, including what you would bring to the project and how you think you would develop it to reflect your own interests and expertise.
• A sample of writing. This could be a piece of academic writing (e.g. MA dissertation) or a text written in the course of any current or previous professional work.
• Your CV
• Two references
• Transcript of university-level grades and qualification certificates

 NB: On completing the application form:

• Please choose the following programme area when making your application ‘MPhil/PhD Visual Culture.’ You must apply for this programme to be eligible for the AHRC CDP studentship. If you apply for a programme in other areas your application will not be eligible.
• Under ‘Additional Course Questions’>> ‘If you are applying for a Westminster Studentship’ please write ‘AHRC IWM CDP’.

Apply for the Full-Time Route

Apply for the Part-Time Route

The deadline for applications is Friday 23^rd May 2025

Interviews will be held online on Wednesday 25^th June 2025

Further Details are Available Here

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