PhD Studentship: The Roles of Generative AI in Enabling or Disabling Inclusive Research and Accessible Cultural Heritage

(University of Roehampton, London and The National Archives, London)

Start date: 1 October 2025

Application Deadline: 18:00 on Tuesday, 27 May 2025

We expect interviews to take place online in the week commencing 9 June 2025

The University of Roehampton and The National Archives are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2025, under the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme.

This studentship addresses questions of diversity in AI-generated cultural narratives - particularly within 19th-century Black history - and the challenges for the discovery, cataloguing, and representation of diverse histories in an AI world. Drawing on collections held at The National Archives, while considering the organisation’s unique role as the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales, this project will consider issues of access, impact and inclusive research practice, and it proposes to develop advice for effective and ethical AI use for researchers and archive practitioners.

It will be jointly supervised by Dr Mary L. Shannon (Senior Lecturer, Department of English and Creative Writing – University of Roehampton) and Dr Mollie Clarke (Research Engagement Manager, The National Archives, and Co-Supervised by Dr Yuwei Lin (Senior Lecturer, Digital Technologies – University of Roehampton) and Mr Bernard Ogden (Research Software Engineer, The National Archives). The student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Roehampton and The National Archives. As part of their studentship, they have the opportunity to work alongside The National Archives colleagues as part of the Research, Grants and Academic Engagement Department, for example, gaining experience within the Digital Research team.

The student would also commit to undertake relevant training activities offered by the University of Roehampton or The National Archives to support their research activities and personal and professional development. There is also an opportunity for the student to work at The National Archives on a placement as part of their CDP, supporting the work of records specialists or archive practitioners. They would become part of the Research Centre for Society, Culture, and Social Change; the collaborative doctoral cohort at The National Archives; and the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK, with access to CDP Cohort Development events. 

It is important to us that our organisations are more diverse, so we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and identities. We are especially keen to hear from candidates from global majority backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area.  

Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a Master’s Degree in a relevant subject, or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a setting involving knowledge of and critical reflection on relevant topics. There is scope to take a more historical/digital/practice perspective depending upon the student's interest and background, and to shape the project according to their existing interests.

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time. The student will become part of the wider group of CDP funded students across the UK, with access to events and training delivered in partnership with a range of cultural heritage institutions.

Project Overview

This PhD project addresses lack of diversity in AI-generated cultural narratives - particularly within 19th-century Black history - and challenges for the discovery, cataloguing, and representation of diverse histories in an AI world.

This project will develop advice for effective and ethical AI use when researching, cataloguing, and presenting diverse histories, through an interdisciplinary methodology. The focus will be on mainstream commercial Generative AI providers and how they answer questions on diverse histories and on how those histories are represented in answers more generally. It will draw on TNA collections, or materials that have cited/used them. Focussing on the ADM records and in particular evidence of Black British sailors, it will explore the extent of racial and geographical diversity within the 19th-century lower-decks, and consider new ways of approaching, accessing and highlighting global and diverse histories at TNA.

It is anticipated that users will come to archives increasingly with questions based on what Large Language Models have told them, and content created by archives is a part of what is used to train LLMs. LLMs have biases presenting problems in dealing with sensitive historical material, and the project seeks to address this problem. Practice-based work will be accompanied by theoretical exploration to underpin a case study based on collection material identified by the student, supported by the unique combination of theoretical and practice expertise from the combination of the Roehampton and National Archives supervisory teams, linked together by the student’s own interests.

Research questions include:

• How do archival practitioners and researchers navigate different conceptions around race over time against the "modern global north" default perspective of LLMs? To what extent can training on suitable period data improve LLMs when addressing these questions?
• In what ways, and what are the implications, of GenAI using information from the archive without necessarily citing it, or using second hand accounts (e.g. catalogue descriptions or blogs) rather than directly from source?
• How might cultural heritage organisations engage more proactively with GenAI, supporting users by providing sector recommendations/advice on prompts and training data?
• What is the relationship between helping users to understand and conceptualise GenAI, and their ability to write more critically-informed prompts/develop a more critical eye for the outputs?

Funding

CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 48 months (4 years), or part-time equivalent.

The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) full-time home rate for PhD degrees. Roehampton university will waive the difference between the home and overseas fee to ensure that overseas students can also apply for this ward. The award also pays a stipend to cover living costs, which will be paid in regular instalments. This stipend will be a minimum of £20,780 per year, plus London Weighting of £2,000 per year. CDP students also receive an additional maintenance payment of £600 per year. Further details can be found on the UKRI website.

The student will also be eligible to claim up to £4,000 worth of research-related expenses from The National Archives. Students can apply for top-up research support funds from Roehampton over their time at the institution.

Training

CDP students will have access to training and development opportunities throughout the course of their PhD, supported and facilitated by the CDP Consortium, the University of Roehampton, and The National Archives. CDP students would be expected to undertake a work placement or development opportunity for a period of 1 to 3 months (or part-time equivalent).

Eligibility

• This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.
• To be classed as a Home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:
  • Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have settled status, or
  • Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

Further guidance can be found on the UKRI website. 

All applicants must meet the UKRI terms and conditions for funding.

Person specification

• Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a relevant Masters level qualification or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a setting involving knowledge of and critical reflection on relevant topics. Suitable disciplines are flexible but might include Digital Humanities, History, English Literature, and/or Information and Knowledge Management. Please note that the CDP scheme, and training and development opportunities within it, will ensure that the student is supported in developing necessary skills that will aid in the delivery of the project itself (for example: digital skills).
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the archives sector and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.
• Applicants must be willing to spend time working with the University of Roehampton and The National Archives, both in person and online

Reasonable adjustments and support for applicants

Should you require any reasonable adjustments or support throughout the application process, please contact Graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk or research@nationalarchives.gov.uk

Support or adjustments may include (but are not limited to):

• Opportunity to speak with supervisors about the project and the process.
• Opportunity to speak with contacts within the University of Roehampton and/or The National Archives regarding institutional support systems (e.g. Neurodiversity, Racial Diversity and LGBTIAQ+ networks, mental health support, support for carers, and more).
• Access to interview questions and insight into the interview process.
• Opportunity to speak with active CDP students to ask questions regarding student experience as part of the CDP scheme.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

The National Archives is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and identities, and are especially keen to hear from candidates from underrepresented communities and different disciplinary backgrounds, language skills and familiarity with relevant historical and geopolitical contexts. The University of Roehampton’s EDI policy can be found here. At Roehampton, the student will have the benefit of appropriate workload, emotional, and ethical training offered by the Graduate school, enjoy the Research and Ethics support mentorship programme and the services of the Student Well-Being Team. 

Find out more

For more information, please contact Dr Mary L. Shannon (mary.shannon@roehampton.ac.uk) and Dr Mollie Clarke (Mollie.Clarke@nationalarchives.gov.uk).

How to Apply

Eligible candidates should apply through Roehampton's online portal by 18:00 on Friday, 23 May 2025. We expect online interviews to take place online in the weeks commencing 9 or 16 June 2025. Please include in your application:

• Your CV;
• A statement, up to 2,000 words, explaining your interest in this topic, what you bring to the project, and providing a proposal for how you would like to approach the questions it asks;
• A transcript of your university-level grades;
• 2 references from academic referees; and
• Test results demonstrating your proficiency in English (if required).

Please confirm to mary.shannon@roehampton.ac.uk when you have submitted your application so we know to expect it. You may need to upload your supporting documents alongside your online application form. Please do read the application guidance here and ensure that you meet the Roehampton application criteria. Feel free to contact pgresearch@roehampton.ac.uk if you have any further application questions.

Privacy notice

The University of Roehampton will share applicant data with The National Archives for the purposes of recruitment and diversity monitoring. Anonymised diversity monitoring data will also be shared with UKRI for the purposes of monitoring the CDP scheme. For more information about how this data will be shared, please see The National Archives’ privacy notice and the University of Roehampton’s Privacy Notice.

Anonymised data on the number of applicants for the CDP studentship and their declared gender, age, ethnicity and disability with be shared with the National Archives.