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AHRC-funded Studentships

The University has offered AHRC-funded PhD studentships in Arts and Design since 2004, as part of AHRC Research Grants and Collaborative Doctoral Awards. 

 

Connecting diverse communities to the North-East Coast and Countryside through socially engaged media arts-based practices.

Dr Suzy O’Hara, University of Sunderland, with National Trust

This project will explore how media arts-based practices can enhance engagement between socio-economic and culturally diverse communities and natural coastal and green spaces managed and protected by National Trust (NT). This collaborative, practice-based project will be based at the NT trust site, Souter Lighthouse and the Leas, providing an embedded perspective to co-create inclusive narratives of place at the intersection of arts, natural heritage and technology. The aim is to challenge physical and perceptual barriers to engagement, empower more equitable access to our natural heritage, and ignite a sense of stewardship for its continued protection.

View the project proposal application.

Please contact suzy.ohara@sunderland.ac.uk for more information. Deadline for expression of interest: 30 January 2024.

 

AHRC-funded Studentships 2019-2024

Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership (NBDTP) brings together the cutting-edge expertise of Durham University, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Queen’s University Belfast, Sunderland University, Teesside University, and Ulster University. It offers up to 67 fully funded studentships per year to outstanding postgraduate researchers across the full range of Arts and Humanities subjects, including Creative Practice disciplines.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is the UK funding body for the arts and humanities.

Each year the AHRC provides funding from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. Only applications of the highest quality and excellence are funded. Research supported by this investment provides social and cultural benefits and also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

For further information, visit the AHRC website.

 

Current opportunities 

Clay (co)Construction – using creative practice to improve health and wellbeing and social isolation within the veteran community in Sunderland.

A partnership between University of Sunderland and Veterans in Crisis Sunderland (VICS), this creative practice project will explore clay as a creative medium for reducing social exclusion and increasing individual and mutual health and wellbeing within the veteran community. This project provides the student with a unique embedded perspective from which to shape new knowledge, advance research and develop best models of practice within the arts and health. The project will develop approaches and resources that will contribute towards co-production of creative capital and sustainable future development for veterans and their community. Deadline for expression of interest 29/01/2023.

View the project proposal application.

Towards an Inclusive Re/visualisation of Women’s Work 

The Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries of the University of Sunderland are pleased to advertise a funded PhD studentship for a practice-based photography project through the Northern Bridge Consortium Collaborative Doctoral Awards Competition.

This collaborative practice-based project between the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries and the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens will use the Museum’s rich collections of industrial photographs and related material in local/regional/national collections to map, reframe, and create innovative visual interpretations that capture the changing socio-economic characteristics and conditions of women’s work in Sunderland. In doing so, it seeks to produce novel inclusive narratives for the Museum by juxtaposing historical and new photographic imagery depicting women’s work and enhance public engagement by empowering local women, those identifying as women and non-binary to share their stories and photographs. Deadline for expression of interest: 28 January 2023.

View the project proposal application.

Past Studentship Examples

2008 to 2019, PhD Studentships in Art and Design were offered as part of the Block Grant Partnership, then the Northumbria-Sunderland AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Art and Design. Seventeen researchers in the areas of Glass and Ceramics, Digital Art / Curation, and Design gained bursaries and fees to research subjects including:

Erin Dickson - Looking through glass: The manipulation of light through digital design and manufacture in studio glass practice.
Dawn Bothwell - Intermedia Curating – North-East Self-Sustaining Strategies.

2017 and 2018 Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership (NBDTP) and Northumbria-Sunderland Consortium in Art and Design (N-SC) jointly secured 16 awards, funded by the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) with AHRC, including studentships with a specific in interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data-Driven research, in relation to the Creative Industries. Researchers and their industry partners include:
Georgia Smithson New Models for Collecting and Distributing Media Art (with Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art)
Simeon Soden Blockchain, Audiences and Music Distribution (with Sage Gateshead)

 

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is the UK funding body for the arts and humanities.

Each year the AHRC provides funding from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities.
Only applications of the highest quality and excellence are funded. Research supported by this investment provides social and cultural benefits and also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

For further information on the AHRC, please see www.ahrc.ac.uk.