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AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD Studentship for research in Classical Archaeology: ‘Between As

Birkbeck, University of London, and the British Museum

The British Museum and the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London, are pleased to invite applications for a fully funded doctoral studentship awarded to Birkbeck and the British Museum under the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Collaborative Doctoral Award scheme.

This 3-year studentship is for research in Classical Archaeology on the topic ‘Between Asia and Europe: Mediterranean networks and island identity on Rhodes, 8th to 5th centuries BC’, starting in autumn term 2014. The studentship will be awarded on the basis of academic merit.

The successful applicant will prepare a doctoral dissertation that investigates how the island community of Rhodes developed in response to changing patterns of inter- and cross-cultural connectivity, by examining how local and imported material culture was employed in the negotiation of social and cultural identities.

The studentship provides a unique opportunity to work directly with the rich archaeological material in the collections of the British Museum. Artefact assemblages from Rhodes – in the majority tomb groups and sanctuary dedications –in the British Museum and elsewhere provide the primary basis for analyzing the interactions of the island’s communities with the broader Mediterranean world and the effect which these interactions had on the formation of a Rhodian regional identity that cut across the island’s three autonomous city-states.

The PhD will be supervised jointly by Dr. Christy Constantakopoulou (Birkbeck), Dr. Caspar Meyer (Birkbeck) and Dr. Alexandra Villing (British Museum). The degree will be awarded by the University of London. The student will be able  to participate in additional training and other opportunities provided to CDA students by the National Museums, British Library and National Archives.

The award pays fees up to the value of the full-time home/EU rate for MPhil/PhD degrees as well as maintenance (the latter is available to UK citizens and residents only, see here for details. In addition, the student is eligible to receive up to £1000 a year from the British Museum towards research expenses.

The successful applicant is expected to have obtained (by October 2014) a Masters Degree in Classical Archaeology or a related field and should be familiar with using artefacts as historical sources.

The deadline for the application is 15 April 2014. Applicants are advised to send a CV (including information on degrees held and their classification, a list of publications (if appropriate), and the names and contact details of two referees) and a covering letter, outlining why the applicant is suitable for this position (500 words). The application documents should be sent to Jana Kakosova, by 15th April 2014, with the subject line of the e-mail stating: ‘HCA-CDA Rhodes’. In addition, applicants must submit, by the deadline, the electronic College application form accessible here. Please enter the reference ‘HCA-CDA Rhodes’, in the section ‘details of scholarship or grants’, and the 500-word statement under the section ‘research proposal’.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in the week commencing 19 May 2014.

For further information, please refer to the project description or contact Christy Constantakopoulou (c.constantakopoulou@bbk.ac.uk) or Caspar Meyer (h.meyer@bbk.ac.uk).

Entry requirements

The normal minimum requirement for applicants is to have completed (or to be near completion of) a taught or research Master’s degree in a relevant subject at a UK university (or an equivalent international qualification) with a confirmed (or predicted) overall grade of Merit (60+) or above, and a grade of 65+ in the dissertation.

Applicants whose first language is not English (or who have not previously obtained a University degree in English) are required to demonstrate their proficiency in the English language. Our normal minimum requirement is an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 7.0 overall (with at least 7.0 in writing and 6.5 in the other elements).

More information

Birkbeck is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all candidates irrespective of gender, ethnicity, age, disability, religious belief and sexual preference.

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