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Birkbeck/Oxford University Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnership

The Department of History Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London and the Institute of Archaeology/Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded three-year doctoral grant 2017-20, to work on the photographic archive of the archaeologist O. G. S. Crawford.

The Department of History Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London and the Institute of Archaeology/Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded three-year doctoral grant 2017-20, to work on the photographic archive of the archaeologist O. G. S. Crawford.

Crawford was one of the most influential archaeologists of the last century and photography was central to his work and influence. Recent moves within archaeology and anthropology have come to see photographs not as mere records or representations of the world beyond the frame, but as interventions in shaping understandings of that world, as items that have their own power and sets of affects. The photographic work of Crawford, and the relationship between archaeology and photography, will be explored in this exciting studentship.

The main emphasis of the PhD will be on scanning and ordering Crawford’s photographic collections. Consideration will be given to the changing technology of photography from 1914 to the 1950s, the period over which Crawford worked, as well as to the links and differences between aerial and on-the-ground photography. By working with other elements of Crawford’s archive, as well as publications by Crawford and others, such as Kitty Hauser, the student will consider how the photographs derived out of and fed into Crawford’s intellectual interests in landscapes and buildings as historical documents, as well as his changing politics.

The studentship will result in: i) a PhD thesis; ii) the digitisation of the Crawford collection, and its hosting online, in collaboration with Institute of Archaeology; iii) at least one exhibition event in the Pitt Rivers Museum; iv) either a stand-alone blog or a series of contributions to the Institute of Archaeology’s archives blog and the PRM’s Photograph and Manuscript Collections blog; vi) a public gallery talk at the PRM as part of its ‘Saturday Spotlight’ series; vii) academic presentations at conferences or seminar series.

This studentship is funded through the AHRC's Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme. Collaboration between a Higher Education Institution and a museum, library, archive, or heritage organisation is the essential feature of these studentships. This project will be supervised jointly by Dr Lesley McFadyen and Dr Jennifer Baird (Birkbeck) and Professor Chris Gosden and Dr Chris Morton (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford) and the student will be expected to spend time at both Birkbeck and Oxford, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.

Eligibility

You must:

•Have a first or upper-second class honours degree or equivalent.

•Have completed a masters-level qualification, or be expecting to complete this by the time you start your PhD study.

•Be a resident of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA).

•In general, full studentships are available to students who are settled in the UK and have been ordinarily resident for a period of at least three years before the start of postgraduate studies. Fees-only awards are generally available to EU nationals resident in the EEA. International applicants are normally not eligible to apply for this studentship.

If you wish to inquire further about this studentship please contact Dr McFadyen at l.mcfadyen@bbk.ac.uk

How to apply:

Please consult the general guidance on how to apply for an Archaeology MPhil/PhD place in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck. Please note that two references must be submitted with the application, and take particular care to indicate in the application the broad areas of research that you are interested in. All prospective students are strongly advised to first make informal contact with the supervisor, Dr McFadyen.

Deadline for applications is Monday 20 March 2017.

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