We’re delighted to partner with the British Library and invite applications for three-month doctoral fellowships centred on specific aspects of the British Library and National Trust collections as part of our ongoing research partnership.
These fellowships help both the Library and the Trust to interrogate the history, provenance and accessibility of national and international collections, enabling us to use and present them in the most honest way possible. Launched in 2021, our doctoral fellowships aim to establish collaborative research and increase public knowledge about how National Trust and British Library collections have intertwined throughout history.
Any open opportunities will be posted below.
Throughout their life together, the writer, Agatha Christie, and her husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, worked and travelled across the changing British Empire of the 20th century: excavating layers of history, writing bestselling detective stories and amassing a fascinating collection of objects. The British Library and the National Trust, owner of Greenway House (the former holiday home of Christie and Mallowan), have a mutual interest in the legacies of this significant couple and are exploring how collections might help to reach a greater diversity of audiences through researching of deeper object biographies.
This placement will help to identify and research these items. Much of the material at Greenway was acquired by Christie and her husband Max Mallowan while abroad. Some objects feature in her fiction, itself often influenced by travels to Europe and the near East. Some items are on public display but with minimal interpretation, others are in storage, most are under researched, with limited catalogue information.
This PhD placement will work with Greenway to help identify provenance and to explore how selected items might have impacted Christie’s writing. Focusing on the international elements of the collection, the placement will help identify ‘layers of meaning’ and create object biographies that place the pieces in their widest geographical and cultural contexts and extending beyond the connection to Agatha Christie.
The successful candidate will be expected to produce research summaries of the selected objects which will be used to enhance the National Trust’s catalogue records for Greenway items and the visitor experience onsite. The successful candidate will also spend time working onsite at the British Library, informing object selection and interpretation for a forthcoming British Library exhibition.
The deadline for applications is 15 December 2024 at 5pm.
Application submissions and queries should be sent to Research.Development@bl.uk.
The appointed fellow will receive a stipend equivalent to the UKRI minimum doctoral stipend (plus London weighting), as well as reasonable expenses for any fellowship-related travel.
We're an Independent Research Organisation recognised by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Our research takes place in many forms – from the PhDs we sponsor and practical testing of new conservation techniques to the hundreds of research projects we collaborate in or host at places in our care each year.
Learn more about our research – from the PhDs we sponsor and practical testing of conservation techniques to the hundreds of projects we collaborate in or host each year.
Learn how research helps us understand changes in the world around us, learn more about the places in the Trust cares for and find practical solutions to conservation problems.