Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory PhD Studentships 2025
We are recruiting 2-4 PhD studentships, fully funded by the University of Stirling, which will aim to advance knowledge of the dynamic relations between place and memory.
Key facts
Fee status
Your country/region
Level
Postgraduate (research)
Number of awards
2-4 in this round, 4-6 available in Round 2 (applications open in Spring 2025 for September 2025 start)
Value of awards
Deadline
The Leverhulme International Professorship grant supports the establishment of a new Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory at the University of Stirling. The Centre’s researchers will address pressing questions about how people locate and orient themselves in space and time. Anchored in Philosophy and housed in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Centre draws on cognitive sciences, social sciences, and the arts to break new ground in the study of spatial thinking, disorientation, and remembering the past. It connects the sciences of space and memory with contemporary practical concerns about memory, emotion, and place. Centre researchers deploy diverse methods, integrating conceptual, experimental, and ethnographic approaches to implement intense interdisciplinary collaboration. The mission is to advance knowledge of dynamic relations between place and memory at multiple timescales and levels, and of how people navigate together in space and time.
There will be two rounds of PhD Studentships. This call is the first round, with 2-4 studentships available, with a start date of March or April 2025. The second round of applications, with 4-6 studentships available, will be announced in Spring 2025, with a start date of September 2025. If you would like to be considered for the second round starting in September 2025, please do not apply now.
PhD Studentships Based at the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory
Doctoral students are not restricted to any one tradition or discipline, but their research project must relate directly to the Centre’s focus on place and memory. Possible areas of research background include (but are not limited to) philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, geography, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, urban policy and design, architecture, environmental studies, indigenous studies, public health, migration studies, international development, history, heritage, literature, gender studies, museum studies, memory studies, politics, design, art history and theory, practice-based creative research, human-computer interaction, gaming and new media, and science studies. Applicants should indicate in their proposal how their research experience and skill set relates to studies of place and memory, and (where possible) to specific workstreams as listed below.
The Centre’s research on place and memory is driven by attention to specific topics or domains, not restricted to any one tradition or discipline. Focus is given and maintained through six workstreams, designed as vertical slices through disparate disciplines, integrating research in arts and humanities, social sciences, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. For more details about these workstreams, please see: https://placememory.net/our-workstreams/
Workstream #1. Memory, truth, and the past
Workstream #2. Place memory and place knowledge
Workstream #3. Collaborative wayfinding
Workstream #4. Technologies of navigation and memory
Workstream #5. Disorientation and difficult places
Workstream #6. Cognitive ecologies of the city
Applications from researchers with active interests in indigenous knowledge and cross-cultural practices of remembering and place-making are particularly welcome. They are keen to support applications from those who are underrepresented in traditional academic disciplines and structures.
Application
Please note this application process involves two stages. First, you must submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) via an online form by 11.59pm GMT on 20 December 2024. The Expression of Interest includes a personal statement and a research proposal. Please note that these are limited to a maximum of 4000 characters each, (or 700 words, approximately). You are expected to submit an original project proposal that aligns with the themes and aims of the Centre of the Sciences of Place and Memory. We are unable to accept attachments or documents sent by email to support your application at this stage. For details on how to write a research proposal, please see: https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/how-to-apply-for-our-research-degrees/guidance-on-how-to-write-a-research-proposal/
After these EOIs are assessed, a limited number of successful candidates will be invited to an online interview. Successful candidates will then be invited to submit a formal application for a PhD studentship through the University Admissions Office. As part of that formal application, candidates will then be required to provide evidence that they meet all eligibility criteria (detailed below). Awards are conditional on meeting eligibility criteria and receiving an unconditional offer from the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
Recommendations for the offer of a studentship will be made by a panel of senior members of the University, supported by an adviser on equality, diversity and inclusion. The panel will consider a range of criteria, focusing on candidates’ academic excellence, relevant professional experience, evidence of advanced methodological skills, relevance of the proposed project to the Centre’s topics and workstreams, and capacity to undertake a major piece of independent research at doctoral level.
Application timeline
22 November 2024 Application opens
20 December 2024 Application closes
13-17 January 2025 Interview select candidates (online, 10-15 minutes)
24 January 2025 Select candidates invited to submit formal application
14 February Formal applications and supporting documentation due
By 28 February 2025 Outcomes announced
Please read the full guidelines before applying.
Eligibility and availability
We welcome Expressions of Interest from all candidates who meet the University’s entry criteria for Postgraduate Research degrees. We especially welcome Expressions of Interest from people from groups under-represented in the UK Postgraduate Research community, including people from ethnic minorities, women, disabled people, people from the Global South, and people from care-experienced or socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
These studentships are funded by the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory based within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. Studentship funding awards:
- provide full UK fees (£4,712) and a stipend set at the UKRI minimum annual award for 2024/25 (£18,622 p.a.). There are limited fee waivers available for international candidates. In addition, there is funding available to support specific research training requirements. The funding for PhD Studentships is subject to the Leverhulme Trust’s Terms and Conditions.
- are funded for 3 years FTE (36 months). Due to Leverhulme’s funding restrictions, only full-time students may apply. It is possible to enroll for a further 12 months to a maximum completion period of 48 months FTE. There is an additional fee for this period which is not funded under the terms of this studentship award.
- expect that doctoral students will be based in the UK, though students may undertake research or fieldwork internationally, as appropriate.
- start in March or April, 2025.
Candidates who are invited to submit a formal application will be asked to include evidence of their academic qualifications (or relevant professional experience), English language competency, and fee status. For more details, please refer to the guidelines.
How to apply
Please read the full guidelines before submitting your Expression of Interest.
If you are ready to apply, please follow this link: https://forms.office.com/e/ecJQQRH1gf