Applications are invited for a fully-funded four-year PhD to commence in October 2026.
A fully-funded PhD studentship offers an exciting opportunity to research an unexplored oral history collection focusing on merchant seamen.
The four-year is led by the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ and the National Maritime Museum (NMM) as part of the Revisiting and Enhancing Approaches to Collections and Heritage () consortium under .
The doctoral student will uncover the hidden voices of merchant seamen via a critical investigation of the Campbell McMurray Collection (CMC) housed at the Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG).
The CMC comprises about 500 digitised tapes which capture personal narratives of primarily British seafarers from the period. Through thematic analysis of these testimonies, the research will investigate lives, identities, traditions, cultural practices, relationships, interactions and positionalities within historical maritime and urban contexts. The project will also collaborate with NMM’s public history initiatives to engage with the wider public.
The project will be supervised by Professor Brad Beaven and Dr Karl Bell, both Co-directors of the Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures (PCMC) at the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿, and Lucy Dale and Dr. Hannah Stockton from the NMM.
Additionally, the student will benefit from four-years of embedded training and career development at the NMM as well as networking opportunities via PCMC.
CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 4 years or part-time equivalent for a maximum of 8 years. This includes an annual stipend at the minimum UKRI rate (£21,805 for FY’26-27) plus a CDP Uplift and London Weighting amounting to a total of £23,405 annually, a generous travel and related expenses grant to the tune of £1,000 per year for 4 years and an additional £750 for research expenses.
Deadline: Complete the online by 10 May 2026 (midnight).