PhD Studentship - Nuclear Literature and Culture

Fully-funded PhD studentship on topics in nuclear literature and culture, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University. Details here.

Closing date is 12 noon on Friday 9 December. For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: daniel.cordle@ntu.ac.uk

We invite applications from prospective PhD students wishing to work on nuclear literature and culture under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Cordle and Prof. Phil Leonard. There is no restriction on the specific focus of the project, but possible areas for the research include:

• Nuclear literature of the Cold War or post-Cold War periods
• The nuclear Anthropocene
• Nuclear imagery and motifs
• Nuclear criticism (i.e. theories and concepts in nuclear studies)
• Nuclear technologies and infrastructure in literature
• Nuclear science in literature
• Material and cultural legacies of the nuclear age
• Post-apocalyptic literature

The successful applicant will be based in a department that is recognized internationally for its high quality research and which has a lively research culture. Dr. Cordle has written extensively on North American and British nuclear literature and culture, including the monographs, States of Suspense: The Nuclear Age, Postmodernism and United States Fiction and Prose (Ashgate, 2008) and Late Cold War Culture: The Nuclear 1980s (Palgrave, forthcoming), as well as on literature and science. Prof. Leonard is an expert on technology, culture and debates about globalization. The candidate should demonstrate good knowledge of nuclear culture or of related areas (e.g. Cold War culture; contemporary literature and technology; literature and science). His/her project should be clearly defined and seek to advance knowledge in the burgeoning area of the Nuclear Humanities.

PhD Studentship - Performing science in the 19th century

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Westminster
Three years, full time
£16,000 annual stipend plus fee waiver for three years amounting to £5,000 per year

Material across the University Archive attests to the importance of visual and performance culture in the role of both the Royal Polytechnic Institution (RPI) and the Regent Street Polytechnic (RSP) in bringing scientific knowledge to the general public. The institutions staged, among other events, lectures, slide shows, performances of experiments and exhibitions.

Projects suggested by the archive’s collection on the relation between science and performance might focus on:

• programmes of events at the RPI and RSP
• the interaction between science and other kinds of public spectacle – such as magic lantern slides and performance culture generally
• the use of the cinema at the RSP from the late 19th century
• the Polytechnic Review and Magazine, which give details of lectures and events held by the RPI and in the wider scientific community
• the Polytechnic Magazine of the RSP

The criteria for selection will be as follows:

• Standard University entry criteria.
• The studentship is open to both home/EU and overseas applicants, although the fee waiver will remain at £5,000 so the difference will need to be made up by overseas students themselves.
• Preferably the studentship will go to an excellent proposal from a University of Westminster alumnus.
• The successful proposed project will show evidence of intellectual excellence, of crossing and challenging disciplinary boundaries, and of making excellent use of the archive.
• The successful candidate will demonstrate commitment to the doctoral research community of the Faculty and the University and to disseminating the significance of the archive both internally and externally.

If you have any questions on the project, please contact Dr Leigh Wilson at wilsonl@westminster.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 23 September 2016.