Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA), supervised jointly at the University of Nottingham and the Royal Geographical Society (with the IBG). The title of the PhD studentship, one of two CDAs made by the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) between the RGS-IBG and the Royal Society of London, is Ancients and Moderns: British Classical and Oriental Geographies, c. 1815 – c. 1870. The project is fully funded for three years and will begin in September 2015. It will be supervised by Professors Mike Heffernan and Stephen Daniels (Nottingham) and Dr Catherine Souch (RGS-IBG).
The Studentship
The project will examine the contributions of classical and oriental scholars to the making of British geography in the decades after the Napoleonic Wars. It will draw on published and unpublished materials from the RGS-IBG, the Royal Society, the British Museum, and a range of other scientific and learned associations in London, including the Royal Asiatic Society and the Society of Antiquaries. The possibility exists to widen the project’s remit to consider material from equivalent organisations elsewhere in Britain and in continental Europe. The project will provide a critical analysis of a previously overlooked and diffuse epistemic community of early 19th century scholars who saw geography as an international comparative project rooted in the humanities and polite learning. This perspective was promoted by, inter alia, John Britton, William Brockedon, William Huttmann, George Long, George Cecil Renouard, William Henry Smyth, Thomas Watts, and Henry Yule. From the perspective of these individuals, geography was naturally associated with antiquarianism, archaeology, the study of classical and ancient civilisations, the analysis and translation of classical, oriental and modern languages, and the investigation of religious beliefs.
How to Apply
Applicants should have a good undergraduate degree in geography, history, archaeology or other relevant discipline, and will normally possess a Masters degree or equivalent research training. Applicants will also need to satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements as set out on the Training Grant Funding Guide 2014-15 on the AHRC website. Applicants should submit a two page curriculum vitae, a brief letter outlining qualifications and relevant experience, and the names and contact details of two academic referees to: Mike Heffernan, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD (mike.heffernan@nottingham.ac.uk) no later than 10th April 2015. Interviews will take place at the RGS-IBG in London on 30th April 2015. For further information, please contact either Mike Heffernan or Stephen Daniels (stephen.daniels@nottingham.ac.uk). More information on the RGS-IBG/Royal Society CDP can be found at www.rgs.org.