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Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture (CMRC)

PhD opportunities

Get in touch about studying a PhD with us, we welcome enquiries.

CMRC welcome students from any Humanities discipline. The wide range of our staff research interests and their commitment to interdisciplinary and cross-period research means that we would expect to be able to match you with a team of people able and willing to supervise your project. 

PhD students who are attached to the centre research a wide variety of topics, with examples of recent dissertations such as:

  • Chloe Mackenzie ‘Ladies and Robes of the Garter: Kingship, Patronage, and Female Political Agency in Late Medieval England, c. 1348-1445’, PhD (2020)
  • James Hester, '”To adorn the great light of Mars”': Armed Fighting Techniques of the Late Middle Ages’, PhD (2018)
  • Leanna Brinkley, ‘England's Forgotten Maritime Communities: a study of Elizabethan coastal trading, 1568-1580’, PhD (2020)
  • Lucy Anne Taylor, ‘Anglo-Saxon Wind Instruments and Their Music: Classification, Characterisation and Function, PhD (2022)

While we normally expect our MPhil/PhD students to have a Masters degree in an appropriate subject, we can also accommodate students who have relevant practical, archival or museum experience. To help you identify areas in which we might be able to offer supervision for your discipline-specific or cross-disciplinary project, see the research interests on centre members' staff profiles.

For more information about PhD opportunities with CMRC, please contact our Director, Craig Lambert on c.lambert@soton.ac.uk.

Funding opportunities

Doctoral students wishing to undertake doctoral research or Masters study in CMRC in topics which cross disciplinary boundaries may be eligible to be considered for the disciplinary awards available under the SWW DTP2 (South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership). A range of Humanities scholarships and bursaries is also available; see the Humanities funding pages for full details.

The CMRC also provides bursaries to support our postgraduate students in medieval studies attending conferences and/or incurring research costs. Grants of up to £250 are available. The scheme operates without formal deadlines and the applicant can submit an application at any time of the year. However, applications should be made at least six weeks in advance of the events or activity. Retrospective applications will not be accepted.

To apply, send a letter including all relevant details concerning the PhD project (title, year it has started, mode of study, faculty, supervision team), a 300-word long description of the proposed activity and its significance to the completion of the research project and a breakdown of the expenses. The application must be endorsed by the principal supervisor (who may be contacted).

For more information, please email Josie Phillips josie.phillips@soton.ac.uk.

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