Fully Funded PhD Studentship
School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton
‘Representing Everyday Life Using Mass Observation’s Covid-19 Collections’
This is an exciting opportunity for one fully funded PhD Research Studentship at the University of Southampton, funded by the ESRC South Coast DTP, for a project on Mass Observation’s Covid-19 collections. The studentship can be for either 3 years (if the applicant already has a Masters degree) or 1+3 years (if the applicant is applying for a Masters degree followed by a PhD).
Successful applicants will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Southampton led by Dr Nick Clarke (Geography) with Dr Eve Colpus (History). The deadline for applications is 18 January 2021. We encourage potential applicants to make contact with the supervisory team as soon as possible to discuss their ideas and questions about the studentship – please direct queries to Nick Clarke (N.Clarke@soton.ac.uk) or Eve Colpus (E.C.Colpus@soton.ac.uk).
The project will analyse Mass Observation’s Covid-19 collections, which comprise diaries and directive responses collected since March 2020 (see further details HERE). Key research questions for the project include: How best might these collections be used to understand everyday life during the pandemic? What can MO’s Covid-19 collections tell us about everyday life during the pandemic? Inspired by the original MO of the 1930s, the project will develop aesthetic techniques for addressing the challenge of representation posed by MO collections – the challenge of how to represent British society in all of its diversity – before applying those techniques to one of the following issues: mental health, housing inequality, productivity, or trust in government.
The project is linked to Dr Clarke’s research project, ‘Learning to Live with Risk and Responsibility: Understanding Popular Responses to COVID-19’ (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/research/projects/understanding-popular-responses-to-covid19.page), but we are keen to encourage potential applicants to engage with the project’s questions in terms of their own interests and disciplinary backgrounds. Potential applicants are encouraged to make contact with the supervisory team to discuss their ideas.
Application procedure. The studentship advert can be found HERE. Information about the SCDTP, including funding and applying, can be found HERE. Interested potential applicants should first make contact with Dr Nick Clarke and Dr Eve Colpus to discuss their ideas. Following those discussions, they will finalise a research proposal, which is to be submitted HERE. The closing date and time for applications is 4.00pm on 18th January 2021.