Queen Mary University's School of History is pleased to offer Five Postgraduate Scholarships, with effect from 1 September 2016. The scholarships are in the fields of Enlightenment legal and political thought (two posts); fashion in eighteenth-century England (one post); material culture/ furniture history (the Lindsay Boynton Studentship: one post); and modern global and European history (one post). Fuller descriptions are given below.

Queen Mary University of London enjoys an outstanding international reputation for the excellence of its research and teaching in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The School of History is an innovative leader in a wide range of historical fields, and is renowned for its dynamic and supportive research environment.

Eligibility
Applicants must:

- Have obtained at least a 2:1 undergraduate degree and a Master’s (preferably with Distinction) degree in a related area of history;
- Be able to meet the UK and/or EU home fees eligibility criteria

Studentships are awarded for 3 years initially. The studentship will cover tuition fees as well as a stipend towards living expenses for three years. The value of the stipend for 2016/17 is expected to be £16,296, including London allowance.

With the exception of the first Studentship in the History of Enlightenment Legal and Political Thought, each award will carry the status and responsibilities of a teaching associate within the department. These include teaching duties in years 2 and 3 of the award and other administrative tasks relating to the School’s teaching and research.

Applications are welcome from UK and EU student nationals. The studentship will cover tuition fees and a stipend for UK, or EU students who have lived in the UK and Islands, or were ordinarily resident in EU for three years prior to the first day of the award.

How to apply
Informal inquiries should be made to Professor Christina von Hodenberg (c.hodenberg@qmul.ac.uk).

In order to apply, candidates must complete a QMUL online postgraduate research application form including a CV, two references, academic transcript(s) and a 1,000 -word statement of purpose setting out their suitability for the project and detailing the ways in which they plan to address the themes above.

Deadline for applications: 5 PM MONDAY 6 JUNE 2016

1 & 2. THE HISTORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT LEGAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT (TWO SCHOLARSHIPS)
The first of these Studentships will support historical research into the field of European (including British) jurisprudence during the enlightenment, either as a theoretical pursuit or as a practical problem for administration. The research should highlight the global context of European thought during the eighteenth century, and the ways in which the experience of empire on the ground impacted on the development of norms of justice and raised deep questions about the translatability of legal norms and the validity of putatively universal legal categories.

The second Studentship will support research into any aspect of political thought in the period c.1680 – c.1800.

Taken together, the Studentships are open to students from the overlapping fields of intellectual history, ‘global’ or intra-imperial history, and the history of jurisprudence. Research may focus on Britain, continental Europe and/or colonial contexts; it may focus on debates, concepts and thinkers as well as the practical implementation of legal and/or moral norms.

The History of Political Thought, global history, the Enlightenment and legal history are particular strengths of the School. The School is home to a thriving community of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in these areas. Members of staff with particular interests in this field include Professor Richard Bourke (intellectual history), Professor Quentin Skinner (intellectual history), Professor Gareth Stedman Jones (intellectual history), Professor Georgios Varouxakis (intellectual history), Professor Barbara Taylor (intellectual history), Professor Saul Dubow (global history), Professor Colin Jones (French history), among others. The successful applicant of the first studentship of these studentships would receive support and guidance from the directors of the Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought and members of the Faculty of Law, including Dr Maksymilian Del Mar, Director of the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context.

2. MAKING FASHION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
The Studentship will support historical research into the history of eighteenth-century fashion in its political, economic, social, national or global context. It invites research into fashion makers and the production, design and marketing of fashion products, focussing more on producers than consumers. There will be room for the student to choose the case study accordingly.
This Studentship is open to a student from the overlapping fields of cultural history, the history of material goods, fashion history, and economic and social history.

The history of material culture, objects and fashion is a particular strength of Queen Mary University’s School of History. Members of staff with particular interests in this field include Professor Amanda Vickery, Professor Colin Jones, Professor Miri Rubin, Dr Joanna Cohen and Dr Eyal Poleg, among others. The successful applicant would likely be supervised by Professor Vickery who closely collaborates with London institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Geffrye Museum and the National Maritime Museum.

4. THE HISTORY OF MATERIAL CULTURE, INCLUDING FURNITURE HISTORY
The Studentship will support historical research into the history of material culture – including furnishing and decoration of domestic or public interior spaces and buildings. The research should highlight the historical and aesthetic significance of furnishing and design objects and the contexts in which they are housed.

The Studentship is open to a student with interests in any time period and topic, from the Middle Ages to the present. The research studentship is named in honour of Lindsay Boynton, former lecturer in furniture in the department. Previous holders are Mia Jackson, who worked on the Parisian royal cabinet-maker, Boulle, in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century, and Hannah Lee whose topic is the material presence of the African figure in Venetian domestic furnishings in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Furniture history forms part of the School of History’s profile in cultural history, the history of material culture and the history of the built environment. The School has been successful in a number of collaborative doctorates with museums and galleries, including the V&A and the Geffrye: Museum of the Home. Members of staff with particular interests in this field include Dr Nick Beech (20th-century Britain), Dr Joanna Cohen (19th-century America), Professor Colin Jones (French history), Professor Kate Lowe (Renaissance), Dr Eyal Poleg (medieval and Renaissance), Professor Miri Rubin (medieval and Renaissance), Professor Amanda Vickery (modern Britain) and Dr Chloe Ward (modern western art).

5. EUROPE’S IMPERIAL MEMORY
The Studentship will support historical research into relations between Europe and the rest of the world during the 19th and the 20th centuries. Generations of Europeans inherited colonial memories and narratives from their parents and grandparents. The work will explore the transmission of colonial knowledge and imaginaries in Europe, for instance by focussing on family memory, heirlooms, albums and records. The timeframe and geographical framing will depend on the exact case study. Applicants are free to choose a particular European country with a colonial legacy, such as Germany, Britain, France or Belgium. Proposals may also focus on immigrants from the ex-colonies in metropole countries.

Global history, modern European history and the history of visual and material culture are particular strengths of Queen Mary University’s School of History. Members of staff with particular interests in this field for the modern period include Professor Saul Dubow (global and African history), Professor Christina von Hodenberg (German history), Dr Reuben Loffman (African history), Dr Kim Wagner (Asian history), Dr Simon Layton (early modern global history), Professor Julian Jackson (French history) and others.