PhD funding opportunity: ‘Safe and sound? Health, wellbeing and the child refugees of the Spanish Civil War, 1937-2023’
Historians at Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Manchester are looking to recruit three PhD students to work on a new fully-funded project on the history of the child refugees of the Spanish Civil War. The project is funded by the AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) Team Project Scheme.
Two of these projects will be Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDAs) (one with Carlisle Archive Centre, and one with the Instituto Cervantes) with the third being a standard AHRC NWCDTP PhD studentship . For further details of the projects, please see the project descriptions below. In your letter of application, please state clearly which project you are applying for, and whether you wish to be considered for multiple projects.
Please note that by submitting your application documents, you are consenting for your application to be shared with members of the shortlisting and interview panel.
Project 1: AHRC NWCDTP CDA PhD Studentship, ‘The mind-body connection: health outcomes for child refugees during and after the Spanish Civil War (1937-2023)’
Institution: Lancaster University
Start date: October 2024
Closing date for applications: February 18, 2024
Interview dates: 6 and 15 March 2024
Supervisors: Dr Stephanie Wright (Lancaster University), Professor Corinna Peniston-Bird (Lancaster University), and Dr Mercedes Peñalba-Sotorrío (Manchester Metropolitan University)
CDA partner: Carlisle Archive Centre
Applications are invited for an AHRC NWCDTP Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship (History pathway), to be held at Lancaster University’s Department of History, in partnership with the Carlisle Archive Centre (CAC). This PhD project will use a body-centred approach to reevaluate the history of the Basque refugees through their own bodily experiences. The CDA student will develop a PhD thesis on the health aspects of the children’s stay in the UK, drawing on rich new documentation now available at the CAC, while gaining valuable heritage skills that will stand them in excellent stead in their professional lives beyond the PhD. In 2023, the CAC received a large deposit of previously unexplored archival material relating to the Spanish refugee children evacuated to the Northwest of the UK. As well as a large cache of material on the children’s homes at Brampton and Ambleside, this collection also included the archives of Wilfrid Roberts, Liberal MP for North Cumberland, who was heavily involved in coordinating British support for the refugees during the SCW. The CAC will support a doctoral student to work through this material to write their PhD thesis, and to develop three main public engagement outcomes:
· Heritage mapping: the student will identify and map the archival holdings of the refugee children of the SCW in the North West of the UK, opening new avenues of research, and facilitating collaborative work with other heritage holders;
· Online public engagement: the production of promotional materials, including short youtube documentaries and study resources that the archive will use to further engage the public and expand its audiences and users;
· Engagement with the community: the student will help to develop the CAC’s current engagement with local refugee groups and schools, contributing to the development of educational materials and workshops aimed at these audiences.
The student will thus finish the PhD with a skill set suitable for potential future employment in History, as well as the heritage and commercial sectors. The project scope and questions may be adapted according to the student’s research interests and prior experience, and applicants are encouraged to discuss how they would make the project their own in their letter of application.
Nature of funding
– Academic fees for 3.5 years;
– Maintenance Stipend for 3.5 years (the annual maintenance stipend for 2023-24 is £18,662)
– Additional funding for research support and training available from both the NWCDTP and the LU History Department.
Job specifications:
• 1st or 2:1 in an undergraduate degree or equivalent in a cognate discipline, such as History, Modern Languages or Medical Humanities;
• Distinction or Merit in a masters degree or equivalent in a cognate discipline, such as History, Modern Languages or Medical Humanities;
• Demonstrable ability to produce a high standard of academic writing;
• Evidence of self-discipline and organisational skills required to complete a doctoral project within the funded period;
• Willingness to engage with the broader academic community in the studentship’s supervisory institutions and beyond;
• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Spanish.
The NWCDTP is committed to working with students from underrepresented communities and those from non-traditional academic backgrounds. In line with the NWCDTP’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy, we will consider applicants who do not meet the academic qualification criteria where their relevant work experience qualifies them for the role.
Applications from candidates based outside of the UK are welcomed. Fees will be funded by the NWCDTP at UKRI Home fee levels, but Lancaster University will waive additional fees for NWCDTP-funded students who would otherwise be eligible for international fees.
Application process
Applicants should send the following materials by 18 February 2024 to s.wright@lancaster.ac.uk:
1) Academic CV;
2) Copies of first degree and Masters degree transcripts (or predicted grades if appropriate);
3) Letter of application (max. 2 pages) outlining prior experience, suitability for the project and reasons for applying, and how you anticipate approaching the first year of the project;
4) Academic writing sample (max. 5000 words).
Applicants should also arrange for two academic references to be sent directly by referees to s.wright9@lancaster.ac.uk by February 18th.
Please note that if you are selected to receive this funding, you will need to submit a separate application to the Department of History’s doctoral programme. Further guidance will be provided to selected candidates in due course.
Informal enquiries about the project from prospective applicants are welcome and should be directed to Dr Stephanie Wright at s.wright9@lancaster.ac.uk.
Project 2: AHRC NWCDTP CDA PhD Studentship, ‘Care in crisis: the impact of child evacuation and humanitarian aid on medical practice (1936-1940)’
Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University
Start date: October 2024
Closing date for applications: February 18, 2024
Interview dates: 6 and 15 March 2024
Supervisors: Dr Mercedes Peñalba-Sotorrío (ManMet), Dr Carmen Herrero (ManMet), and Dr Laure Humbert (University of Manchester)
CDA partner: Instituto Cervantes (Manchester)
Applications are invited for an AHRC NWCDTP Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship (History pathway), to be held at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, in partnership with the Instituto Cervantes. In collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, this project explores the impact of the Spanish experience of child evacuation on humanitarian aid and medical practice. The Spanish Civil War was a watershed moment in the development of humanitarianism. Dozens of humanitarian actors, partisan and non-partisan, mobilized efforts to bring relief to the Spanish population and help evacuate children threatened by the moving frontline. By combining the use of archival holdings of organisations and institutions in Spain and abroad with the analysis of transnational life trajectories of humanitarian workers, this study will focus on the ways in which doctors and humanitarian workers addressed different aspects of the health of child refugees, and identify what lessons they learnt in the process. In so doing, the study explores the ways in which partisan and non-partisan humanitarian actors dealt with the medical aspects of child evacuation, what new medical norms they produced, and to what extent they prefigured later norms and initiatives around nursing, epidemic prevention, and nutrition.
Instituto Cervantes has a long history of supporting the dissemination of the cultural and linguistic patrimony of Spanish-speaking countries and communities. It also has a strong track record in the organisation of cultural activities, including exhibitions and events related to the history of the SCW. The Institute will provide the doctoral student with training in cultural heritage management, and will work with them in the conception, planning, and delivery of several events linked to the project, including a collective exhibition resulting from the team project. The student will also co-produce with the Institute cultural materials stemming from the project, such as worksheets for language teaching and short written pieces for use in workshops and conversation classes. The Institute will support the doctoral student to develop four main CDA project outcomes:
· Co-creation of the institute’s cultural program (2025-2028);
· Planning and execution of a talk and/or cultural activity on humanitarianism during the SCW;
· Planning, organisation, and delivery of the team project exhibition to be hosted at the Cervantes;
· Production of worksheets and short cultural materials for teaching and cultural dissemination.
The student will thus finish the PhD with a skill set suitable for potential future employment in History, as well as the heritage and commercial sectors. The project scope and questions may be adapted according to the student’s research interests and prior experience, and applicants are encouraged to discuss how they would make the project their own in their letter of application.
Nature of funding:
– Academic fees for 3.5 years
– Maintenance Stipend for 3.5 years (the annual maintenance stipend for 2023-24 is £18,662)
– Additional funding for research support and training available from both the NWCDTP and ManMet’s Postgraduate Arts and Humanities Centre.
Further details, including information on how to apply, can be accessed via ManMet, here.
Project 3: AHRC NWCDTP PhD Studentship, ‘From “hero” to “traumatized victim”? Spanish refugee children and debates about refugee mental health in the mid-twentieth century, 1936-c. 1950’
Institution: University of Manchester
Start date: October 2024
Closing date for applications: February 18, 2024
Interview dates: 6 and 15 March 2024
Supervisors: Dr Laure Humbert (Manchester), Dr Antoine Bugard (HCRI, Manchester), and Dr Stephanie Wright (Lancaster)
Applications are invited for an AHRC NWCDTP studentship (History pathway), to be held at the University of Manchester’s Department of History. This project will explore key debates amongst mental health professionals and humanitarian workers concerning the psychological impacts of the war and evacuation on Spanish refugee children. This project will recentre these debates in wider histories of mental health and young refugees in the mid twentieth century and asks to what extent the evacuation of Spanish Children was a transformative moment, when new discourses about the impact of exile and child-parent separation clashed with more pragmatic views of war children as “heroes” and “political beings”, able to be mobilised against the fascist threat. By examining different understandings of the psychological impacts of war and displacement on refugee children, this project will offer historical insights into current discussion on refugee children mental health.
The successful candidate will benefit from the large and lively research community of the History Department and the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) and will have access to the University of Manchester’s innovative training programmes in the humanities.
Nature of funding:
– Academic fees for 3 years
– Maintenance Stipend for 3 years (the annual maintenance stipend for 2023-24 is £18,662)
– Additional funding for research support and training available from both the NWCDTP and the University of Manchester’s Department of History.