Childhood and the Life Course in Iron and Viking Age Scandinavia

Application deadline: 1 August 2022 (interview date 23 August)

Start date: 1 October 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter

Supervisors

• Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen
• Dr Ben Raffield (University of Uppsala)

Project description

The ERC funded project ‘Body-Politics: Personhood, Sexuality and Death in Iron and Viking Age Scandinavia’, based at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, explores the politics of late prehistoric Scandinavia through the battleground of the body, combining archaeological evidence, bioarchaeological methods, material culture and textual analyses to answer fundamental questions about the nature of bodies and beings in the past. You can find more about the project at https://body-politics.com/

The PhD Researcher will develop and conduct a programme of research on the diversity of childhood experience and roles in Iron and Viking Age Scandinavia. You will design this research agenda in collaboration with the project PI (Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen, who will be your primary supervisor). There is scope for the research to be tailored to the applicant’s interests, which may include for example:

• Archaeological investigation of personhood and the life course
• Material culture of child-rearing and children
• Philological, iconographic and textual evidence for concepts surrounding childhood
• The osteoarchaeology of childhood and children's remains
• Other robust archaeological and/or interdisciplinary approaches to the subject matter

Note that the BODY-POLITICS project is investigating human remains treated atypically, including children's remains deposited in wetlands and settlements (read more here)

You will take a lead in shaping your research agenda, deliverable within the time constraints of PhD studies, that will complement other team members’ activities in the project. This will include the generation of primary data, analysis of that data, and the writing of a PhD dissertation. 

You will be encouraged and supported to present your work at academic conferences; to be involved in collaborative authorship of project publications with other PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and the PI; and ultimately to publish your work as lead author. As part of your PhD studies you will have opportunities to seek experience, e.g. potentially in public dissemination of research, organisation of academic conferences and meetings, teaching in higher education, and similar, in alignment with your own aspirations and possibilities open in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

The PhD studentship may include some travel.

We endeavour to be inclusive and flexible regarding applicants with caring obligations, disabilities and other considerations.

Project enquiries:

• Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen mhe6@le.ac.uk

Application enquiries:

• pgradmissions@le.ac.uk

Please see full advert here for all information about entry requirements, eligibility, funding, and how to apply.

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