Fully Funded Collaborative PhD Studentship - Communities of Care: Family, Community and Social Care for Children - 1882-1912

Award summary

This PhD is funded through the Northern Bridge Collaborative Doctoral award scheme. 100% of tuition fees paid and an annual stipend (living expenses) of £17,668 (2022-2023 UKRI rate)

Overview

Interested in histories of family, childhood, and welfare?

Designed with The Children’s Society (TCS), this PhD offers an opportunity to explore one of the richest care archives to reconstruct the family histories of children in care and to advance understandings about the social and emotional relationships between poor families and their communities before children’s institutional admission and following discharge.

The PhD will combine family history, public history, and genealogy methods to test a new approach to the study of children’s welfare by taking a full and holistic view of the lives of children in care and their families, including the familial and community contexts from which children were received into residential and foster care, and their trajectories and outcomes following discharge from care.

Based in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University, you will work under the supervision and expertise of Dr Claudia Soares (Newcastle), Professor Olwen Purdue (Queen’s University Belfast), and Mr Richard Wilson (Archives Manager, The Children’s Society). The student will benefit from engagement with Newcastle University’s Public Histories Forum and Centre for Research Excellence in Children and Young People, and Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Public History. As a collaborative studentship, the PhD offers opportunities for broader professional development delivered through training and experience with TCS.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: September 2023

Award duration: The funding covers 3.5 years. 

Sponsor

Northern Bridge Consortium (Staff led Collaborative Doctoral Award)

Supervisors

Dr. Claudia Soares, Newcastle University

Professor Olwen Purdue, Queen’s University Belfast

Mr Richard Wilson, Archives Manager, The Children’s Society Records and Archives Centre

Eligibility criteria

Home and international applicants are welcome to apply.

• An Undergraduate degree of at least upper second-class Honours (UK), or equivalent from an overseas university.
• A Masters degree in a relevant discipline completed or due for completion before the start of the PhD, or equivalent from an overseas university.
• Excellent spoken and written English as well as strong academic writing skills [IELTS 7.0 overall and a minimum of 6.5 in all sub-skills if English is not your first language].
• Experience of research skills and methodologies relevant to the project.
• Ability to plan, use initiative, manage and deliver own work independently to agreed objectives and timelines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to initiate, develop and maintain good working relationships. 

How to apply

Please send a 2-page CV and a 2-page (max) personal statement explaining your interest in the project, your education and experience, and why we should consider you to Dr Claudia Soares (details below).

Contact details

For further details, please contact:

Dr Claudia Soares
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Email: Claudia.soares@newcastle.ac.uk

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