PhD Studentship : AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) Studentship - Decoding the Vindolanda tablets: Generative AI to reassemble, read and restore Roman handwritten texts with The British museum and University of Nottingham

Start date: 1st October 2025

Application Deadline: 2nd June 2025, 17.00

Interviews will take place online on 26th June 2025.

The British Museum and the University of Nottingham announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2025 under the AHRC’s  Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

The project will test generative AI on a series of tasks aimed at recovering more of the texts of the Vindolanda tablets, including handwritten text recognition, reassembly of fragments, disentangling of palimpsest texts and restoration of missing sections.

This project will be jointly supervised by Professor Alex Mullen (University of Nottingham), Dr Richard Hobbs (British Museum) and Dr Kai Xu (University of Nottingham), and the student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Nottingham and the British Museum, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK. 

The studentship can be studied either full (4 years) or part-time (8 years).

The Project and the Award

Full details of the project and the award can be found at the link: https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=ARTS124

Eligibility

• This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants. 
• To be classed as a home student, candidates must meet the following criteria: 
• Be a UK or Irish National (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have settled status, or 
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

• International students are eligible to receive the full award for maintenance as are home students. The charge made by the university for tuition fees for international students studying for a doctoral degree in Classics and Archaeology for 2025/26 is £23,000 per year. If successful, an international student will be awarded a University of Nottingham International fee scholarship to cover the difference between home and international fees (the former covered by the CDP award).        
• We want to encourage the widest range of potential students and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply.
• Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a relevant Masters-level qualification in a relevant subject, e.g. Archaeology, Ancient History, Classics, Computer Science, or similar, or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting involving Archaeology, Computer Science, Cultural Heritage, or similar.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in technology and cultural heritage and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.
• As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both the University and The British Museum.

1. All applicants must meet UKRI terms and conditions for funding. See: 

https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

How to apply 

Please apply via this form https://forms.office.com/e/EudTLKHp4V.  

We also ask all applicants to complete a voluntary and anonymous EDI monitoring form here.

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