Colombo: Layered Histories in the Global South City PhD Studentship

The UKRI-funded 5-year project, 'Colombo: Layered Histories in the Global South City', selected for funding by the European Research Council under its 'HORIZON' programme, is recruiting to its doctoral studentship.

This is a fully funded full-time international studentship for three years, commencing January 2026. The prospective doctoral student will focus their attention within the broad field of the 'Environmental and/or cultural history of Colombo', ideally in the early modern or modern era. Given the project's aim to generate dialogue between Sri Lanka and Europe, candidates applying from Sri Lanka are especially encouraged.

Colombo has a deeply layered imperial past. It came under a succession of European empires, Portuguese (first trading post in 1518), Dutch (1656-1796) and British (1796-1948). It was also pivotal to the early globalisation of Islam and has housed a series of diasporic and minority communities. This project interrogates how invaders and residents made a city in an unstable environment at the centre of the Indian Ocean, in which arose a diverse society, generating an abundance of cultural production and a sequence of violent politics. The four pathways of research are as follows:

1. In environmental terms, this multiply-colonised and repeatedly-engineered city is built in a wetland without a significant natural harbour;
2. In social terms, in a heavily nationalised state, the city has resisted indigeneity, as it is inhabited by many minority communities with long narrations of origin;
3. As for culture, Colombo was represented in keeping with recurrent motifs, as a site of transit across the Indian Ocean, including for enslaved and indentured labour as well as settlers;
4. And on politics, the heavy work needed, at the bridge of sea and land set one context for the rise of urban violence between communities in the midst of civil war in addition to sustained strikes and new political movements.

At its broadest perspective, the project aims to develop resources with which to consider the pasts, presents and futures of this global South city as located within the remit of other global South cities elsewhere.

The doctoral candidate's work on this project will fall under themes 2) environment and/or 4) culture. This five-year project is led by Professor Sujit Sivasundaram. The successful applicant will join a team of researchers, including postdoctoral fellows and an existing doctoral student. Their research will contribute to a wider collaborative project.

The doctoral studentship will pay full tuition fees at the University of Cambridge over three years. It also provides a maintenance allowance of £20,780 per year and a budget for training and research.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click 'Apply' above.

All applications should be made online. Further information on eligibility and how to apply via University Applicant Portal can be found in the Further Information document

Further information on the Faculty of History's PhD programme can be found here: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/hihipdhis and https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/course/phd-history

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.

Research specific questions should be directed to Professor Sujit Sivasundaram at sps20@cam.ac.uk.

Any queries regarding the application portal or admissions should be sent to admissions@hist.cam.ac.uk.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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