PhD studentship: Histories of Pollution in the Urban Art Museum

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship: Histories of Pollution in the Urban Art Museum, c. 1840–1900 (UCL and The National Gallery)

Applications accepted until 4 May 2026. Interviews will take place the week commencing on 25 May 2026

UCL and the National Gallery are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded collaborative doctoral studentship from 1 October 2026 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

This project examines intersections between urban pollution and the Victorian art museum. By exploring the threat that pollutants posed to cultural artefacts and buildings, and the ways that curators, conservators, scientists, critics, artists and the public responded, this PhD project will develop new understandings of the relationship between the museum and environmental histories of the nineteenth century. Centring the National Gallery as a key site of critical scrutiny and the development of new practices across this period, this research will explore networks of key individuals involved in studying the effects of pollution and mitigating its impact on art museums and art objects.

This project will be jointly supervised by Dr Nicholas Robbins at UCL and Dr Susanna Avery-Quash at the National Gallery. The student will be expected to spend time at both UCL and the NG, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP-funded students across the UK.

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time.

We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for this CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from people of Global Majority backgrounds.

Students should have a master’s-level degree in a relevant subject (history of art, museum studies, cultural history, technical art history) or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting.

The studentship is open to both home and international applicants.

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