PhD Studentship: Latin American Studies: Women Walkers in Latin America

Funding 

This studentship is open to all applicants. For eligibility and residence requirements please check the UKRI website.

Funding amount

A full studentship will cover UK tuition fees, and a stipend (£21,805 p.a. in 2026/27, updated each year) for 3 years.

Hours: Full time

Contract: Contract/temporary

Closing date: 14 June 2026

The project:

Applications are open for a full-time three-year doctoral scholarship, fully-funded by The Leverhulme Trust, as part of the Women Walkers in Latin America project.   

Through a groundbreaking combination of historical, cultural studies and peripatetic ethnographic research methods, this cross-disciplinary project will document, analyze and investigate women walkers past and present. In doing so, it will demonstrate how gender makes a difference to walking in modern Latin America and the value of diverse pedestrianisms for feminist history, politics and practice. 

The scholarship will be held at the University of Bristol and will be supervised by Professor Matthew Brown in Bristol and Dr Liesbeth François at the University of Cambridge. The postgraduate researcher will have full access to training and research support facilities at both Bristol and Cambridge.  

A PhD thesis on walking women in Latin America will be a significant outcome of the project. It will comprise a comparative, transnational inquiry into walking in the context of its gendered and racialized history in the region. Through archival and/or ethnographic research, the thesis will document and assess the role of women in pedestrian pursuits in Latin America, with a particular focus on Argentina, Chile and Mexico. We welcome projects from a broad range of angles and disciplinary backgrounds that address the cultural, historical, political and anthropological imaginaries through which women walkers have been depicted or have represented themselves.  Candidates are invited in their applications to propose their own unique projects within these thematic and regional parameters. In addition to their regular supervision meetings they will also benefit throughout their degree programme from the continuous feedback loop and cross-fertilization of ideas established in monthly project team meetings.

How to apply:

Please apply at http://www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies PhD on the Programme Choice page. You will be prompted to enter details of the studentship in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form.

Please include:

1 Cover letter of no more than 2 pages of A4.

1 CV (no more than 2 pages of A4), including the names and contact details of three academic referees. 

1 Research proposal (no more than 3 pages of A4) outlining a possible research project within the scope of the Women Walkers in Latin America project. This should include a set of goals and research questions, sections on the material to be studied, proposed methodology and theoretical framework, work plan and a simple bibliography (of no more than half a page).  

Candidate requirements: 

The PhD student will be fluent in Spanish and in English, have an undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Modern Languages, Modern Languages with History, History and Politics of the Americas). They should be able to demonstrate an interest in gendered forms of physical activity.

Funding: A full studentship will cover UK tuition fees, and a stipend (£21,805 p.a. in 2026/27, updated each year) for 3 years. For eligibility and residence requirements please check the UKRI website.

Contacts:

For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Matthew Brown matthew.brown@bristol.ac.uk.  

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