Join our PhD community to explore the history of collaborations and competition between the National Gallery and national networks

Applications are open for a fully funded PhD scholarship at the University of Leeds from October 2025, in collaboration with The National Gallery.

The PhD is titled Collaboration and Competition: The National Gallery and the Regional Public Art Gallery, 1920s-1980s and is funded through the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

The studentship aims to explore the history of collaborations and competition between The National Gallery, London, and national networks, building on existing research developed by scholars such as Giles Waterfield, Jonathan Conlin and Christopher Whitehead.

It will focus on a significant period of collaboration and competition between The National Gallery and regional museums beginning in the 1920s with the collaboration between The National Gallery and Southampton Art Gallery.

It will focus on the role of The National Gallery as a key node in a network of collaborations, investigating their influence on the changing landscape of regional museums but also how these models of collaboration and the initiatives generated in the ’Civic Art Museum’ have shaped practices at the gallery.

This project aims to reconsider the perceived benefits and challenges of collaborations over the period 1920s to 1980s and reflect on future models for Natiional Gallery collaborations as well as museum collaborations generally.

The methodology is envisaged to be primarily historical research drawn from institutional archives (reports, meetings, correspondence, press cuttings) at The National Gallery and in regional art gallery archives. This historical lens of the 1920s-1980s can be supplemented by a focus on institutional memory through interviews and surveys of retired museum professionals. Secondary literature focused on museum and institutional histories and heritage studies will provide the wider contextual research material.

The successful candidate will develop a range of case-studies, developed through themed research questions. A key focus of the research will be a mapping and analysis of collaborative methodologies in museum and gallery practices, developing a contextual analysis of the interchange and influence of national and regional public art museums.

The project will explore how one of our major national art museums has shaped and been shaped by regional art galleries.

The PhD will be based within the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds, and the successful candidate will be expected to spend time at both the university and The National Gallery.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the museums, galleries, archives, library and heritage sector and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.

The project is supervised by Professor Mark Westgarth (University of Leeds) and Dr Susanna Avery-Quash (The National Gallery).

Mark Westgarth, Professor of the History of the Art Market in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for a PhD student to research key aspects of the on-going history of the National Gallery.

“Drawing on a ‘centre-periphery’ methodology, the project will explore how one of our major national art museums has shaped and been shaped by regional art galleries.

“The successful applicant has an enviable opportunity to work with the University of Leeds and The National Gallery, one of the world’s most important art museums, on a project that aims to shape the future role of the gallery within the landscape of the public art museum in Britain.”

More information

Read the full details about this PhD opportunity and find out how to apply.

The closing date for applications is Friday 16 May 2025.

Informal enquiries about the project should be directed to Professor Mark Westgarth at m.w.westgarth@leeds.ac.uk.

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Model of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, 2024. Photograph: The National Gallery.