Funded PhD opportunity to research heritage and health

Applications are open for a fully funded Arts and Humanities (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentship with Historic England and the University of Leeds.

From historic hospital buildings to medical museums, England’s health heritage has a powerful role to play in supporting wellbeing — but we don’t yet know how.

This new PhD project – Spaces of Health: Connecting Past and Present Experiences of Health and Wellbeing in Heritage – will uncover how these unique sites can draw on their own histories and collections to benefit communities now and in the future.

The project will be jointly supervised by researchers at the University of Leeds (James Stark and Helen Graham) and heritage professionals at Historic England (Linda Monckton and Simon Taylor).

The student will be expected to spend time at both Historic England and the University of Leeds, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

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This PhD explores how England’s rich medical and healthcare heritage can be used to support public health and community wellbeing today. While heritage engagement is widely recognised as beneficial, we know surprisingly little about how sites with historic ties to medicine – from former hospital buildings and clinics to medical museums – might offer unique opportunities for promoting wellbeing.

These health-related heritage institutions (HRHIs) have distinctive histories that shape how people experience them, yet their potential as public health assets remains underexplored.

The research project will investigate this potential through a national study of HRHIs in England, complemented by two in-depth case studies of St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Thackray Museum of Medicine. This combination of breadth and depth will allow the researcher to map the landscape of England’s health heritage while also examining, up close, how specific institutions engage visitors, interpret their histories, and design wellbeing-focused programmes.

Working with archives, collections, heritage professionals and community participants, the project will develop new insights into how HRHIs can use their unique legacies to benefit local communities. It will also explore whether shared methods or models can be created to support the wider heritage and healthcare sectors.

Ultimately, the research aims to help these institutions harness their histories in ways that meaningfully enhance visitor wellbeing and strengthen community health.

Focus of the research

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape the project based on their interests, background and experience. Indicative research questions might include:

How can health-related heritage institutions work most effectively to promote community and audience health and wellbeing?
How and why do historic and contemporary associations of places with healthcare impact on audience and community experience?
What are the most effective approaches that health-related heritage institutions can take to promote health through their collections?
What can we extrapolate from the experience of health-related heritage institutions to inform practice across the wider heritage sector?

The project builds on a unique combination of research strengths, including history of science and medicine, and museum studies at the University of Leeds (Centre for History & Philosophy of Science, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies), and professional expertise in architecture, and heritage and wellbeing (Historic England).

The successful student will have the opportunity to join a vibrant cohort of CDP PhD students across the UK and within the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds. They will also be able to participate in professional development events organised by the V&A coordination team.