Fully funded AHRC White Rose Consortium PhD studentship

Applications are open for a fully funded AHRC White Rose Consortium PhD studentship with the University of Leeds and Wellcome Collection.

Transculturations and Transactions: from ‘curios’ to ‘specimens’, Colonialism, Empire and the role of the art market in the development of the collections of Henry S. Wellcome, 1880-1940.

Applications are invited from prospective PhD candidates for a collaborative doctoral award, based in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies.

This PhD studentship seeks to investigate the role of the art market in the development of the collections of US-born pharmaceutical businessman Henry S. Wellcome (1853-1936) who built up a vast international historical collection of objects.

Focusing on the nature, role and influence of the art market on the conceptualisation of objects and resultant taxonomies and classifications in the period 1880-1940, the project aims to explore the extent to which the discourse of Empire and Colonialism was shaped and reinforced through these processes of transculturation as objects were circulated and exchanged in the rapidly expanding market for ‘ethnographic curiosities’ in the period.

The successful applicant would be supervised by Dr Mark Westgarth (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds) and William Schupbach (Wellcome Collection).

How to apply

Application for this WRoCAH / AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award studentships is a three stage process.

In the first instance, prospective applicants are required to submit an expression of interest. The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 9 April 2021.
Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday 16 April.
Interviews (on a digital platform) will take place in the week commencing 26 April 2021.