Doctoral Studentships (17th-Century Intellectual and Literary History)

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
FACULTY OF HISTORY

Two Doctoral Studentships are advertised by the Humanities Division of the

University of Oxford, both to be held for the three consecutive academic years 2009-

12. They are fully funded, covering all college and university fees and providing a

maintenance grant at current AHRC rates (£12,940 per year at 2008/09 rates). These

studentships are a part of the ‘Cultures of Knowledge’ project, funded by the Andrew

Mellon Foundation, which has been established to explore the history of seventeenthcentury

intellectual life through the study of correspondence networks in the British

Isles and northern/central Europe. Drawing on the unrivalled collections of Oxford’s

museums and libraries, the project will bring these resources to scholars throughout

the world, variously through the construction of catalogues, editions, and the

establishment of modern international collaborations.

The first studentship will be attached to a subdivision of the ‘Cultures of Knowledge’

concerned with editing in printed form the correspondence of the antiquary and

natural philosopher John Aubrey. The second studentship will be attached to a

complementary subdivision of the project, producing a calendar of the correspondence

of Aubrey’s contemporary, the physician and naturalist Martin Lister. In Oxford,

these two subdivisions are both directed by Dr. Rhodri Lewis (St. Hugh’s College)

and Dr. William Poole (New College).

Applicants are welcome from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including – but in

no sense limited to – literature, history and history of science. Experience in working

with early modern manuscripts is essential. Further, the successful candidates will

have attained BA and Master’s degrees, and will have proposed thesis topics that

relate directly to the concerns of the ‘Cultures of Knowledge’ project.

The individuals will be supervised in their doctoral research by a member (or

members) of the ‘Cultures of Knowledge’ team, who – in addition to Lewis and Poole

– include Prof. Pietro Corsi, Prof. Howard Hotson, Prof. Peter Harrison, Dr Jim

Bennett and Dr Noel Malcolm. The Aubrey studentship will be held within the

English Faculty; the Lister studentship will be held within the English or the History

Faculty, depending on the student’s own disciplinary background, needs and

intentions. Successful candidates will be expected to dedicate one day per week to

assisting in the construction of the aforementioned edition and calendar. Office space

and IT equipment will be provided for this work.

For further information about either the positions or the “Cultures of Knowledge”

project, contact Dr Rhodri Lewis (rhodri.lewis@ell.ox.ac.uk) or Dr William Poole

(william.poole@new.ox.ac.uk).