‘Networks, News and Communication: Political Elites and Community Relations in Elizabethan Devon’

University of Plymouth
AHRC Collaborative PhD Studentship in History

Applications are invited for a full-time 3 year AHRC-funded Collaborative PhD studentship in History, tenable from 1 October 2009. The successful applicant will receive UK/EU tuition fees (£3,390 for 2009/10) and an AHRC maintenance grant (£12,940 in 2008/9; the level for 2009/10 will be announced shortly). The studentship is funded by an AHRC Collaborative Doctorate Award, and is part of a joint project between the Department of History at the University of Plymouth and Devon Record Office, focussing on ‘Networks, News and Communication: Political Elites and Community Relations in Elizabethan Devon’.
We are looking for an early modern historian with interests in social, cultural and political history. A working competency in palaeography would also be an advantage. Applicants should have completed, or be about to complete, a relevant MA; and must fulfil the normal academic requirements for acceptance for postgraduate study at the University of Plymouth.
The doctoral project (‘Networks, News and Communication: Political Elites and Community Relations in Elizabethan Devon’) will investigate the nature and social dynamics of political networks and community relations in Elizabethan Devon. It has three distinct elements – academic, archival and curatorial – which will provide a first-class doctoral training and equip the successful candidate for his/her future career. The student will be encouraged to develop his/her own particular doctoral identity, leading to the production of a stand-alone doctoral thesis. Secondly, one of the key objectives is for the project to provide an intensive practical skills training element as part of the cataloguing and digitization of an important and newly discovered corpus of relevant documents (Seymour MSS) recently deposited at Devon Record Office. The successful candidate will work as the project historian alongside conservators, archivists and cataloguers on this important body of documents, which will form the springboard to broader study of elite networks in Elizabethan Devon. Finally, he/she will also be able to assist in curating a major exhibition on Elizabethan Devon and Cornwall to be held at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter, as well as to be involved in tie-in conferences and publications.

The supervisory team consists of Dr James Daybell (Main supervisor; Reader in Early Modern British History) and Professor Mark Brayshay (Professor of Historical Geography) at the University of Plymouth, as well as Mr John Draisey (Head Archivist at Devon Record Office).

For informal enquiries and further details please email: james.daybell@plymouth.ac.uk