Humanities Research Centre Doctoral Fellowships 2024

Application process

Each eligible HRC-affiliated department/centre - Archaeology, English and Related Literature, History, History of Art, Language and Linguistic Science, Philosophy, School of Arts and Creative Technologies, and the Centre for Medieval Studies - may nominate one candidate for the HRC Doctoral Fellowship, the School for Arts and Creative Technologies may nominate two, one from each subject area.
Nominated candidates must currently be in their 3rd Year of full-time doctoral study, or at a registration-equivalent stage of part-time study (ie in Years 3A or 3B). For January starters, year of registration should be counted from October of the same academic year in which the January start falls. For April starters, the year of registration should be counted from October of the academic year following that in which the April start falls.
The name of each department’s one nominated candidate must be received by the HRC Administrator (hrc-admin@york.ac.uk) by 12 noon on Wednesday 24 April 2024. This should be accompanied by a single PDF document containing:
- - A copy of the nominee’s CV
- - The candidate’s brief outline of their thesis topic, written for a non-specialist audience (of not more than one page of A4, and not more 500 words)
If no nomination is received from a department/centre by this deadline, it will be assumed that that particular department/centre will not be putting forward a candidate this year.
Upon receipt of the nominations, the HRC will write to the nominated candidates to congratulate them on having received their department's/centre's nomination and to let them know the exact timetable and requirements for the final research presentations.
Departments are free to employ their own selection systems and to work to their own internal timetables for selecting their nominated candidate, so long as the final deadline of 12 noon on Wednesday 24 April 2024 is met for the HRC to receive the confirmed nomination.

Here is a suggested model, which departments are free to use or adapt:
- - All members of staff and all doctoral students at a relevant stage of study should be informed of the competition and its nomination procedures.
- - Students who are eligible should apply for consideration to the Department or Centre coordinator, for instance the Centre Director or Chair of Graduates.
- - PhD supervisors are asked to encourage eligible students they supervise to submit an application, but the responsibility for making the internal application lies with the student.
- - To apply, students should send to the Centre Director or the Chair of Graduates (or alternative assessors clearly advertised in the department/centre) the application materials listed in section 3 by Wednesday 13 March 2024.
- - The nominating department/centre should ensure that their candidate's research is of high quality. But they should also bear in mind that a central purpose of the competition is to foster interdisciplinarity and good communication skills; so they should be sure to nominate someone who can present an engaging presentation, and handle questions with dexterity and clarity. Those who are most likely to do well in this competition are candidates who can present a strong account of their research to an audience.
The presentations will be assessed by a panel of judges, including Professor Richard Ogden, HRC Director.
A finals event will be held during the afternoon of Wednesday 15 May 2024. All members of the HRC community will be invited to join the event and there will be opportunities to join in discussions with the candidates. The award of the fellowships will be made, and the prizes for those who were judged by the panel to have given the best presentations will be announced.