Funded PhD project: Health and Healing at the Hanoverian Court
The Professor Sir Richard Trainor PhD Scholarships 2017-18
Project Title: Beyond the Madness of King George: Health and Healing at the Hanoverian Court
Partner Organisations: Royal Library and Royal Archives, Historic Royal Palaces, Royal College of Surgeons, Science Museum
King’s is now inviting applications for one of the Professor Sir
Richard Trainor PhD Scholarships in the Department of History at King’s
College London in collaboration with the Royal Library and Royal
Archives, Historic Royal Palaces, the Royal College
of Surgeons and the Science Museum. The scholarship will commence from
October 2017 onwards and is open to new incoming PhD students only.
Project Description:
While historians and medical experts have long debated the nature of
George III’s illness, other important aspects of medicine at the
Hanoverian court have not yet received close scholarly attention. King’s
College has recently entered into a partnership
with the Royal Household, the Georgian Papers Programme (GPP), to
digitise and research the archives of the Hanoverian court. The GPP
offers an exciting opportunity for new avenues of research.
For instance, analysis of digitised materials may enable the PhD
candidate to reconstruct the roles of practitioners and patients beyond
the medical elite, to understand food, cleanliness and other practices
of maintaining the court as a healthy environment,
and to trace the circulation of medical knowledge by following the
trajectories of books, medical tools and materials, and correspondence
across the court, the metropolis and internationally. The candidate will
be expected to develop their own research focus,
broadly addressing one or several of these aspects of health and
healing at court.
Collaborating with high-profile cultural partners, the project will
enhance public and scholarly understanding of the Royal Library and
Royal Archives and Historic Royal Palaces, and feed into research
activities and online materials at the Science Museum
and the Royal College of Surgeons.
The Department of History was ranked 5th of all UK History
departments in the 2014 REF with 86% of our research activity assessed
as ‘world leading or internationally excellent’. It is a research-led
department with a strong reputation for contribution to
scholarship, teaching and practice. The Department is located on the
Strand Campus of King's College London where the studentship will be
based.
Supervisors:
Lead Supervisor: Dr Anna Maerker
Second Supervisor: Dr Rowan Boyson
Partner Organisation Supervisors: Oliver Walton, Polly Putnam, Dawn Kemp and Tim Boon
Application documentation:
Applicants should meet the eligibility criteria for the History PhD programme at King’s (see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/
Applicants must complete and submit:
aCV
a covering letter explaining why they would be suitable
a provisional plan of research (max. 800 words plus bibliography)
a writing sample
to graduateschool@kcl.ac.uk
by 11:59pm (UK BST) on 7 May 2017. The subject line of the email should
read ‘RT Scholarship 1718 – [include the relevant project title]’
All documents should be submitted as a single pdf.
Two academic references must be received by the deadline for the
application to be eligible. Candidates are responsible for instructing
referees to submit their references to graduateschool@kcl.ac.uk using the subject line ‘RT Scholarship 1718 – [name of
applicant]’.
Selection: Please note that as part of selection, short-listed candidates will be invited for interview.
Funding Details: The scholarship will provide an annual payment of
£15,000 which can be used to cover tuition fees and/or living costs.
Length of Award: 3 years (PhD)