Applications are invited for a three-year, full-time PhD studentship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, to be held in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick. The studentship forms an integral part of a wider collaborative research project ‘Networks of Improvement: Literary Clubs and Societies, 1760-1840’ which aims to explore the ways in which literary clubs and societies contributed to the development of civil society in the anglophone world 1760-1840. The selected PhD student will be supervised by Professor Jon Mee and will also benefit from the expertise of the project’s postdoctoral research fellow, who will commence in post from January 2012. Applicants should be committed to pursuing research to the doctoral level, focusing on a topic in the area of ‘Literary and Philosophical Societies in England’ within the project’s wider framework and working with the project team to build a relational database of clubs and societies (via data entry etc). The studentship will entail a three-year residence in the UK and associated funded research trips to archives and libraries.

The studentship will pay all UK/EU tuition fees and will provide a maintenance grant of £13,790.

Applicants should hold a good first degree and a good MA in English Literature, History or a related discipline, and demonstrate familiarity with anglophone literature and/or cultural history in the 1760-1840 period. Candidates about to complete an MA will be eligible for consideration in light of their known results and their references, but award of the studentship will depend on successful conclusion of their degree. IT experience would be an advantage.

Candidates should review the Further Particulars  for the studentship which include a full description of project. Potential applicants may contact Professor Jon Mee with further inquiries at j.a.mee@warwick.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is 13th September 2011.