26 Nov 2013

PhD Studentships in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries (University of Leeds)

AHRC funding for UK/EU arts and humanities research students

PhD Studentships in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds for 2014-2015

Following the announcement that the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH) has received £19m from the AHRC to establish a Doctoral Training Partnership that will create over 300 PhD studentships and join the expertise of the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, we are delighted to announce a range of AHRC-funded PhD opportunities in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds.

Research in the School is organised through three interacting research groups covering the domain of Performance and Cultural Industries. These groups are hubs for early career researchers, mid-career academics and senior research leaders and all postgraduate research students are identified with at least one group. The School of Performance and Cultural Industries encourage applications for PhD study in these three research groupings:
1. Practitioner Processes
2. Cultural Engagement, Policy and Practice
3. Performance Technologies

Practitioner Processes: Researchers in this group engage critically with a variety of creative processes related to the preparation and production of theatre, live art, new writing, opera, dance and contemporary site specific performance. Research methodologies used by its members include critical historiography and archival research, phenomenology, ethnography, practice-led and interdisciplinary research. Specific interests include:
• Performer training histories and practices
• Sensorial and site specific performance
• Interdisciplinary performance
• New writing and new dramaturgies
• Music theatre, opera and composed theatre
• Performance and heritage
• Documentation and performance
• Adaptation and intermediality
• Improvisation, choreography and collective creativity

Cultural Engagement, Policy and Practice: Members of this group research and publish on the complex and diverse ways in which people and societies engage with culture practices and experiences. Whether disciplinary-based or inter-disciplinary, the group's research is designed to have impact both within the academic community and upon society. Specific interests include:
• Applied theatre
• Cultural histories
• Cultural policy
• Urban and rural culture and creativity
• Punk and post punk cultures
• Cultural value
• Cultural economy
• Arts marketing and cultural experience
• Participatory Cultural Experience
• Management in the Performing Arts

Performance Technologies: Members of this group share a fundamental curiosity about the materiality of performance, from wood and cloth to digital animation. Their concerns lie with the languages of technologies in performance, and the influences of performance knowledge on technological design. Specific interests include:
• Immersive and Environmental Performance
• The phenomenology of scenography in performance
• Active spectatorship
• Human/technology interface
• Performance and new technologies
• Digital performance and the body
• Performance as a tool for innovation in design processes

Applicants for an AHRC studentship must have applied for a place of study and have discussed their funding application with the School. They may only apply for AHRC funding at one of Leeds, Sheffield or York. The studentship application form and details of how to apply are only available from the WRoCAH website www.arts-and-humanities.whiterose.ac.uk/

AHRC studentship applications opened on 8 November 2013, and must be submitted by midnight GMT on 3 February 2014. Successful applicants will be notified by the end of April 2014.

Enquiries:
Postgraduate Research Tutor: Dr Anna Fenemore a.fenemore@leeds.ac.uk
Practitioner Processes: Professor Jonathan Pitches j.pitches@leeds.ac.uk
Cultural Engagement, Policy and Practice: Professor Calvin Taylor c.f.taylor@leeds.ac.uk
Performance Technologies: Professor Sita Popat s.popat@leeds.ac.uk