Competitive PhD Scholarships for 2015
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 15:27:00 GMT
The international multi award-winning School of Art, Design and Architecture, at the University of Huddersfield, is delighted to announce 10 competitive PhD Scholarships for 2015. These scholarships will support successful candidates to develop their research, whilst also providing opportunities to gain career-enhancing teaching experience and teaching-related skills. The School’s mission is to foster the next generation of creative researchers, and boasts a dynamic and interactive learning community that allows staff and students to nurture, develop and exploit their talents.
Funding information
The PhD Scholarships will cover full tuition fees (at UK/EU rate*), provide an annual stipend of £13,863 and the opportunity to apply for funding to support attendance at research-related conferences, training, workshops and public engagement events. Scholarships will be awarded through an open competition to applicants wishing to commence full-time PhD studies in October 2015 and will be renewable annually for up to 3 years, subject to satisfactory research progress and good citizenship. Successful researchers will be expected to contribute an average of 6 hours per week to teaching and teaching-related activities.
You will have full access to state-of-the-art technical resources and will be guided through your research by our researchers that are experts in your field of study.
UK/EU tuition fees are £3,795 and International tuition fees are £12,000. International students will be required to use the stipend to meet the shortfall in tuition fees.
Students who are unable to complete their studies are required to refund the scholarship awarded.
Eligibility
The School will consider applications from promising candidates of any nationality. Candidates should already hold a 1st Class Honours Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (UK or UK equivalent).
For those whose first language is not English and/ or if from a country where English is not the first language (as recognised by the UKBA), a language proficiency score of at least IELTS 6.0 (in all elements of the test) is required, unless the degree was taught in English and obtained in a majority English speaking country, e.g. UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand etc as recognised by the UKBA.
Administrative contact and how to apply
The ideal applicant would normally be expected to pursue an academic career and be willing to disseminate research outcomes in high quality international academic journals and conferences, and to engage with policy through external grants applications. They will be positioned within a research centre, to work amongst research active staff, in a supportive and collegiate environment.
Candidates are required to complete an online application form via http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/ Required information includes a brief application letter, research proposal, two academic reference letters, copies of degree certificates and transcripts and proof of English language proficiency (if English is not your first language).
Submitted research proposals must demonstrate a strong understanding of the extant literature and clearly substantiate the potential for making a significant contribution in the field. Applicants may consider a wide variety of quantitative and/ or qualitative methods making a strong case of the appropriateness for the method(s) suggested in the proposal. Particular attention will be paid to clarity of expression and also the structure, coherence and flow of argument. It is expected to be around 1000 words and to include a bibliography. Please note: we will not be able to consider your application if a research proposal is not submitted.
For more detailed information on these and about research at our School, please visit: www.hud.ac.uk/schools/artdesignandarchitecture/research
Please note: in the research degree application form, mark it clearly with FEE-WAIVER SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION, and mention which topic you are interested in, as listed below.
Further information can be obtained from Professor Angela Lee, Director of Research & Graduate Studies a.lee@hud.ac.uk
Topics of Interest
The School of Art, Design and Architecture engages in state-of-the-art research that crosses interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary boundaries, we invite applications which fit within the following established areas of research:
Creative pattern cutting
Underpinned by the School’s recent and forthcoming conference in creative pattern cutting, Fashion Thinking also welcomes proposals that explore different practices, theories and histories of creative pattern cutting; how the notion of craft and art in the pattern cutter can be a source of creativity that incorporates traditional and/or digital approaches. Creative pattern cutting may encompass a range of topics from digital-virtual, eco-sustainable and fashioned approaches to creative cut.mProposals are sought from, but not limited to, expanding upon any of the following areas:
- Innovation and risk: exploring technology, methods and techniques.
- History and status: exploring careers in pattern cutting – understanding tradition and innovation, continuity and change.
- Tactile epistemologies, tacit knowledge and the haptic: exploring the knowledge of practical experience.
Contact for further information: Dr Kevin Almond k.almond@hud.ac.uk
Fashion thinking
Fashion Thinking focuses upon four interdisciplinary research areas: Costume and Performance, Fashion Ecology, Fashion Economies and Business Engagement. Drawing from expertise in design, 3D digital imaging, sculpture, photography, costume and the performing arts, Fashion Thinking promotes interdisciplinary approaches to practice-led research as well as traditional, historical and theoretical approaches. Fashion Thinking is composed of designers, artists, historians, business and technical experts all of whom are committed to exploring the cultural, social and political ecologies of fashion and costume in contemporary society. Applications are welcome to support interdisciplinary research to address, but not limited to, expanding upon any of the following areas:
Applications are welcome to support interdisciplinary research to address, but not limited to, one of the following areas:
- Trans-disciplinarily: analogue and digital focus on the body, dress and material
- Virtual embodiment: changes to concepts of body, identity and dress in the digital age
- Sculptural thinking in fashion design
- Creative pattern cutting
- Representation: fashion and politics in the 21st Century
- Curating contemporary fashion and historical dress
- Sustainability: business, ethics and political agendas
- Fashion retail and social media
Contact for further information: Professor Steve Swindells
Textiles: hand knitting craft in the luxury context
What would it be like to live in a world in which government authorities, businesses, communities and individuals work together to create a society that is able to withstand the effects of unforeseen events and threats? Current research focuses on improving the resilience of nations and communities on global, national, municipal and local levels to make this happen.Staff working in this area have chaired several international conferences, secured a number of significant high profile grants and are Editors of the SCOPUS indexed International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, the only journal to promote research and scholarly activity that examines the role of building and construction to anticipate and respond to unexpected events that damage or destroy the built environment.
Applications are welcome to support multi- and interdisciplinary strategies that develop the capacity of a system, community or society in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure following a disaster. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Interrogate the term disaster resilience from the perspective of the social/political, economic and physical sciences, and across national boundaries;
- Identify the critical social, economic, and physical factors that enable a system, community or society potentially exposed to hazards to maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure;
- Define and develop a set of measures that can be used to assess the critical social, economic and physical factors that underpin disaster resilience;
- New mechanisms to input planning & designing solutions that help create a resilient community;
- Understanding disaster risk – the development of innovative national and local policies and practices for disaster risk management;
- Strengthen early warning and preparedness systems, motivated by the increase in disaster events; and contingency planning and resource management
Contact for further information: Dr Tracy Cassidy t.d.cassidy@hud.ac.uk
Textiles: Textiles for Travel, Tourism and Leisure Lifestyles
The industrial revolution aided the development of many industries, including the fashion industry, enabling the mass production and retailing we know today and fuelled consumerism which had previously existed amongst only those with the financial means until the availability of credit facilities. With the evolution of the hawker to shopkeeper, who learned the principles of marketing from a necessity to draw in custom, the development of the shop offered a new method of shopping where people travelled to purchase goods. With more choice of goods, a growing consumption-minded society and the support of the steel industry enabling machinery to be built and transport methods to be developed and improved, if modes of transport were developed for the movement of raw materials and end products, it did not take long for people to exploit its growth in order to move around the locality and beyond. Leisure and pleasure were of particular interest to the Victorians and the success of the Great Exhibition in 1851 has more recently being linked to the locomotive service that enabled the common people access to the event and indicates a rise in interest in travel for leisure purposes. There is evidence to support the concept of people travelling to shop for commodities and luxury items and to travel for leisure purposes, and therefore the design and functionality of attire required by travelling consumers must have being a consideration of fashion designers for inspiration as well as for functional and structural design planning. Similarly, with the availability of diverse ranges of garments for leisure and travel purposes, consumers may have participated in travel for leisure tourism activities to wear such garments. Through this project we hypothesise the concept of a unified ‘fashion, leisure & tourism sector’ with reference to apparel style and to the development of specialist textiles to support the growth in leisure activities in both a historical and present day context. The project aims to put textiles at the forefront of the establishment of the proposed unified market sector.
Research expertise in the area of textiles includes knitting, weaving, surface design, digital restoration and costume simulation and pattern cutting. We engage with historical studies, have interests in scientific developments and technological innovations, including performance clothing and anthropometrics, and business practices, entrepreneurship and enterprise in the creative industries, such as supply chain management, sustainability, employability and the exploration of textile sites. Current projects include ‘Open to change: embracing nature and the fragility of design’, which explores outdoor suspended seating through the practice of leno weaving; ‘Future Luxury’, this project explores the concept of adopting digital tools and technology to establish whether the role of the artisan and craftsmanship will still exist in a digital future; and ‘The restoration of historical textile fragments using 2D and 3D software’, in this project textiles are recreated through a range of software including 3D animation to control the parameters of fabric drape.
Applipations are welcome to support interdisciplinary research to address, but not limited, one of the key areas:
- Improving Textile Design and Construction
- Textile and Costume Studies
- Future Textiles, Materials and Surfaces
Contact for further information: Dr Tracy Cassidy t.d.cassidy@hud.ac.uk
Urban design, architecture and sustainability
Drawing from expertise in urban design and practice, architectural/ urban history and theory, and sustainable architecture, academic staff have developed a significant body of research in areas relating to historical and contemporary transformations of cities, the impact of geographical thinking on modern (global) perspectives of space in both East and West, evaluating methods for determining urban quality, changing patterns of urban design practice and the contributions of the history of ideas (philosophical, theological, scientific etc) to architectural and urban knowledge, as well as sustainable environmental design and energy efficiency. We welcome applications to support interdisciplinary research which addresses, but is not limited to, one of the following areas:
- Cultural and intellectual exchanges between Western and Eastern architectural and landscape traditions
- Historical intersections between architecture, urban topography, ritual and geography
- Architectural/artistic representation, language and iconography
- Multi-scale and multi-dimensional approach to urban landscapes and territories, defining relationships and meanings between the typo-morphological dimension and urban history, geography, topography, social and economic development.
- Formation and adaptation of urban forms in contemporary cities, using process-led methodologies in urban regeneration and development, and identifying relationships between social, economic and environmental issues.
- Enhancing understanding of comfort and workplace productivity, in which issues of comfort limits and the value of variability of conditions could be addressed, or interactions with workplace design.
- Optimise design and refurbishment of buildings to improve energy efficiency whilst also taking account the impacts of global climate change.
Contact for further information: Professor Nick Temple n.temple@hud.ac.uk
Deadline
The deadline for the receipt of applications is end May 2015 for October 2015 start date
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