PhD Studentship - Rethinking the Labour Party and Ireland from Wilson to Blair

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Rethinking the Labour Party and Ireland from Wilson to Blair. This project will analyse the relationship between the British Labour Party and the Republic of Ireland from the era of Harold Wilson to that of Tony Blair. Proposals will be considered which both interrogate the long run relationship of Labour with Ireland (i.e. from the 1960s to the 1990s/2000s) or a particular moment, aspect, or personality(ies) within that timeframe.

The project may alight on, for example, the simultaneous entry of the UK and Ireland into the EEC, Labour’s relationship with the Irish Labour Party or other Irish political parties, The Troubles, the Northern Irish Border/Common Travel Area, the Irish diaspora (or diasporic politicians), the consequences for Irish-American and Anglo-American relations, the Good Friday Agreement, and/or the Irish contribution to particular British institutions from the civil service to the NHS.

Cambridge is an ideal location for the project as the Churchill Archives Centre includes the papers of Neil Kinnock and other leading Labour politicians in contact with Ireland and the Labour History Research Unit (LHRU) at ARU provides a vibrant environment in which to pursue such a project.

The outcomes of the project will ideally contribute to both academic and public policy fields for instance through blogs, journal articles and/or book.

Funding Notes and Eligibility:

Applications are open to Home fee status students only. This successful applicant will receive a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship award which covers Home tuition fees and a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for three years. The award is subject to the successful candidate meeting the studentship Terms and Conditions which can be found on our website: https://aru.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/vc-phd-scholarships

Applicants should have (or expect to achieve) a minimum upper second-class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a cognate discipline. A Master’s degree in a relevant subject is desirable. Applicants must be prepared to study on a full-time basis, attending at our Cambridge campus.

Application Deadline: 19th March 2023

Applications for a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship are made through the application portal on our website alongside further information about the project: https://aru.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/vc-phd-scholarships

We will review all applications after the submission deadline of 19th March. We will contact shortlisted applicants in the week commencing 3rd April. Interviews will be held between 17th April to 2nd May.

If you have any queries relating to the application process or the terms and conditions of the Scholarships, please email phdscholarships@aru.ac.uk.

You will need the following documents available electronically to upload them to the application portal (we can accept files in pdf, jpeg or Word format):

1) Certificates and transcripts from your Bachelor and Master’s degrees, (if applicable)

2) Your personal statement explaining your suitability for the project

3) Passport and visa, or evidence of EU Settlement Scheme (if applicable)

4) Curriculum Vitae

Please note the application form will ask you to upload a research proposal. You should upload your personal statement in this section, as proposals are not required for this scholarship.

Contact us:

General enquiries: phdscholarships@aru.ac.uk

If you would like to discuss this research project, please contact richard.carr@aru.ac.uk