Between the Home and the Factory: South Asian Heritage and Industrial Work, 1960-Present

Techne Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) studentship

Applications are invited for a fully-funded three-year PhD, funded through the Techne DTP, to be jointly hosted by the Black Country Visual Arts (BCVA) and the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton. The project offers an exciting opportunity for a student to study British South Asian heritage in relation to factory work. The BCVA digital archive is comprised of 2000 photographs, featuring street life, fashion and domestic material culture (1960s–Present), 36 photographs of Punjabi factory workers (1992) and is ever-expanding. Using archival research, oral history interviews and object analysis as key methods, the project will help shape understandings of the ways in which the material environments of the home and factory and preservation of tangible and intangible heritage, enabled the South Asian community in the Black Country to inhabit the diasporic space.

The studentship start date is October 2021.

About AHRC-funded technē studentships

Techne is a Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to create a new model for collaborative research skills training for research students across nine higher education institutions in London and the South East (Royal Holloway; Brunel University; University of Brighton; Kingston University; Loughborough University, London; Roehampton University; University of Surrey; University of the Arts London; and University of Westminster). Technē’s vision is to produce scholars who are highly motivated and prepared for academic, public or professional life.

Techne's vision is to produce scholars who are highly motivated and prepared for academic, public or professional life. Fully-funded studentships (stipend and fee waiver) will be awarded by technē to the best students put forward by its member universities. Successful applicants will benefit from a rich and diverse training programme with a focus on interdisciplinarity and developing career potential both in and beyond higher education; and will be able to draw on supervisory expertise from across the partnership. The techne training programme is enhanced by input and placement opportunities provided by 13 partner organisations, including the Barbican, Natural History Museum, Museum of London, BFI and the Science Museum.

Key facts

Location Brighton: City campus

Themes Immigration and the photographic archive; Industrial work and home-making; South Asian heritage

Research Centre Centre for Design History

Deadline Monday 15 February 2021, 16.00hr

Interviews W/c 22 February 2021

Find out how to apply

Project in detail

This project will contribute towards ethnically inclusive British design and photographic histories, aligning with urgent calls for representative and decolonial disciplines. It aims to:

use the Black Country Visual Arts’ Apna and Punjabi Workers photographic archives to study the relationship between factory work, leisure and domesticity and their photographic representations. In particular, the collections will form the departure point for exploration of the role of industrial production and manual labour in the lives of the Punjabi diasporic communities, for whom, owing to migration laws, work formed a lynchpin for creating a home in post-war Britain.
examine how archival resources can contribute to greater understandings of the processes of home-making, production of British identities and community heritage practices amid chronic racism in the Black Country from the 1960s.
analyse the role and agency of the photographic archive in the constructions of memories of ‘homeland’ through the survey and interpretation of extant collections and the recording, collecting and preservation of further photographs.

The student will have the opportunity to devise their own project with supervisory guidance, and consult supporting and comparative sources for historical and contextual material: Wolverhampton City Archives; Birmingham Central Library; Jubilee Arts Archive; the Open University Making Britain database; the Indian Workers’ Association Archive at the National Archives, and the British Library Asians in Britain collections. Objects and spaces featured in the BCVA photographs, such as Indian dolls, garlands, domestic interiors and industrial sewing machines will help develop a material understanding of the diaspora experience. The student will be introduced to BCVA archives and activities, the key organisational partners Wolverhampton City Archives (where a desk space will be provided) and the Indian Workers’ Association, as well as links to the community for object analysis and oral history interviews.

In addition to developing research and academic writing skills, this project will provide the student opportunities to gain practical skills in installing exhibitions, delivering workshops, working with artists, grant development and fundraising, as well as, in the context of Covid-19, building diverse audiences for the archives online, via online exhibitions, social media and blogs. This project will prepare the student for future work in the cultural sector and academia.

University of Brighton supervisory team

Dr Megha Rajguru

I would be delighted to supervise research projects that focus on the politics of modernisation through design in postcolonial contexts, the histories of design and craft in South Asia, art, design and politics in India and modernisms beyond the west.

I am currently supervising PhD research projects on Australian aboriginal textile production (Design Star funded); technology and the experience of art in contemporary museums, and museum engagement with South Asian communities in the UK (CDP with British Museum).

Dr Annebella Pollen

Annebella is interested in supervising PhD projects relating to visual and material culture, especially in relation to popular photography and popular image cultures, Mass Observation, modern British art and design, non-elite design and dress history, everyday / vernacular cultural practices and countercultures. She is currently supervising eight doctoral students, including three in funded partnership with national museums. She has supervised three PhD students to completion, including a PhD by Publication, and has examined a further sixteen at University of the Arts London, Brighton, Bolton, Glasgow School of Art, Huddersfield, Lancaster, Manchester School of Art, Nottingham, Sheffield, SOAS, Sussex, UCL and Ulster.

Prof Darren Newbury

Professor Newbury is interested in supervising PhD projects related to his main areas of interest in photography, history, politics and memory, especially but not exclusively those with a focus on Africa. He also welcomes enquiries from applicants interested in researching any aspect of the history or practice of documentary and community photography and photographic education in Britain and elsewhere, and is open to proposals that encompass a range of historical, archival, theoretical and practice-led approaches to photography and visual culture.

He has supervised 20 PhD students to completion across photography history, theory and practice, as well as projects related to art education, public art and visual culture, and several Collaborative Doctoral Awards, including with Birmingham City Council, Belfast Exposed gallery and the Imperial War Museum. He has examined 30 PhDs, including at University of the Arts London, University of Cape Town, Edith Cowan University, Goldsmiths College, University of Greenwich, Tshwane University of Technology and University of the Western Cape.

External collaborators

Anand Chhabra, Co-founder, Director and the incumbent Chair at Black Country Visual Arts

Application process in detail

Overview

You will need to complete both a University of Brighton online application form and the first part of the Techne online application form (which you need to attach to your university application).

The application forms

Techne online application form: Complete the student part of the application form up to section 15 (please leave the Equal Opportunities monitoring form BLANK at this stage). Once completed, use the button to generate a PDF of the document. The online application process includes detailed guidance notes.
University of Brighton online application form: Complete your University of Brighton application (see below), attaching your transcripts, references, passport and the PDF of your technē application. Any upload button can be used to attach these documents. (Please note, in some sections, the two forms ask for duplicate information; please ensure you complete all fields in both forms.)

Applicants are advised to be available should they be called for interview.

Entry requirements

Academic qualifications

Applicants must satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements and should normally have a minimum of a 2:1 undergraduate degree and desirably hold or expect to achieve excellent grades in a masters degree, in a relevant subject from a UK university or comparable qualifications from another recognised university.

Applicants are also required to submit a research proposal of no more than 1,000 words. (See technē guidance notes in the technē online application process.)

Some prior knowledge of art and/or design history is essential, and familiarity with BAME communities and migration histories is desirable. Due to the nature of this project, we are keen to receive applications from applicants who identify as South Asian and have some understanding of Punjabi heritage.

Residential eligibility

For entry in the 2021–22 academic year, the AHRC have relaxed the restrictions on eligibility for non-UK applicants. We can now accept applications from Home and non-UK resident students. There will be a recruitment cap of 30 per cent on non-UK resident studentships awarded across the consortium. The management of this cap will be through the selection process. Successful candidates will receive a full stipend and fees at the UKRI rate.

See technē guidance notes (included in technē online application process) for full details of residency requirements.

English language entry requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English must have successfully completed a Secure English language Test (SELT) in the last two years.

Applicants who have obtained or are studying for a UK degree may apply without a SELT. However, the university may request a SELT is taken as part of any award made.

English language IELTS requirements are 7.0 overall, with 7.0 in writing, and no components below 6.5.

Funding

The studentship, funded through the AHRC Techne DTP, will cover tuition fees at the standard postgraduate home level plus an annual maintenance stipend at the UKRI rate (£15,285 2020-2021 rate) with an additional £550 pa to cover travel to visit the CDA partner. As a technē student, the person selected will have full access to the Techne Doctoral Training Partnership development activities and networking opportunities, joining a cohort of about 50 students per year from across nine universities in London and the South East. Techne students can also apply for additional funding to support individual or group training and development activities.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the project, please contact the lead supervisor, Dr Megha Rajguru, via the contact details on their profile page (above).

If you have any questions about the funding or application process, please contact the Doctoral College at artsresearchstudent@brighton.ac.uk

How to apply

Before you apply

Make sure that you meet the entry requirements before making your application, and have read all of our advice about writing your research proposal and making an application on the following tabs.

Research proposal

See technē guidance notes (included in technē online application process). Please also contact the lead supervisor to discuss your proposal in relation to the project call.

Apply online

To submit your application please follow these steps:

Click the 'apply online now' button, on the right.
Select 'register and start a new application', to create your user account.
Once you are logged in, select 'apply to a new course'.
Select the type of course 'research degree'.
Select mode of study 'full-time'.
Select 'Doctoral College'.
Select ‘Techne CDA: Between the Home and the Factory’.
Select the course 'PhD'.
During the application form please attach the following at any upload point:
- research proposal
- references
- undergraduate and masters transcripts
- a copy of your passport
- the PDF of part 1 (up to section 15) of your technē application

10. Click 'apply'.

Apply online now

If you have any questions, contact the Doctoral College at artsresearchstudent@brighton.ac.uk and we will be happy to help.