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  • History PhD

Modern and Contemporary History PhD

The University of Brighton has a thriving research culture for History PhD students, built around its highly-reputed research Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories. 

Our primary strength as an academic community is in modern history, including global perspectives on the twentieth-century. Our historians use a wide range of interdisciplinary methodologies that draw on social, political and cultural history and investigate the complex interconnections between present and past, evoked by concepts of memory.  

Research expertise for Modern and contemporary history PhD study at the university covers documentary and oral histories, literary and cultural analysis,  political, moral and applied philosophy and contemporary critical theory, as well as exciting interdisciplinary combinations, and we welcome approaches for supervision in any of these areas. 

We have an excellent record in achieving funding for PhD students in modern and contemporary history and related studies.

Together with colleagues from closely related Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs), we offer supervision for history focused projects that cross disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences and our department thrives on its interdisciplinary interests and the close research culture that stems from it.

Your supervisory team and academic network can draw on expertise in, for example, cultural studies, social anthropology, cultural geography, art and design history, art practices, media and visual studies, performance studies, critical theory, sociology, psycho-social studies, critical heritage studies, narrative theory, archive and museum studies and digital humanities. 

Our graduates have gone on to work in, among other fields, academia and the heritage and museum sectors. We welcome approaches to discuss suitable projects and can provide advice on application, proposals and any suitable funding.

Apply to 'Humanities' in the applicant portal

Apply with us for funding through the AHRC Techne Doctoral Training Partnership

Key information

Your Modern and contemporary history PhD will be supervised by expert academics who will also guide you towards career decisions and allow your work to draw on and contribute to the wider academic society at Brighton and at partner universities.

As a Modern and contemporary history PhD student, you will

  • have a supervisory team comprising two members of academic staff. Depending on your particular area of study you may also have additional supervisors from other research institutions or external partners.
  • become part of an active and engaged community of research learning, leading talks, and social events with opportunities to present your work as it progresses and network with other researchers.
  • be part of an active and highly supportive research centre, the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories, and introductions to other suitable centres and groups. You will also be part of the interdisciplinary School of Humanities and Social Media at the University of Brighton.
  • have desk space and access to a computer in a space specifically designed for research students.
  • have access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s online library, as well as to physical books and journals at St Peter’s House Library in central Brighton and other campus libraries.

Academic environment

 Our History PhD students enjoy a close-knit and highly supportive academic community that makes optimum use of a range of expertise and can work with your interests whether single-disciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary.  

There is a thriving postgraduate and research culture in humanities across the university helping support an understanding of broader contexts as well as the specifics of your PhD project. Our community of experts particularly welcomes projects addressing: 

  • concerns around the nature, structure and scope of violent conflict including the social and cultural history of modern warfare, with reference to the total wars of the twentieth century, legacies and memories of warfare, truth, justice and reconciliation in ‘post-conflict’ societies; 
  • colonial and postcolonial cultural and social history with reference to the histories and legacies of transatlantic slavery, forms of migration, diasporic identity, the anglophone Caribbean, the Black Atlantic, and twentieth-century US cultural history, especially histories of 'race' and civil rights;
  • histories of identity formations such as gender, ‘race’, nation and class and the role of cultural memory in these formations. 

As well as these we will be excited to hear your proposals that align to any of the themes of the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories, for example,  

  • Social and cultural histories of warfare including post-conflict legacies 
  • Gender, race and class 
  • Race, Empire and colonialism 
  • Cultural memory: theory, politics, history 

You will have an academic home in the School of Humanities and Social Science and in our principal centre dedicated to history, memory and narrative, but we recommend students attend seminars and meet staff working across related centres. Please explore our Centres of Research Excellence (COREs) to discover the range of our doctoral student work and staff specialisms. The four COREs below work especially closely together.

Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics 

Centre for Design History

Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories

Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

Some of our supervisors

Profile photo for Dr Cathy Bergin

Dr Cathy Bergin

Bergin has supervised MA theses in the field of African American literature and culture, Caribbean literature, Welsh cultural memory, white settler colonial imaginaryies  and Holocaust Representation. 

She is has supervised PhD theses to completion in  Memorialisation in the Postmodern-Neoliberal Conjuncture;  Women's literature in Belize: Memory, Identity and the Legacy of slavery; Male Performance Wear and authenticity in Country Music 1947-1992; Models of authentic inner voice as social critique in the post-war novel; The Pink Triangle: The politics of forgetting and remembering the homosexual victims of Nazi persecution and British representations of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-23. She is currently supervising PhDs in folk horror and counterinsurgency in Northern Ireland, American Women’s study abroad in Europe, rethinking “blackness” as a racial identity and intergenerational familial storytelling in Northern Ireland. She is interested in supporting research in the following areas: African American writing; enslavement and representation; black radical history; Caribbean Culture and Identity; Marxist literary history; post-colonialism; Irish studies; Holocaust memorialisation; novel studies; transnational solidarities.

Profile photo for Sue Breakell

Sue Breakell

Sue is based at the University of Brighton Design Archives and supervises research on archives in theory and practice, particularly in art and design; and on twentieth century British art and design and their contexts, with a particular focus on the mid-century. She supervises Masters and Doctorate projects both at Brighton and elsewhere, and is happy to hear from potential students with interdisciplinary interests that intersect with archives practice or the Design Archives collections.

Profile photo for Prof Graham Dawson

Prof Graham Dawson

Professor Dawson has supervised five PhDs to completion, and is currently supervising ten students, the majority being recipients of fully-funded studentships from the AHRC TECHNE consortium, including Collaborative Doctoral Awards in partnership with the Imperial War Musems and Falls Community Council. 

He welcomes applications for doctoral study and supervision on the cultural history, representation and memory of war and conflict, on the cultural history, geography and memory of the Northern Ireland Troubles and peace process in Britain and Ireland, on ‘post-conflict’ cultures and subjectivities, and on the cultural and historical dimensions of conflict transformation.

Profile photo for Dr Christian Hogsbjerg

Dr Christian Hogsbjerg

Christian would be interested in supporting doctoral research in the following areas: Anti-colonialism; Atlantic Studies and maritime history; Black British History; Black Intellectual History; British imperial history; Caribbean history and politics (including Haitian Revolutionary Studies); Labour History; Pan-Africanism; Race, Resistance and Reparative Histories; Slavery, Resistance and Abolition.      

Profile photo for Dr Deborah Madden

Dr Deborah Madden

Areas for PhD supervision include:

  • Nineteenth-century life writings, particularly within colonial contexts
  • Critical and anticolonial perspectives on missionaries, education and Empire
  • Colonial and imperial sites of memory
  • Eighteenth and nineteenth-century medical practices and colonial medicine
  • Cultural, intellectual and religious histories of British eighteenth and nineteenth-century history
  • Historiographies of British Empire
  • Millenarian prophecy and prophetic groups
  • Public histories and pedagogical practices
  • Cultural politics of grief and anticipatory grief
  • Feminist ecologies and relational ontologies, particularly allied to eco-therapies and pedagogies
  • Narrative and critical perspectives on narrative in healthcare
  • Critical integrative feminist contemporary psychotherapeutic approaches
Profile photo for Dr Eugene Michail

Dr Eugene Michail

I supervise PhDs on a range of modern European history themes, especially on histories and memories of conflict, resistance and refugeedom. I am also interested in innovative projects on the method and challenges of writing the history of today. In our School we have an excellent record in securing funding for applicants that are keen to discuss and shape their ideas in dialogue with us.  

Some of my recent doctoral students are: 

Amadeusz Lange 'In the shadows, unveiling Polish women’s contributions in clandestine activity, 1939-1945' (started 2022)

Rosemary Rich, ‘The memory of Second World War conscientious objection since 1945’ (started 2019)

Vanessa Tautter, ‘Narratives of Victimisation among the Contemporary Right in Austria and Northern Ireland’ (started 2018)

Oscar Louis Norris-Broughton, 'Guilds at Home and Abroad: A History of Knowledge of Guild Socialism' (awarded 2022)

Pete Morgan, ‘British representations of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-23’ (awarded 2022)

Kate Newby, ‘Children’s and Transgenerational Memories of violence in Norther Ireland in the 1970s’ (awarded  2020)

Ian Cantoni, ‘Spanish Republican refugee camps in southern France following the Spanish civil war of 1936-1939’ (awarded 2019)

Chris Crook, ‘Empire or Europe? Priorities within British Foreign Policies 1919-1926’ (awarded 2017)

Profile photo for Dr Aris Mousoutzanis

Dr Aris Mousoutzanis

My supervisory interests include the study of popular media genres (science fiction, horror); the relations between media, memory and trauma; and media and politics (specifically imperialism, (post)colonialism and globalisation. Interdisciplinary projects on media, literature and culture are most welcome.

A more detailed indicative list of supervisory interests includes the following areas:

  • the study of popular media genres (science fiction, horror/Gothic, utopia/dystopia, (post-)apocalyptic fiction).
  • the relations between screen media, trauma theory and memory studies - with a more recent interest in nostalgia studies.
  • the historical and discursive relations between screen media and imperialism, globalisation and (post)colonialism.

Students with an interest in an interdisciplinary approach that extends across English studies and Film and Television studies are most welcome. I have also researched, taught and published on the late Victorian period ('fin de siecle') and postmodern theory, literature and culture.

Profile photo for Dr Ceren Ozpinar

Dr Ceren Ozpinar

Dr Ceren Özpınar is currently supervising three PhD students at Brighton, and one at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, who work on subjects in transnational storytelling, lesser-known women artists in the 20th century, feminism in the museum, and textile-based artistic practices. 

Ceren would be interested in supervising PhD projects on feminist and queer approaches to art; transnational art histories; narratives of difference; memory and materiality. She would also welcome proposals interested in researching any aspect of the project of decolonising the history of art and exhibitions, particularly but not exclusively, in the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African geographies.

Ceren also hosts visiting doctoral researchers on a regular basis. If you are working on a PhD project at another institution related to her research expertise and would like to be supervised by her at Brighton for a short period (up to a year), feel free to contact her.

Profile photo for Prof Annebella Pollen

Prof Annebella Pollen

Annebella supervises PhD projects in visual and material culture, histories of 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 ten doctoral students, including three in funded partnership with museums. She has supervised five PhD students to completion, including a PhD by Publication, and has examined eighteen PhDs, including nine practice-led doctorates, at University of the Arts, Birkbeck, Brighton, Bolton, Glasgow School of Art, Huddersfield, Lancaster, Nottingham, Sheffield, SOAS, Sussex, UCL and Ulster.

Profile photo for Dr Anita Rupprecht

Dr Anita Rupprecht

  • Histories and cultures of British transatlantic slavery and resistance
  • Histories, cultures and representations of 18C and 19C abolitionism
  • Transatlantic slavery and the archive
  • Capitalism and Slavery
  • Caribbean, Diasporic and Black Atlantic Literatures
  • Postcolonial Theory, Identity and Culture
  • Cultural Memories of Empire, Colonialism and Transatlantic Slavery
Profile photo for Dr Rebecca Searle

Dr Rebecca Searle

Rebecca supervises students researching contemporary British History. She has particular expertise in the history of housing, the politics of property, the history of sexuality and the impact of war on society. She works with students across social, political, cultural and economic history and with students specialising in politics, sociology or philosophy who want to incorporate historical analysis into their research. 

Profile photo for Dr Aakanksha Virkar

Dr Aakanksha Virkar

Aakanksha is happy to supervise postgraduate work on late Victorian and modern literature. She has specific interests in literary modernism and would particularly welcome projects exploring literature and the arts (music and visual culture).

Specific areas within literary studies (1850-1950) might include

  • Victorian/modern transitions
  • philosophy, aesthetics and politics in modern literature
  • poetry and poetics
  • literature, music and visual culture
  • aestheticism, decadence and desire
Profile photo for Dr Julia Winckler

Dr Julia Winckler

Julia Winckler's interdisciplinary research focuses on working with visual archives and collections. Memory and migration narratives, contested topographies, exile studies, co-production of knowledge and photography & activism are particular areas of interest. 

For PhD applicants:

Winckler currently co-supervises five Phd students at the University of Brighton and one Phd student at the University of Salzburg. Two of these Phd projects are practice-based; one is Techne funded, a second is an AHRC CPD  studentship. 

Winckler welcomes Phd inquiries that interact with any of the following: 

Working with Archives and Collections: Photographic archives, Community archives, Museums, Private Collections

Memory Studies: Postmemory, transnational memory, cultural memory, communicative memory, personal memory

Art practice as research: visual, creative and ethnographic research methods/photo voice/photo elicitation/digital media technologies, site-specific interventions

Co-production of knowledge: popular education methodology, participatory methods, oral history, histoire croisée/regards croisés methodologies

Photography and activism: community art practice (global, historical & contemporary) and critical pedagogy

Photographers in Exile in Britain: contributions made by emigrés to the field of Applied Arts

Profile photo for Dr Claire Wintle

Dr Claire Wintle

Dr Wintle welcomes enquiries about projects on museums, exhibition design, collecting, cultural forms of imperialism, nationalism and decolonisation, especially in Britain, and the material and visual culture of South Asia.

Claire has supervised three PhDs to completion and currently supervises eight AHRC-funded PhD students. She has examined postgraduate theses at SOAS, Leicester University, Royal Holloway, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Southampton and a further five PhDs at the University of Brighton. Her students focus on themes ranging from British South Asian community engagement with museums to the professional experiences of museum staff working to decolonise practice. She works with colleagues at the British Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Horniman Museum and the V&A to supervise Collaborative Doctoral Projects on subjects including the British Museum's relationships with museums in West Africa, South Asian donors to the British Museum, exhibition design at the British Museum and Korean collections at the V&A. She also works with colleagues at Shiv Nagar University in India to supervise a PhD project on Bihar Museum.

 

 For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website. 

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our online application portal to begin.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistance during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2022–23

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
 Full-timePart-time

UK

£4,596 

£2,298

International (including EU)

£15,282 

£7,641

International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law

£13,464 

£6,732


PhD by Publication
Full-time Part-time
 N/A  £2,298 (UK)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

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