Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme

Studentships in partnership with higher education

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has awarded the consortium of the National Gallery and the Bowes Museum with three doctoral studentships per year over four years as part of Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme.

Each institution is able to offer studentships in partnership with higher education institutions, to enable students to study for a PhD at a UK university.

Contact us

National Gallery Research Centre

Email: research.centre@nationalgallery.org.uk

How to apply

For universities

Proposals for new studentships are developed by National Gallery or Bowes Museum staff (as co-supervisors) together with a named university partner (as principal supervisor) and are chosen on their academic strengths and clear support for the National Gallery's or Bowes Museum's research objectives. We welcome expressions of interest and project ideas from any UK university.

For more information about partnering with the National Gallery, advice on potential internal collaborators and guidance for applications contact Marika Spring.

For students

Each studentship will be jointly supervised by a member of the consortium partner's staff and an academic from a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). The HEI administers the studentship, receiving funds from the AHRC for feed and to cover the student's maintenance. The consortium partner provides additional financial support to cover travel and related costs in carrying out research.

If you are a prospective student, see below for a list of the current and past research themes and projects.

Learn how to apply at UKRI

CDP projects

Collecting Continental Old Masters at Harewood House, Yorkshire: Conflicts and convergences over contemporary art and national heritage and European and American cultural relations in the British art world, 1880-1950

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with the University of Leeds.

Art history scholarship between the 1820s and the 1870s: The role of the Eastlake Library at the National Gallery

Read about the National Gallery's AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, in collaboration with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Conservation varnishes at the National Gallery: Studying their optical and material properties

Read about the National Gallery's AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, in collaboration with the Nottingham Trent University.

Settings and Subjects in Early Netherlandish Painting

Read about the National Gallery's AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, in collaboration with the University of York

The Workshop and its Painters: Perugino and the Perugineschi in Florence and Perugia

Read about the National Gallery's AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, in collaboration with the Warburg Institute

Immersive Renaissance:: the application of digital spatial approaches to reconstruct the urban and architectural context of artworks in the National Gallery collections

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with the University of Exeter.

Jewish Collectors and Donors at the National Gallery (about 1830–1930)

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with Durham University.

London’s National Gallery and the ‘Centre of Empire’, 1824–1924

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with Birkbeck College, University of London.

Multimodal analytical imaging of Old Master Paintings: : addressing the challenges of registration, mosaic construction and image resolution

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with Imperial College London.

New research on the history and technology of materials in paintings and other cultural heritage artefacts using the enhanced sensitivity and specificity of advanced mass spectrometry techniques

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with the University of Bristol.

Research-based 3D modelling of Renaissance built environments: : workflow, uncertainty and standards

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with the University of Exeter.

Robust monitoring and vibration mitigation for easel paintings

Read about the National Gallery’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, offered in collaboration with the University of Oxford.