About this project
“I am the sea”: water, emotion, and geography in early modern literature and culture
This interdisciplinary scholarship brings together two vibrant scholarly fields: the history of emotions and the green-blue humanities. Earlier critical work on early modern emotions emphasised how the passions were understood via humoral theory as “liquid states” within the body. More recently, other scholars have emphasised the ways in which early modern writers drew upon concepts of seafaring and hydraulic engineering to describe bodies and identities – and have recognised the importance of the Thames as a geographical space that exists both inside and outside Shakespeare’s plays.
This scholarship will offer a doctoral scholar an exciting opportunity to build on these new forms of “watery knowledge” as a way of reconsidering the relationship between early modern emotions and water cultures. How does Robert Burton’s description of tempestuous humours that “vexeth our souls … as the sea waves” relate to his suggestion that individuals can be cured of bodily and mental infirmities “by reason of a sharp purifying air, which comes from the sea”? How did early modern writers manage and negotiate this relationship between literal and figurative understandings of the ocean? How did living alongside water in the period feed into or complicate medical and metaphorical understandings of water, emotions, and selfhood?
If you have any queries about this project, please address them to watercultures@hull.ac.uk, rather than contacting the supervisor directly. This is to support our inclusive recruitment practices (please see ‘How to apply’ section below for more information). Our Water Cultures Professional Services Team will liaise with Supervisors and ensure you receive responses to your queries.
Free Webinar
The University of Hull is running a webinar at 6pm on Wednesday 11 January to provide more information about the Leverhulme DSC for Water Cultures. The webinar will close with a Q&A giving you the opportunity to delve deeper into research opportunities, training provision and potential career paths. Book your place.
About the research cluster
The University of Hull Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre for Water Cultures is an interdisciplinary research centre exploring humanity’s relationships with water in the green-blue regions of the world, past, present and future.
It pioneers a new, humanities-led, interdisciplinary and transhistorical research area – the green-blue humanities – and equips a new generation of PhD students to take this agenda forward and transform our understanding of humanity’s relationships with water.
Research Training
The Centre for Water Cultures offers an unrivalled doctoral training scheme designed to promote open-minded and outward-facing researchers, ready to collaborate across disciplines, and to partner with industry and other non-academic organisations, in the search for innovative solutions to today’s water challenges. Doctoral scholars will benefit from a dedicated placement scheme with opportunities to undertake placements of 1-3 months with one of our range of national and international water, heritage, and creative industry partners, designed to develop the career ambitions of our scholars within and beyond academia. They will benefit from a dedicated programme of invited talks, masterclasses, and workshops delivered by speakers from academia and industry. They will also receive bespoke support for career development before and beyond graduation, delivered by our interdisciplinary teams of supervisors and via our mentoring programme, which offers one-to-one support for professional and career development.
The University of Hull is uniquely positioned to deliver doctoral research training in the green-blue humanities. No other UK university offers Hull’s combination of an international reputation in water research, significant expertise and experience in community engagement and cultural sector evaluation (gained as Hull UK City of Culture’s principal research partner), along with a rich maritime history and long experience living with complex water challenges.
The Centre for Water Cultures is housed in Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute (EEI), a world leader in research into global water risks and resilience, including in relation to climate change, flooding, marine pollution and toxic water, and home to state of the art research facilities including the Total Environment Simulator (TES), experimental research flumes and high-performance computing running sophisticated hydro models. Doctoral Scholars at the Centre for Water Cultures will benefit from access to the EEI’s facilities and research environment, and from world-class expertise in water-related research in the arts, humanities, social, physical, and health sciences at Hull.
PhD students at the University of Hull follow modules for research and transferable skills development and gain a Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma in Research Training, in addition to their research degree. More information.
How to apply
You will need to complete this Centre for Water Cultures Supplementary Application Form which you can download here and upload your completed form, alongside the other supporting documents requested below.
As part of our inclusive practices, the Centre for Water Cultures adopts a process of assessing applications purely based on skills and attributes and does not consider any personal details. As such we ask applicants to remove any personal details from the Supplementary Form which is used by the Panel to assess and select applicants for interview. The form asks for details of your education, training and employment history as well as some specific questions about your motivations and research experience and interests. It is very important that you do not include any personally identifying information such as such as name, age, gender, ethnic group, nationality etc.
To complete your application, you should upload the following documents through the University of Hull student application portal (you will be directed there via the ‘Apply Now’ link below):
- Supplementary Application Form (please upload the form when asked to add your Personal Statement (there is no need to also add a Personal Statement)).
- Transcripts of your qualifications.
- Evidence of English language competency if applicable. Information on the tests that we accept can be found here.
Please note that you can only apply for one project in the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarshps Centre for Water Cultures.
Apply Now
Closing date for applications
Monday 30 January 2023
Interviews
Interviews will take place during the week commencing 6 March 2023
Funding
Doctoral scholars appointed to interdisciplinary projects within the Centre for Water Cultures will be supported by PhD scholarships, funded for 48 months. These cover fees at the UK rate, a maintenance grant of £17,668 per year (2022/23 rate), and a research and training support grant.
Applicants already holding a PhD (or equivalent qualification) will not typically be considered as eligible for a Centre for Water Cultures scholarship. Applicants in this position wishing to apply must make a compelling case for their motivations in their personal statement.
Entry requirements
You should have a good undergraduate degree (at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or international equivalent) in English, History or a related subject.
A Masters in a relevant subject is desirable, but not essential.
If your first language is not English, or you require Tier 4 student visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language competency. Information on the tests that we accept can be found on the University of Hull website.
International applicants
The Centre for Water Cultures welcomes applications from international candidates.
While the Leverhulme Trust funds fees at the UK rate, we are able to offer a limited number of international fee waivers to support EU and International applicants. These are likely to be attached to no more than 30% of our scholarships.
Submission of thesis
Submission of your final thesis is expected within 48 months from the start of your PhD scholarship.
