The Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London is pleased to announce a PhD studentship to cover fees and maintenance between 2011 – 2014.

Closing Date: 21 February 2011

Applications received after this date will still be considered for admission but will be too late to be considered for the studentship competition. Short-listed candidates may be invited for interview.

Enquiries should be addressed to Thomas Dixon (t.m.dixon@qmul.ac.uk) or to Alex Ferguson (alex.ferguson@qmul.ac.uk)

Further Details

Applicants are asked to explain how their proposed doctoral research will contribute to the aims of the Wellcome-funded project ‘Medicine, Emotion and Disease in History’. The information on this page is

intended to help applicants compose that statement. See also Section 4, ‘General advice on completing your research proposal’, of the following guidance:

http://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/hss_research/

The project is hosted by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, and the successful applicant for the PhD studentship will join this lively interdisciplinary research group. Supervision will be provided by one or more members of the Centre’s Steering Committee. Details of the Centre’s membership and activities can be found online: www.qmul.ac.uk/emotions

The project explores historical connections between medicine, emotion and disease since the sixteenth century. One of its key aims is to understand how medical beliefs about passions and emotions fitted into broader scientific, social, legal, religious and cultural contexts. It pursues this aim by exploring the following three themes, across different periods and cultures:

• Health and disease : How far have patients, practitioners and policy makers interpreted emotions as causes and symptoms of, or alternatively as cures for mental and bodily diseases? To what extent have passions themselves been considered diseases?
• Experience and expression : How have ideas about emotional ‘expressions’ (broadly defined) developed and been used in medical and scientific contexts? How have bodily and psychological experiences been understood to be related to each other, by physicians and their patients? How have new investigative technologies shaped the vocabularies of emotion and expression?
• Psychology and politics : How have the emotional states of social groups and populations been analysed? How have violent passions been investigated and controlled by the state, and how have positive emotions featured in public health strategies and policies?

Applicants should, in their research proposal, indicate how their proposed PhD project will contribute to one or more of these three themes.

Informal enquiries about this PhD studentship are welcome and should be directed to Dr Thomas Dixon (t.m.dixon@qmul.ac.uk) or to any other member of the QMUL Centre for the History of the Emotions Steering Committee.

This three-year studentship comprises part of a five-year Wellcome Trust Enhancement Award in the History of Medicine to fund a research project – ‘Medicine, Emotion and Disease in History’ – which investigates how theories, experiences, and expressions of passions and emotions have developed in medical contexts since the sixteenth century.

The studentship is fully funded, providing a maintenance grant at the rate paid by the Wellcome Trust (starting at £21,629 during 2011-12). Fees are also covered by the Wellcome Trust, at the rate for home students. There will also be access to further funds for travel and research expenses.

The studentship will be awarded to an exceptional candidate proposing to undertake a programme of doctoral research connected to the aims of the project. Applicants should have attained (or expect to attain by the end of 2010-11) a Masters qualification that will equip them to pursue doctoral research in this area.

The competition is open to applicants studying any historical period from the 16th century to the present. We would particularly welcome applications for early-modern projects.

Applicants should apply simultaneously for admission to an appropriate Queen Mary PhD programme.

An application form may be downloaded as a PDF or Word document; and on-line application is also possible. For further details of how to apply to Queen Mary, see: www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/index.html

Applicants must include with their application (in addition to their application form, degree transcript and two references), the following three additional documents:

• (i) Statement of purpose (up to one side of A4) explaining their reasons for undertaking this PhD and their future career plans.
• (ii) Research proposal (up to 2,000 words) outlining their research questions and proposed sources, and explaining how their research will contribute to the aims of the project (see over).
• (iii) Research summary (750-1,000 words) giving the title, subject, and brief rationale of their proposed research, also explaining why Queen Mary is the right place for this research, addressing any ethical

issues, and summarising what relevant research training has already been received and what further training and professional development will be necessary during the PhD.

See: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/hss/funding/bursaries/doctoral/index.html

It is intended that applicants wishing also to apply for general Queen Mary and/or AHRC PhD studentships will be able to use the same materials. All application materials should be sent to:

The Admissions and Recruitment Office, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS