How to feel safe at the end of the world
This PhD project is part of a larger Future Fellowship project ‘How to Feel Safe at the End of the World: Safety and Security for Early Modern European Families’, led by Professor Katie Barclay.
This scholarship is for a candidate wishing to pursue a PhD in history, with a relevant undergraduate or masters degree in history or a cognate discipline.
Key details
- 20235850, 20235851
- MRes Year 2 + PhD
- Applications close on 30 April 2025
- Domestic
- Arts and social sciences
- $38,500 p.a. (2025 rate)
About the scholarship
The larger project looks at how families created conditions to feel safe during periods of crises and how they imagined futures for their children in difficult conditions.
There will be two opportunities available, to conduct a PhD project that:
- examines how early modern families used different styles and types of historical narratives in the construction of family identities. This HDR project will consider:
- what histories might promote hopeful, or other types of, future imaginaries within families
- how that deepens our understanding of the functions of history in shaping people’s everyday lives.
- explores how illegitimate and orphaned children were located within European family imaginaries between 1600 and 1800. A scholarship on these groups, especially as represented in literature, often notes their ‘independence’ from family ties, a freedom that can allow them unusual socially mobile trajectories. This dissertation will:
- consider these ideas for the lives of early modern children, whose futures were often more mundane and sometimes tragic
- reflect on how safety and security was offered to these groups.
The recipient of this scholarship will be able to design the scope of this project within this framework. They can focus on one or multiple European countries, but language skills in the chosen area may be necessary. Recipients may choose to bring insights from history, literature, art history, or a related methodology within early modern studies.
Availability
The scholarship is available to candidates eligible to undertake a four-year MRes Year 2 + PhD program.
Components
The scholarship comprises:
- a tuition fee offset
- a living allowance stipend.
The value of the stipend scholarship is $38,500 per annum (full time, indexed) for up to four years.