The closing date for applications is 11.59pm GMT on 18 April 2025.

There is an expectation that doctoral students will be based in the UK, though students may undertake research or fieldwork internationally, as appropriate.

Start date will be 1 October 2025 .

We welcome Expressions of Interest from all candidates who meet the University’s entry criteria for Postgraduate Research degrees. We especially welcome Expressions of Interest from people from groups under-represented in the UK Postgraduate Research community, including people from ethnic minorities, women, disabled people, people from the Global South, and people from care-experienced or socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Please send any questions to [email protected]

Link for Expression of Interest

Please read the full guidelines (below) before submitting your Expression of Interest.

If you are ready to apply, please follow this link: https://forms.office.com/e/e9FLzrrEjz

The Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory , a new Leverhulme-funded interdisciplinary centre based in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, is recruiting 6 fully funded PhD studentships to study dynamic relations between place and memory at multiple timescales and levels, and how people navigate together in space and time.

The Leverhulme International Professorship grant supports the establishment of a new Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory at the University of Stirling. The Centre’s researchers will address pressing questions about how people locate and orient themselves in space and time. Anchored in Philosophy and housed in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Centre draws on cognitive sciences, social sciences, and the arts to break new ground in the study of spatial thinking, disorientation, and remembering the past. It connects the sciences of space and memory with contemporary practical concerns about memory, emotion, and place. Centre researchers deploy diverse methods, integrating conceptual, experimental, and ethnographic approaches to implement intense interdisciplinary collaboration. The mission is to advance knowledge of dynamic relations between place and memory at multiple timescales and levels, and of how people navigate together in space and time.

Doctoral students are not restricted to any one tradition or discipline, but their research project must relate directly to the Centre’s focus on place and memory. Possible areas of research background include (but are not limited to) philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, geography, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, urban policy and design, architecture, environmental studies, indigenous studies, public health, migration studies, international development, history, heritage, literature, gender studies, museum studies, memory studies, politics, design, art history and theory, practice-based creative research, human-computer interaction, gaming and new media, and science studies. Applicants should indicate in their proposal how their research experience and skill set relates to studies of place and memory, and (where possible) to specific workstreams as listed below.

The Centre’s research on place and memory is driven by attention to specific topics or domains, not restricted to any one tradition or discipline. Focus is given and maintained through six workstreams, designed as vertical slices through disparate disciplines, integrating research in arts and humanities, social sciences, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. For more details about these workstreams, please see: https://placememory.net/our-workstreams/

Applications from researchers with active interests in indigenous knowledge and cross-cultural practices of remembering and place-making are particularly welcome. They are keen to support applications from those who are underrepresented in traditional academic disciplines and structures.

Application

Please note this application process involves two stages. First, you must submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) via an online form before midnight on 18 April 2025. The Expression of Interest includes a personal statement and a research proposal . Please note that these are limited to a maximum of 4000 characters each, (or 600-700 words, approximately). You are expected to submit an original project proposal that aligns with the themes and aims of the Centre of the Sciences of Place and Memory. We are unable to accept attachments or documents sent by email to support your application at this stage. One possible format for how to write a research proposal can be found here: https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/how-to-apply-for-our-research-degrees/guidance-on-how-to-write-a-research-proposal/ . We welcome proposals following whatever format or structure is appropriate for the topic.

After these EOIs are assessed, a limited number of successful candidates will be invited to an online interview. Successful candidates will then be invited to submit a formal application for a PhD studentship through the University Admissions Office. As part of that formal application, candidates will then be required to provide evidence that they meet all eligibility criteria (detailed below). Awards are conditional on meeting eligibility criteria and receiving an unconditional offer from the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Recommendations for the offer of a studentship will be made by a panel of senior members of the University, supported by an adviser on equality, diversity and inclusion. The panel will consider a range of criteria, focusing on candidates’ academic excellence, relevant professional experience, evidence of advanced methodological skills, relevance of the proposed project to the Centre’s topics and workstreams, and capacity to undertake a major piece of independent research at doctoral level.

Doctoral Research Supervisors

It is not expected that you will have identified a supervisor for your doctoral research by the time you submit your Expression of Interest. You are welcome to look at the university’s staff pages, and at the Centre’s researchers listed here: https://placememory.net/people/ . If you are invited to submit a formal application for a PhD studentship, the Centre of the Sciences of Place and Memory will assist you in identifying a primary supervisor appropriate to your field.

Funding

Full time equivalent PhD Studentships provide full fees (international or domestic) and a stipend set at the UKRI minimum annual award for 2025/26 (£20,780 p.a.). The length of award is 3.5 years FTE or 42 months; due to the Leverhulme Trust’s funding limitations, only full-time doctoral candidates may apply.