King's College London is offering a fully funded 4-year PhD opportunity in Film Studies, focusing on African audiovisual heritage and archival futures, with a special emphasis on the Sudanese case. The project is part of the African Creativity Beyond Borders programme and is supervised by Professor Erica Carter, an expert in German and Film at King's College London. The research centers on the film and document archive of Hussein Shariffe, a renowned Sudanese artist-filmmaker, poet, and writer whose work spans themes of social justice, democracy, exile, and cultural memory.

The successful candidate will collaborate with the Hussein Shariffe Foundation and Sudan Film Factory, engaging in research that explores Sudanese cinema, patterns of exile and resistance, and the activation of endangered archives as creative resources. The project offers unique access to the digitized Hussein Shariffe archive, housed in London, and opportunities to work with a transnational network of film-cultural partners, including the British Film Institute, Cimatheque Cairo, and Berlin’s Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art.

Research areas include archive-based creative practice, digital archiving methods, restitution, and knowledge-making in contexts of conflict and mass displacement. The studentship aims to contribute to best practices in preserving audiovisual heritage, fostering shared memory in diasporic communities, and re-imagining civil society futures in Sudan and beyond. Candidates are expected to have advanced bilingual competence in Arabic and English and a strong interest in African cinema and archival research.

Funding is provided by King's College London via King’s Doctoral College, covering tuition fees and a stipend for living expenses. The application deadline is 13 February 2026. Applicants should review the full details, ensure they meet the entry requirements for PhD in Film Studies, and include Project Code 2627-ACBB3 in their application via King's Apply portal. For more information, visit the programme and supervisor links provided.