Two ERC Funded PhD Studentships in Early Modern Italian History
Birkbeck College, University of London

The Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, is offering two fully funded three-year doctoral studentships within a team-project led by Dr Filippo de Vivo and funded by the European Research Council on "A comparative history of archives in late medieval and early modern Italy."

This exciting interdisciplinary project will examine the history of state archives and of the chanceries that oversaw their production, storage and organization in the period c. 1200 to c. 1860. Find out more.

The successful applicants will join a team composed of Dr de Vivo, two post-doctoral research assistants, and an international advisory board. Each of the doctoral students will carry out research on an agreed aspect of one of the following topics in relation to late medieval and early modern Italy:

Archives and the writing of history: the use of archival sources by late medieval and early modern Italian antiquarians and historians.
Paper and place: the physical and material aspects of documentary evidence (the architecture and furnishings of the repositories, the decoration and making of the records). This PhD will be co-supervised by the art historian Professor Evelyn Welch and the student will be expected to follow the induction both at Birkbeck and at Queen Mary.

It is expected that the two students will focus on the in-depth comparison of no more than two case studies, chosen from the following list: Venice, Modena, Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo. Each student will choose the period on which s/he wants to concentrate in consultation with their supervisor(s), but ideally there will be a balance across the period 15-18th centuries.

The PhD studentships are available from 1 October 2012 and cover full tuition fees as well as maintenance and include supplementary funds for research and travelling.

Applicants must have:

An MA or equivalent qualification, obtained or due to be obtained by September 2012, in any relevant discipline (such as Italian, History, History of Art or Architecture).
A strong interest in crossing disciplinary boundaries.
The experience of studying early modern Italian culture.
Excellent communication skills, including a high standard of written and spoken English and the ability to read Italian; the ability to read Latin would be an advantage.
The ability to work effectively as part of a collaborative team.

Application process

Applicants must do two things: firstly, apply to be a PhD student at Birkbeck in the normal way; and secondly, submit the project-specific material listed below.

Applying to be a PhD student at Birkbeck:

Complete the application form
Submit a CV
Submit with the required attachments to the Registry (see the address on the form) by Friday 23 March 2012

Project specific material:

A writing sample (about 2000-3000 words)
A project proposal of no more than 1000 words explaining how your research contributes to the research project
This material should be emailed to f.de-vivo@bbk.ac.uk by 23rd March 2012

For further information and any preliminary queries regarding the project or the research proposal, please contact Dr Filippo de Vivo f.de-vivo@bbk.ac.uk

Shortlisted candidates may be interviewed in person or over the phone in late April.

Closing date for applications: Friday 23 March 2012