PhD Studentship - HK Stephenson Endowment Funded Scholarship for a PhD in Architectural Humanities

About the project

The School of Architecture and Landscape are pleased to be able to offer a 3.5 year fully funded scholarship to a Home student with an excellent idea for a PhD in Architectural Humanities. The scholarship covers home student fees and a living allowance stipend paid in line with the UKRI Standard Minimum Stipend amount which for 2026/27 is £21,805 and rising annually in line with inflation, plus expenses to be agreed.

What we are looking for: any architectural humanities project which aligns with the expertise of the Situated Humanities Research cluster at the School of Architecture and Landscape, see our webpages here

Potential approaches may include:

Methodologies and time periods: Proposed projects can draw on an appropriate range of archival, theoretical, historiographic, ethnographic and creative or practice-based methodologies, and from time periods from eighteenth to twenty-first centuries.

Any initial questions on scope should be sent to Gemma Fearnley-Cooke ala-ops@sheffield.ac.uk and Dr. Emma Cheatle e.cheatle@sheffield.ac.uk

Pre-application

A short research pre-proposal of 300 words should initially be sent to suitable potential supervisors in the Situated Humanities research cluster .

Once a supervisor agrees to support your proposal it can be developed in the format of Research Project Proposal and CV and References as per the guidance below.

Full application

The full application ( as guidance ) must be made to the the University’s portal by 16 th November 2026

Timeline

w/c 7 th December 2026 : Interviews (online or in person - TBC)

1 st February 2027 : Targeted start date of the PhD

Please note this is a full-time in-person PhD opportunity. We do not accept online students, but can consider part-time applications.

• Postcolonial studies of industrial landscapes or built environments
• Humanities based environmental studies of spatial, landscape or urban cultures (domestic or institutional)
• Histories of industry and their impacts on migration and urban settlements, in the past or present
• Spatial and gendered approaches to history, including of domestic or health spaces, wellbeing, marginal spaces and practices
• Gender studies of spatial practices and environments
• Histories of architecture from a feminist perspective

Research areas