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UCL-led doctoral training partnership awarded AHRC funding

15 August 2018

The Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded funding for doctoral training studentships to the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP), led by UCL.

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The partnership includes seven other higher education institutions: King's College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, the Royal College of Art, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, the Royal College of Music, the School of Advanced Study (University of London).

Together, they will fund and train postgraduate students over five annual cohorts from October 2019. The partnership will also deliver a training environment open to over 2,300 postgraduate research students from across the partnership. 

The LAHP's key values and strategy have been developed in extensive consultation with six cultural partners. Collaboration with the Museum of London, the Metropolitan Police, and The National Archives will offer students the opportunity to engage with diverse London communities, while the V&A, Google, and the Wellcome Trust will bring expertise to the design, digital and environmental strand of the LAHP training programme. 

The partnership aims to deliver broad cross-disciplinary experience and training to students. LAHP students will be uniquely equipped to apply their knowledge, across a range of environments from the cultural and creative industries, to public service, civic engagement and government, to legal, business and commercial enterprise. 

Through working closely with its cultural partners and drawing inspiration from the vibrant capital city of London, students will be supported to become civically-minded, globally-aware, socially-engaged, impactful and ethically-informed scholars. 

LAHP's vision recognises the changing culture of PhD education, and ultimately aims to transform employers' perceptions of what a PhD can deliver. The doctoral training partnership will therefore support students to become experts in their chosen fields, while also developing a wide range of employability skills, suited to an increasingly digital and globalised world. 

Professor Stella Bruzzi, the Dean of UCL Arts & Humanities, comments:

'We are delighted that our bid to the AHRC's Doctoral Training Partnerships Two has been successful. The AHRC's ongoing commitment to postgraduate funding will ensure that we can continue to offer a unique central London doctoral research environment and unrivalled training opportunities for our doctoral students. Through its collective strengths, the London Arts and Humanities Partnership will promote disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiry and nurture future generations of academic researchers, cultural leaders and creative industry pioneers.' 

Professor Edward Harcourt, the AHRC's Director of Research, Strategy and Innovation said:

'The AHRC is delighted to announce its renewed commitment to the Doctoral Training Partnerships model. Our support for the next generation of arts and humanities researchers is critical to securing the future of the UK arts and humanities sector, which accounts for nearly a third of all UK academic staff, is renowned the world over for its outstanding quality, and which plays a vital part in our higher education ecosystem as a whole. 

We were extremely pleased with the response to our call, which saw high-quality applications from across the UK from a variety of diverse and innovative consortia, each with a clear strategy and vision for the future support of their doctoral students.'

Professor Richard Wistreich, Director of Research at the Royal College of Music, said:

'The new London Arts and Humanities Partnership is a powerful collective of many of the top arts and humanities institutions and cultural organisations in the world's leading city for the creative industries. The combined expertise of these partners offers research students unparalleled opportunities to be innovative within both academic and non-academic environments, to collaborate easily across disciplines, and to develop the range of skills they will need to become leaders in the future creative economy'. 

Sharon Ament, Director of the Museum of London, said:

'This partnership comes at an exciting time for us as we develop what will be an extraordinary New Museum of London in West Smithfield. Through the partnership there will be a great number of opportunities for LAHP students to be actively involved in the delivery of the museum's public and research programme.'

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Media contact

Natasha Downes

Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 3844

Email: n.downes [at] ucl.ac.uk