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We are offering a Fellowship intended to unearth underrepresented voices and find new ways of engaging with collection stories and presenting them to wider society.
As a Fellow, you will help us gain perspectives on our collections beyond the structural narratives that currently prevail.
Some suggestions as to possible research areas include but are not limited to: non-traditional ways of researching collections; curating equality; contested histories; women and art; empire; decolonising natural history collections; disruptive politics; communities of colour; disability; the ethics of collecting; eugenics and its legacy at UCL; power and social justice; climate; wellbeing; LGBTQ+ stories; women readers; and women in the book trade.
The UCL Research Institute for Collections was founded in 2021 to foster research synergies centred on the library, museum, gallery and departmental collections held in UCL by bringing together curatorial and academic expertise. The Visiting Fellowship will focus on any collections held by UCL Museums Collections and/or Special Collections. We welcome proposals that work across several of our holdings.
The successful candidate will spend up to six weeks, or the part-time equivalent, at UCL researching the collections. Projects can start from July 2025 onwards. Fellows should aim to finish their project by the end of 2025.
About the Fellowship
By interrogating how inherent biases and structural inequalities are reflected in our collections, the Fellowship will build on current work that addresses this at UCL. We encourage research that will approach our collections from different perspectives and through disruptive mechanisms by finding new ways of exploring our diverse cultural holdings and/or by focusing on under-researched perspectives contained within them.
The Liberating the Collections Fellow will receive:
- A grant of £5,000
- Workspace on the UCL Bloomsbury campus
- Mediated access to the collections
- Access to staff with specialist knowledge of the collection(s) in question when available
The Fellow will be required to provide, as a minimum:
- A blog post, an event recording, a podcast or another digital output that outlines the project for the RIC website.
- An output of their choice in any format. This can include academic as well as creative outputs including, but not limited to, a community project or a piece of art or music.
- A public output during the Fellowship, such as an event, a pop-up display or a podcast
- Acknowledgement of the grant in any resulting publications or events.
Criteria/eligibility
The Fellowship is open to applicants of any nationality or career stage; from registered doctoral candidates to senior scholars, artists, collection professionals and independent researchers. Groups and communities of interest will also be considered.
Fellows need to ensure that they are eligible to work in the UK before making arrangements. UCL will undertake Right to Work checks for successful candidates. Please use the UK government website to check what documentation you need. UCL is unable to support visa applications.
The Selection Committee will consider applications according to the following criteria:
Suitability and availability of selected materials held in UCL Special Collections and the demonstrated need to consult them
The potential of the project to increase public understanding of the collections consulted, and the suitability and feasibility of any proposed public activities.
The potential to increase knowledge of, and access to, new perspectives and marginalised voices in the collections.
How to apply and deadlines
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact UCL before submitting an application, to discuss the level of access to the collections that their proposed research project would require. Emails should be sent to Rebekah Seymour, RIC Support Officer (rebekah.seymour@ucl.ac.uk). Collection curators will be able to confirm availability for consultation, extent and suitability of collections for the project if not apparent from catalogue descriptions, the capacity and resources required to support potential outputs, and any apposite procedures to be aware of (for example, analysis request applications).
The deadline for applications is 6 January 2025. Applicants should send the following documents to ric-forms@ucl.ac.uk
- Completed
- Project proposal (1,000 words maximum, OR a 5-minute video)
- CV
You will receive an automatic receipt on submission. If you do not get this, please contact rebekah.seymour@ucl.ac.uk . Please note that we can only accept documentation sent with your application. Any evidence submitted after the closing date will not be reviewed by the panels.
Applications will be shortlisted in March by a panel composed of UCL collection managers. The final selection panel in April will comprise senior academics, service managers and external experts. Notification of the award will be made in early May.
Feedback will be provided to shortlisted candidates. We regret that, due to volume, we cannot usually provide detailed feedback other than this.
We aim to be as flexible as possible around the dates and duration of the Fellowship, however these will need to be agreed in advance with the RIC Support Officer, as will any changes during the term of the Fellowship.
UCL Special Collections
UCL Special Collections holds one of the foremost university collections of manuscripts, archives and rare books in the UK. They include extensive collections of medieval manuscripts and early printed books as well as highly important 19th and 20th century collections of personal papers, archival material, and literature, covering a vast range of subject areas.
The core subject strengths of the collections are:
- Language, literature and poetry from the 15th to the 21st centuries, particularly in English and Italian
- 20th and 21st century small-press publishing
- Politics and social policy, especially 19th and 20th century reform movements
- History of Science, especially Medical Sciences and Genetics
- Mathematics
- Early modern printed books
- Latin American history and economics, particularly 19th and 20th century
- Hebraica and Judaica
- History of Education, especially 20th century
- History of London, especially 19th and 20th century
- University College London (UCL), including predecessors and affiliated bodies
For details of our collections, please see:
- The UCL Special Collections webpages
- Treasures from UCL by Gillian Furlong (London: UCL Press, 2015), which is freely available online
- Our subject guides, which list relevant collections in selected key subject areas
Please note that only collections managed by UCL Special Collections and listed on these webpages are in scope. If you are uncertain whether your project is eligible, please contact us to check before applying.
UCL Museums and Collections
UCL museums and collections comprise over 200,000 objects which play a fundamental role in delivering UCL’s mission as London’s Global University to integrate our education, research innovation and enterprise for the long-term benefit of humanity.
Part of Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science (LCCOS) at UCL, our world-class collections are not only an integral part of the student learning experience, but support international research, research-led exhibitions, and wide-ranging inclusive and public programmes.
- UCL Art Museum is situated in a traditional Print Room at the heart of UCL. Over 10,000 works of art across a range of media make up its collections.
- The Grant Museum of Zoology was established in 1828 and is home to 100,000 specimens from every continent, every ocean, and every animal group.
- The Petrie Museum is home to one of the world's largest and most important collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology, telling the stories of people who lived in the Nile Valley in the past.
- UCL Pathology Museum contains 8,000 human pathology specimens used for teaching, research and public engagement in human health.
- UCL Science Collections contain objects related to UCL's research and scientific advancement and are used to critically reflect on our collective past.
For further details of our collections, please see:
- The UCL Museums and Cultural Programmes webpages https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-collections/
- Our online catalogue, Collections Online https://collections.ucl.ac.uk/search/simple
Please note that only collections managed by UCL Museums and Cultural Programmes and listed on these webpages are in scope. If you are uncertain whether your project is eligible, please contact us to check before applying.