Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG)

News

New Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship with National Museums Northern Ireland:

The Ulster Museum: Northern Ireland’s Culture Lab

  • Start date: 1 October 2026
  • Application deadline: 20 April 2026 at 5pm (UK Time)
    Applications received after this date cannot be considered. Candidates will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of day on the 28 April 2026.
  • Interviews will take place on 6 May 2026. All interviews will be online.

    Full details of this CDP (PDF, 279kb)

About this CDP

The School of Heritage and Culture Studies, University of Leicester, in partnership with National Museums Northern Ireland (NI), invites applications from suitably qualified applicants for a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship, funded (fees and living allowance) by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), to conduct research leading to a PhD on the theme: The Ulster Museum: Northern Ireland Culture Lab.

This project will be jointly supervised by lead supervisors Prof Suzanne MacLeod (University of Leicester) and Hannah Crowdy (Head of Curatorial, National Museums NI) and second supervisors William Blair (Director of Collections, National Museums NI) and Prof Richard Sandell (University of Leicester). The student will be expected to spend time at both University of Leicester and National Museums NI HQ & Ulster Museum (Northern Ireland), and be part of a wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK. 

The studentship can be studied either full time (4 years) or part time (7 years).

We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for this CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from minority ethnic backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. 

Applicants must hold a UK undergraduate (Bachelors) degree with at least first class or upper second-class honours or an equivalent qualification from a recognised overseas institution and a first class or 2:1 equivalent for a Master's degree. You should have a good knowledge of the field of Museum Studies; however, we recognise that knowledge acquired in other fields – from palaeontology to Modern Languages – can serve as a strong foundation for PhD study of museums, galleries and heritage. 

The studentship is open to both home and international applicants.

RCMG wins the Museums + Heritage Judges' Special Recognition Award

RCMG is delighted to announce it has won the Museums + Heritage Judges' Special Recognition Award for its work over the last 25 years supporting the cultural sector!

Nine people posing for a photo in front of a red backdrop with the Museums + Heritage Awards Logo

The judges said, "Celebrating a team whose ethical heart and bravery are matched only by its kindness and steadfastness. RCMG is unstinting in supporting our sector to be more bold, more ambitious, and more impactful in its socially engaged thinking and practice."

Find out more on the Museums + Heritage Awards website and on the University news page.

Design Archive at University of Leicester Archives and Special Collections

University of Leicester Archives and Special Collections are delighted to be working with Professor Suzanne Macleod and Peter Lester to acquire, appraise, catalogue and preserve archives of several design companies who have been instrumental in changing the experience of visitors to museums over the last 40 or so years:

'The collections we have received so far comprise physical and digital material – including models of prospective exhibitions or buildings, pitch and tender documents, correspondence, photographs, publicity material and newscuttings. Peter has catalogued the physical outputs of one company, Land Design, creating over 350 entries describing the documents created in the course of making pitches or successfully carrying out a project. The most well know of Land’s work is probably the Playzone at the Millennium Dome, but they have also worked across the UK, in Europe and the Middle East, as have the other companies, giving this collection a real international flavour. We have also received the physical archive of Metaphor, including models which have been a challenge to box and store but are now safely housed – though some of the ‘little people’ have taken to lying down in the model galleries!

This is a project that we are just at the beginning of, and there is still a lot more work to do, including learning how to process large volume of digital material, which is a new step for the team. We are really grateful for the help we have received from Peter, Suzanne, and the company directors and staff so far, and hope that we will be able to report great progress in cataloguing the digital collections, and giving access to researchers.'

Diorama of a gallery space which includes miniature people and paintings. Some of the figurines are standing up, while others are lying on the floor. One of the miniature museum walls is also resting on the floor.

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