Current placements

Please see below a list of available placements for current students of the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership.

Please note that NWCDTP students are also proposing their own placements, at organisations such as Multi-Lingual Manchester, FACT and have been accepted to take placements, at a number of non-HEI organisations including The People’s History Museum, Opera North, the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and Grizedale Arts. If you would like any guidance on how to propose your own placement, please contact Louise Davies – Louise.Davies-2@manchester.ac.uk.

Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT)

FACT is the UK’s leading arts media centre based in Liverpool and if focused on bringing people, art and technology together. FACT’s award-winning building houses three galleries, a café, bar and four cinema screens. Since the organisation was founded in 1988 it has commissioned and presented over 450 world class new media and digital artworks from artistis including Pipilotti Rist, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Isaac Julien in its exhibition centre. The Research and Innovation Department ensures collaboration between artists, technologists, HE and cultural institutions, scientists and creative industry specialists exploring the social and economic impact of emergent technologies. Recent projects include: LCR Activate, FACTLab, Film Talent Development Programme, the CX Hub (AHRC) and the Living Room of the Future (BBC and the British Council).

There are some great opportunities for PhD students to work with FACT by proposing a placement based on its 2018 Programme of work

The following placements are currently available for period of up to six months between the 1st September 2018 and the 31st September 2019.

Articulating Women – Interrogating Intersectionality and Empowering Women Through Critical Engagements

An International Networking Project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

About the project:

Gender equality is of central importance to progress within an increasingly global world, but gender roles and attitudes to gender shaped centuries ago continue to influence cultural, social and economic behaviour. Too often, policy commitments to equal opportunities for women and rhetorical statements of the importance of women’s contribution to society mask real-life behaviours that inhibit women’s advancement; indirectly, if not directly reinforce women’s subordinate position; and translate multicultural anxieties into conflicts over gender roles and behaviours.

Articulating Women seeks to raise awareness of the complexities of gender expectations and constraints as these operate within different cultural contexts. We believe that understanding paves the way for actions, and that understanding is therefore a step toward achieving greater gender equality.

FACT is looking for PGR student whose research is in this area, specifically in relation to arts practice, performance and film for up to 6 months to contribute to the development of the above project and its associated Liverpool-based conference in June 2019. Based at FACT, activities will include: working under the direction of the Principal Investigator and the Head of Innovation at FACT on the thematic development and delivery of the Dissemination Conference in Liverpool; proposing sub-themes and co-research activities in practice-led research in this area, with a particular interest in “performance as research”, with the Advisory Committee in Liverpool; articulating and delivering on those sub-themes, when approved, during the conference; drafting marketing copy and other appropriate materials leading up to and during the Dissemination Conference in Liverpool (June 2019); evaluating the impact of this work and reporting it to the Advisory Committee and partners; contributing to supporting the overall aims and objectives of the project. Some International travel may be involved.

Project websites:

https://empowering-women.net/

For more information contact roger.mckinley@fact.co.uk

Archive as a Narrative Medium

The FACT archive consists of a range of material including digitised moving image, tapes, original digital artworks, catalogues and other printed material. The content of the archive is partially catalogued and indexed.

We are looking for a current PGR with an interest in archives to look at how best to establish an online archive. We wish to move beyond a passive store of material to a resource that can be used as a form of story construction based on the algorithmic gaze. As a preparation we wish to formalise the archive and choose how best to organise, catalogue and put the archive into a database. We would also like to look at ways to search or process the archive. We are looking for new methodologies and approaches to create an active, living archive that has the capacity to dynamically develop and that reflects the work of FACT as a pioneering media centre.

Project websites: http://www.artinliverpool.com/category/venues-archives/fact-archive

For more information contact mark.wright@fact.co.uk

BitKit

We are looking for a PGR to work with us to develop and test an open source hardware and software resource aimed at Artists and other creatives who would like to use sensors and electronics in their art but have little electronics or coding experience. In recent years platforms such as Arduino make use of embedded controllers easier but there is still a steep learning curve which can lead to disillusionment. We wish to create a kit of hardware and software recipes that make putting together simple circuits and interactions with sensors and outputs easier for learners in the initial stages of the education. There will be modular components that can be plugged together and code that can be patched and reused.

For More information contact mark.wright@fact.co.uk

Machine To Be Another

Barcelona based artist collective, BeAnotherLab, have created an augmented reality system as an empathy machine. The system can be used to experience the first person perspective of another person who may be from another country, subculture or gender. The system engenders empathy and understanding with others. The project has contributed to a multilingual European STEAM curriculum for young people and adults not in formal education as part of the 4CDE Erasmus+ programme.

We are looking for a PGR to work with us to replicate and develop the empathy system so we can continue projects with local participants and schools that we started with BeAnotherLab. The placement would create the system, collect 360 degree video, test the output with appropriate user groups, and develop new applications for the system using FACT’s networks and associates.

Project websites: https://www.fact.co.uk/get-involved/intergenerational-learning/the-machine-to-be-another.aspx

For More information Contact: mark.wright@fact.co.uk

Opera North

Opera North welcomes applications for placements based on its Research Agenda 2017-2020. If anyone would like to submit a placement proposal, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further advice.

Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service

The collections held by Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service have been recognised as being of national importance, as recognised by the award of Designated Status. The Archives welcome placement proposals based on their collections.

National Trust

Two placements have now become available with the National Trust. These involve working at Speke Hall and other related institutions to investigate the relationship between two of the Speke Hall families with slavery. Full details of the placements are given below and although the deadline for both placements is the 24th August, there is some flexibility with both this date and the time commitment required for the placements.

NWCDTP Speke Norris family, slavery

NWCDTP Speke Watt family, slavery

UKRI Policy Internships

UKRI’s Policy Internships Scheme which is available to all Research Council-funded students. These are three month internships that will take place in 2019 and should take place within your funded period. The call opened in June and the deadline for applications is the 13^th August 2018. Internships are available with the following organisations:

Full details on the application process can be found at this link.

Bolton Libraries and Museums

The exhibition will run from 14th March 2019 – 26th May 2019. The placement involves being given an induction to the Museum, Local Studies and Archives, learning about the methods, tools and sources currently used to inform collection research and development. An overview will also be given of the exhibition, collection content and planning associated with audience development, learning and the events programme. The placement will then involve researching primary sources to add information to and to discover new stories highlighting LGBT+ stories and themes through the Museum collections, local studies and archives.

The deadline for applications is December 2018

Fondazione Giorgio Cini – Vittore Branca Center

The Center holds a residential resource for humanities studies where researchers and expert scholars can work on their research projects based on Italian visual arts, history, literature, music, drama, early printed books, comparative civilisations and spritualities in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini libraries.

Application forms and further information are available at the following link.

Application guidance

See our guidance on applying for placements.

Placement profiles

See what researchers and employers think about their placement experiences.

Further details

For further information or advice on placements please contact Dr Louise Davies.

Email: louise.davies-2@manchester.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)161 306 2657