Museum
of English Rural Life Fellowship Scheme: 2010/11
Applications are invited for a Fellowship, tenable for up to twelve
months from October 2010, to support academic research in subject areas
associated with the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) at the
University of Reading.
The aim of the Fellowship scheme is to provide opportunities for
pursuing research that enhances understanding and knowledge of the
countryside, food and farming in its widest sense, with particular
emphasis on exploiting the Museum’s outstanding object, archive
and library collections.
The scheme is open to scholars and researchers wishing to pursue
collections-related research based at the Museum and will attract a
stipend of up to £10,000 for a period of twelve months.
Applications for shorter programmes of research are welcome, but would
be expected to attract a commensurately smaller stipend. The
funding may be used to offset teaching and administration costs, and
other research-related expenses. Office accommodation and research
facilities will be provided at MERL. The Fellow will be expected
to participate in the academic programmes of the Museum, including the
seminar and short conference programme and other forms of promulgation
of research initiatives linked to the Museum, as appropriate.
Research proposals are invited from any discipline that reflects the
broad scope of the Museum collections: for example, its strengths in
the practical, technical, scientific and economic aspects of
agriculture; the rural crafts, trades and industries; rural ethnology
and material culture; the social history of the countryside and its
management. The collections relate to academic disciplines across a
broad spectrum, including agriculture, rural and business history,
design, social policy, plant and animal sciences. We are particularly
interested in applications from those able to demonstrate proven or
potential research leadership in any academic field associated with the
Museum and those with an interest in investigating and highlighting new
areas of research interest within its collections.
Written proposals for the Fellowship (of not more than two A4 sides),
including a breakdown of expenditure for the stipend requested, a cv
and the name of two referees, should be submitted to Dr Roy Brigden at
the address below by 16th April 2010. Applicants should provide details
of plans for the dissemination of their research programme, including
publication and the preparation of research funding proposals. The
assessment of applications will be by a process of peer review and for
short-listed candidates there may be a short interview. The successful
candidate will be expected to submit a report on completion of their
Fellowship.
For further informal enquiries please contact Dr Roy Brigden, Museum of
English Rural Life, University of Reading, Redlands Rd, Reading, RG1
5EX, UK.
r.d.brigden@reading.ac.uk tel 44 (0) 118 3788663
Information about the Museum of English Rural Life and its
collections can be gathered from the website: www.reading.ac.uk/merl