The University of Westminster is delighted to invite applications for 3 Collaborative Doctoral Awards as part of the University’s AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award.
The AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award is a major new funding scheme from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Its aim is to grow the UK’s capacity for doctoral research in the arts and humanities and to create a vibrant, inclusive research culture.
The University of Westminster is one of 12 universities that make up the AHRC-funded Landscape Awards Hub for London and the East of England and is one of 50 universities across the country awarded funding to support 15 doctoral studentships over five years. At the University of Westminster, we will offer three PhD studentships each year for the duration of the award. Each studentship provides Home (UK) tuition fees and an annual stipend (grant) at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) rates (for 25/26 this was £22,780 inclusive of London weighting).
For 2026 entry, our offering consists of 3 Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDAs) as detailed below.
- Number of awards: three studentships available, each attached to a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA)
- Mode of Study: Full-time
- Application deadline: 30 April 2026
- Interviews: See details in each studentship
- Eligibility: The scheme is currently open to UK/Home Students and International Students, although a limited number of awards - up to 30% - are available for international students each year. You must not already be in receipt of a doctoral level qualification and cannot be currently enrolled as a doctoral student either at the University of Westminster or another institution.
Application process
Applications are submitted via the same online system as self-funded doctoral programmes.
Applicants must clearly state the name of the CDA in their application form, after which Project teams will review and shortlist applications for interview.
If you have:
- already applied
- hold an offer on a self-funded basis, or
- are applying for a second studentship
Please contact the Research Admissions team at [email protected] to request a re-apply link.
What does a Landscape Award include?
Landscape Awards include:
- Home fee tuition fee waiver (International students will be responsible for the difference between the Home fee waiver and the International fee).
- A 3.5 year tax-free stipend at the UKRI minimum rate, plus London weighting (£22,780 per annum for 2025/26) (for CDA projects the duration is 4 years).
- Access to professional development opportunities, placements, additional funding and the London and the East of England Hub.
Selection process
Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the School, including the Project PI, members of the supervisory team, and a member of Graduate School.
Dates for interviews will be confirmed in due course.
CDA 1- Mapping Creative R&D in Art–Technology Ecosystems
Creative Research & Development (R&D) is an increasingly important area for cultural organisations, policymakers and industry, yet it sits uneasily within existing systems for evaluation and measurement. This Collaborative Doctoral Award supports a PhD project examining this challenge, in partnership with the Serpentine, a leading contemporary arts organisation. While large-scale innovation programmes receive growing attention, smaller collaborations and the wider custodial role of cultural institutions remain under-recognised. Working closely with the Serpentine’s R&D Strategic Lead, the project will develop new approaches to research, data gathering and evaluation that better capture how knowledge, value and relationships are produced across creative ecosystems.
CDA 2 - The Development of a Gayborhood in post-war London: Mapping Soho and its archives
In the literature on gayborhoods the development of gay and queer businesses is often missing. How these become established, grow and survive remains to be documented. This project aims to provide the first detailed mapping of the history of queer businesses through a case study of Soho. In addition to using existing material in the Westminster City Archives and elsewhere, it will also seek to collect additional archival material. It will thereby add materially to our understanding of how gayborhoods like Soho have developed and make a groundbreaking contribution by providing the first detailed analysis of LGBTQ+ business history.
CDA 3 - Collaborative Research as Pedagogical Method: Reinterpreting Photographic Collections at the RGS-IBG
The RGS-IBG, like many archives, holds vast but largely underutilised collections of photographs. These images have the power to create meaningful connections with the past and serve as invaluable tools for educators. However, the sheer scale of photographic collections and the limited expertise in working with them means this potential is largely unrealised. This PhD will use the almost entirely overlooked photographic work of Elizabeth Wilhelmina Ness (1881-1962) FRGS to develop an innovative pedagogical approach to colonial-era photography that embeds the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion throughout, and is applicable to the pedagogical mission of both cultural and higher education institutions.